Today (Thursday) marks exactly 100 days until Armed Forces
Day 2014, taking place on Saturday 28 June! We are fast approaching this major milestone – a chance for the nation to show their support for the Armed Forces for their outstanding contribution to the country.
On operations at home and overseas, the men and women of the Armed Forces work to protect the security, independence and interests of our country 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Armed Forces Day is a chance to say thank you to them and to the whole Armed Forces community - including Reservists, veterans, cadets and Service families.
This year's Armed Forces Day national event is being held in Stirling, and plans are underway to create a spectacular programme of activities in the historic city, for military personnel and their families, veterans and visitors to make this a truly memorable occasion everybody can enjoy.
This will be the sixth Armed Forces Day national event since the Historic Dockyard Chatham hosted the inaugural event in 2009. Last y ear’s host city of Nottingham attracted 100,000 people, and was attended by The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester representing HM The
Queen.
But the excitement isn't just confined to Stirling, as hundreds of events are being planned around the country to mark Armed Forces Day. Events are being added to the AFD website so keep an eye on the events listing page to see what's being planned in your area, and if you are organising your own event don't forget to list it online .
As well as showing your support by attending an Armed Forces Day event, you can join the more than 1 million followers of the Armed Forces Day Facebook page and twitter and don’t forget to check the official Armed Forces Day website for the latest news.

Have you ever considered hosting your own Armed Forces Day celebrations? With plans underway for the sixth annual Armed
Forces Day on Saturday 28 June, why not show your support for our Armed Forces and veterans by applying for funding to host your very own event?
In the last five years Armed Forces Day has been celebrated across the United Kingdom with events such as dances, parades, band concerts and garden parties.
No event is too big or small to say Thank You to our sailors, soldiers and airmen for the outstanding work they do.
Funding is available from the Ministry of Defence to assist with designing an event and anyone can submit an application. A sum up to and including £10,000 is available, providing MOD funding accounts for no more than 50 per cent of the total event cost. Previous years have seen bids for a few hundred pounds to assist smaller events, to thousands of pounds to support larger events.
So what are you waiting for! Applications for funding must be received by 28 March 2014. Get your thinking caps on and design an event that allows you and your community to support
Armed Forces personnel, past and present.
Visit the Hold an Event section of the website for details of how to apply, and for tips and resources on how to hold a successful event.
It’s a long way from the dry, dusty desert of Helmand province in
Afghanistan, but for the sappers of 22 Engineer Regiment,
Romsey in Hampshire provided an equally challenging environment.
The 100 soldiers were some of the 3,500 Armed Forces personnel, both Regular and Reserve, who were deployed on
Operation Pitchpole – the military response to the recent floods and the biggest such civil deployment in 60 years.
The Royal Engineers were tasked with finding a solution to hold back the River Test, which was about to burst its banks. They used a combination of scaffolding and a Hesco barrier – the same as the ones used to protect bases against Taliban rocket attacks in Afghanistan – to control the flow of the river and prevent further flooding.
The grateful residents of Romsey came out to show their support for the soldiers.
“The locals were brilliant,” said Lieutenant Adam Irvine. “They kept coming out on site to see what we were doing and get a better understanding. We actually got cakes made for us, so that was great!”
The same warm welcome was repeated around the country, as Lieutenant Chris West from 1st
Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers found out when he was among the first to deploy to the town of Wraysbury in Berkshire.
He said: “The community support was great. Even though we had our rations, the local people cooked us food, which was really kind considering what they were going through.”
More than 200 personnel from the Royal Navy, Army and RAF have now been trained by the
Environment Agency to act as flood defence assessors and over the coming weeks will be checking flood defences around the country.

Service personnel have teamed up with Dan Snow, Honorary
Army Reserve Colonel and President of the Council for British
Archaeology, to record a historic practice battlefield on MOD land in Gosport, Hampshire.
The battlefield is an almost complete network of two opposing trench systems with a No Man’s Land in between, used for training troops before they deployed to the Western Front in mainland Europe.
Situated on the Browndown Training Area, the trench system had been forgotten until it was discovered a few months ago.
Service personnel from the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force joined Dan Snow and MOD archaeologist Richard Osgood in mapping and recording the site for posterity, as part of a new campaign run by the Council for British Archaeology to mark the Centenary of the First World
War. The campaign, Home Front Legacy 1914-1918, encourages members of the public to record the physical remains of the conflict around the UK, which include practice sites such as the trench system, drill halls, munitions factories, gun emplacements and barracks.
Speaking at the site, Dan Snow said: “This massive site demonstrates training was a high priority. Achieving a high level of training in trenches provided the soldiers of WWI with the opportunity to break through German lines.”
Corporal Mark Short from 42 Engineer Regiment, one of the volunteers recording the site, said:
“Having the opportunity to see the trenches today really brings home the gravity of what the soldiers of WWI had to face. It was fascinating to see a site used for pre-deployment training over 100 years ago and compare it to training sites today.”
To take part in the Home Front Legacy campaign visit the Council for British Archaeology’s new website .
A video of personnel recording the site can be found here .
Armed Forces personnel have taken part in a wide variety of charity raising events over the last twelve months ranging from rowing the Atlantic to smaller challenges such as walks and bike rides.
Many take part to fulfil a lifelong ambition, some do it for fun and others just want to give something back to a charity that has helped them.
Row2Recovery, a team of two injured and two able bodied soldiers from the Army, rowed a gruelling 3,000 nautical miles from the Canary Islands to Antigua in just over 48 days for Help
For Heroes.
Trooper Cayle Royce and Corporal Scott Blaney, who both lost limbs in Afghanistan, joined
Captains James Kayll and Mark Jenkins, to finish third out of sixteen teams in the Talisker
Whisky Atlantic Challenge in January.
Speaking shortly after completing the race in Antigua, Tpr Royce said: "The reception in the harbour was just incredible, we never expected such a turnout. I think there was a sense of

immense relief.”
Row2Recovery isn’t the only group of Serving Personnel to show incredible physical strength and fortitude to raise money for charity. Walking With The Wounded made up of twelve servicemen and women from the UK and other nations, and supported by Prince Harry, completed a 200 mile trek to the South Pole spending three weeks pulling sleds across the frozen wastes of Antarctica in December. Their gruelling challenge was filmed for a two-part documentary, currently being aired on ITV1.
Other challenges have included a Battlefield bike ride from Brussels to London via Paris, covering a distance of 350 miles over six days, swimming 21 miles across the English Channel, and running the Marathon Des Sables in April, a mere five and a half marathons in six days - described as the toughest footrace on earth!
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