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Video: The "Tankies"
receive a heroes' welcome as they parade through the streets of
Maidstone

by Angela Cole

acole@thekmgroup.co.uk

Hundreds turned out to give a heroes' welcome to soldiers
returning from Afghanistan.

Maidstone's High Street was full as crowds gathered to cheer and
wave flags this lunchtime as some 300 members of the 2nd Royal Tank
Regiment – affectionately known as the "Tankies" – marched through
the town centre.

The sun shone as the regiment, accompanied by the Band of the
Brigade of Gurkhas, marched along Week Street, past the town hall
where Mayor of Maidstone, Cllr Brian Mortimer, took the salute, and
onto Brenchley Gardens for their homecoming parade after a
six-month tour of duty.

The regiment recruits from across the south east, but has many
recruits from Maidstone and Kent. It is the first time its members
have paraded through the county town in living memory.

Capt Tim Lloyd-Jukes, second in command of Nero squadron,
described Maidstone as the "heartland" of the regiment, adding:
"2RTR is proud to think of itself as southern England's
armour."

The parade was led by a local soldier – Commanding Officer
Lt Col Marcus Evans, whose parents still live in Leeds.

The parade comes on the day nearly 2,000 RAF and Army personnel
find out whether they have lost their jobs.

In total, 51 Kent-based soldiers will be
made redundant, including 42 Gurkhas based in Folkestone or
Maidstone.

More than 10,000 members of the armed services could be made
redundant by 2015, following cuts to defence budget.