Regardless of what country NATO Training Mission Afghanistan members represent, returning home from their deployment here often means taking some much needed time off to get some rest and spend quality time with the family.

However, for Gunner Kuziva Dapira, a British soldier currently assigned to the Camp Alamo UK Leadership Training Team, time off and rest is not what’s on his agenda after reaching the end of his tour in April.

Dapira is a member of the United Kingdom’s King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, also known as The Troop, and within a month of his returning to London, his unit will be participating in one of Britain’s biggest events – Queen Elizabeth’s official birthday celebration also known as Trooping the Colour.

The Troop is an elite unit of about 100 soldiers, all of whom superb equestrians trained to drive a team of six horses that pull the ‘thirteen pounder’ state saluting gun. Their duties include the firing of royal salutes on royal anniversaries and state occasions, and providing a gun carriage and team of black horses for state and military funerals.

But out of all the ceremonies the unit participates in, Trooping the Colour is the highest honor, according to Dapira.

“Riding in the Queen’s Parade means a lot to the King’s Troop,” he said. “It’s our bread and butter. It’s like playing in the world-cup finals.” He added that out of approximately 100 members of his unit, only 48 actually ride in the parade and that to him it is a high honor to be one of those selected.

Dapira, a Zimbabwe native, has been in Britain for six years and joined the Army three years ago. His duties at the KMTC include providing logistical support to his fellow British soldiers and to train Afghan non-commissioned officers.

Training NCOs for the Afghan National Army is very rewarding because it helps help create more leaders for Afghanistan, he said.

 “Other high-points of this deployment have been working with multi-national forces and also different regiments,” he said. “And learning languages, I’ve learned a little bit of Dari and a little bit of French.”

This will be the second time Dapira rides in the Queen’s Birthday Parade, and he feels confident that regardless of the short time given for him to prepare, he will be ready by June.

“It won’t be hard readjusting to being back on parade because it’s something I have done before,” he said. “While it’s a big change to go from being in a war zone to going back to being in front of a crowd, I’m a professional soldier and I’m trained to adapt to any circumstance.”

Trooping The Colour celebrates the queen’s official birthday and is always held the second or third Saturday of June. Her actual birthday is on April 21, but the ceremony is held in June to in the hope for good weather. The ceremony itself dates back to at least the early 18th century when the flags of the battalion, also referred to as colours, were carried or ‘trooped’ down the ranks so that they could be seen and recognized by the soldiers. The Queen attends in a horse-drawn carriage and the regiments of the Household Division, her personal troops, parade in front of her. More than 1,400 soldiers are on parade, plus 200 horses and more than 400 musicians.

(Source)