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HAMPSHIRE troops will return to the front line later this year, the Daily Echo can reveal.

More than 600 of the 1st Battalion The Princess Of Wales Royal Regiment are expecting to be deployed to the Middle East in just a matter of months.

It's been just two years since their last tour of duty that saw them stationed in Iraq for seven months and this forthcoming operational tour will see them out on the front line throughout Christmas.

The Daily Echo believes they will be sent to either Afghanistan or Iraq.

But commanders of the unit are still waiting for confirmation from the Ministry of Defence of the exact details of where they will be deployed and how.

They are expecting an announcement in Parliament imminently.

The news comes as two thirds of the battalion, nicknamed the Tigers, are currently in Canada completing a vigorous 18-month training programme that has put to use the very latest technology being used by forces in the Middle East.

Called Exercise Medicine Man, more than 1,200 men have been taking part in live firing and laser simulated fighting while living out on the vast Canadian prairies, sleeping under canvas or in their armoured vehicles.

More than 400 men of the A and C companies of 1PWRR have for the first time formed the battlegroup that is set to move out in its entirety towards the end of the year.

Alongside the Tigers, who are the infantry section of the group, there are artillery, engineers, logisticians and military police who altogether provide the complete fighting force.

For the first time as a complete unit, they have descended on BATUS - the British Army Training Unit Suffield, where they are given access to facilities that are unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

Thanks to the vast space, they are able to practice fighting at speed in their armoured vehicles and use live ammunition, allowing them to condition to the noise and realities of battle.

They are also facing real enemy for the first time, being played by other troops from the Tiger's Germany based brigade.

A further 120 soldiers from B company of the armoured Tigers have not travelled the 8,000 miles to Canada, and instead are currently on Salisbury Plain working alongside another battlegroup, posing the possibility that the Battalion may be split on operations.

Here in Canada, the Tigers have been putting their skills to the test on the prairies where many have been forced to live in the great outdoors for more than four weeks.

For some it is a second or third visit to BATUS, in the province of Alberta, while for younger recruits it is the first time they have ever used live ammunition and heard the sounds of mortars exploding. Most have gone without comforts such as a shower or fresh food for several weeks and are battling the elements - they have seen sunshine snow and rain - with as little as three hours sleep on some nights.

It is a test of wills that will see them pass or fail in just a week's time, after being put to the ultimate test by Brigade chiefs who flew in last night.

If they pass, the troops will return to Germany and after a short summer break will begin their pre-deployment training before they leave for the Middle East once more.

2:55pm Monday 23rd June 2008

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