Paratrooper will help to keep peace with UN role
A physiotherapist and part-time paratrooper from Stirling is preparing to keep the peace in Cyprus with the UN.
Private Moray Sharpe is coming to the end of training before setting off in April for the six-month deployment on the divided island.
Moray serves with A Company, 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment, based at New Pearson Hall in Glasgow.
“This is my first tour, and I joined 4 PARA to have the opportunity to go on operations,” said the 23-year-old.
In Cyprus, 4 PARA will provide the UK’S contribution to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). Troops monitor the 180km-long Green Line buffer zone separating the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
Moray said: “My role is to be on patrol on the Green Line or on standby to respond to incidents – that could be anything from a car accident to a farmer finding an unexploded bomb, or an argument breaking out between people from the two communities.
“The UN plays a vital role in Cyprus maintaining the peace, and I’m looking forward to doing my job effectively and professionally as part of that.”
During the training for Cyprus, Moray has improved his radio and medical skills, as well as learning public order drills to deal with confrontations.
The UN plays a vital role in Cyprus maintaining the peace - I am looking forward to doing my job as part of that Private Sharpe
“Deploying will be an excellent way to develop my soldiering skills, and from my civilian job I bring a lot of experience at problem solving to the military,” he said. “I think I’m going to learn a lot by being in a team delivering under pressure.”
4 PARA is The Parachute Regiment’s Army Reserve battalion, with detachments across the UK.
It provides reservists held at very high readiness to support its regular counterparts in 2 and 3 PARA when they deploy on operations as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, the British Army’s global response force.