101 ERRA - Memoriam

Corporal Jamie Kirkpatrick

Killed 27th June 2010

Corporal Jamie Kirkpatrick of 101 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), part of the Counter-IED Task Force, was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday 27 June 2010.

Corporal Kirkpatrick was attached to the Joint Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group, part of the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Task Force, and was killed in a small arms fire engagement with insurgent forces in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province.

Corporal Jamie Kirkpatrick was 32 years of age. He was born in Edinburgh but lived in Llanelli in South Wales. He enlisted in the Corps of Royal Engineers in September 1997 and, following training as a Combat Engineer and trade training as a Plant Operator Mechanic, he was posted to 28 Engineer Regiment in Hameln, Germany.

Over the next six years in Germany he qualified as a Class 1 Plant Operator Mechanic, promoted to Lance Corporal and deployed to Iraq on Operation TELIC as a Plant Section Second-in-Command. After a spell at the Land Warfare Centre in Warminster he was promoted to Corporal in 2006.

A tour as a Corporal instructor at the Royal School of Military Engineering in Chatham quickly followed and in 2009 he was posted to 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) where he successfully gained his Intermediate Explosive Ordnance Disposal qualification.

In April 2010 he volunteered for a tour of Afghanistan on Operation HERRICK 12 just as his squadron was transferred to 101 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal). He was attached back to 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) for the deployment to Afghanistan.

Corporal Kirkpatrick was a member of the Joint Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group, part of the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Task Force. His role was as the Number 2 in a Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Team, supporting the Bomb Disposal Operator.

In Afghanistan he and his team started their tour in Lashkar Gah, helping to increase the security of the area by disposing of improvised explosive device constituent parts brought in by the Afghan National Police.

In May 2010 he deployed to Kajaki in the Sangin district of Helmand province to work with the 40 Commando Royal Marines Battle Group and played a large part in increasing the freedom of movement of the local Afghans by removing improvised explosive devices from key routes as well as giving life-saving training to members of the Battle Group. Most recently the team moved to support the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles Battle Group, Combined Force Nahr-e Saraj (South).

On the evening of 27 June 2010, Corporal Kirkpatrick and his team were being held in reserve whilst a clearance operation was being carried out in order to increase security in an area around one of the checkpoints.

Corporal Kirkpatrick and his team were extracting from a compound to move back to Check Point Kingshill when the team came under attack from insurgent small arms fire. A single round hit Corporal Kirkpatrick and despite immediate first aid he was sadly killed in action. He leaves behind his wife Heidi and their daughter Holly.