Military Honours for Three MIRA Employees

Three MIRA employees have recently been awarded the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan by the MOD for their services in Afghanistan. Robin Armstrong (Technician), Greg Homewood (Systems Integration Engineer) and Jamie Strachan (Senior UGV Research Engineer) received their awards for their work as Field Service Representatives during their time in the region.

Based at Camp Bastion 3, the men worked closely with troops from 31 Armoured Engineer Squadron and were responsible for supporting the Coalition Force’s MIRA produced military vehicles during their time in theatre.

The men were presented with their medals by John Howard from the MOD’s Manoeuvre Support Team – the group responsible for manoeuvre support and counter mobility equipment used by Royal Engineers in the Army. Awarded to both military and non-military personnel for thirty continuous day’s service in Afghanistan, it is the fourth time that a MIRA employee has received such a decoration after Gary Brown, one of MIRA’s Military Project Managers received the award in 2011 after a four and a half month tour.

“I found it very rewarding working closely with the troops to improve peoples’ lives.” 

said Robin Armstrong after receiving his award.

“The guys out there are really making a difference.”

Speaking about his deployment, Greg Homewood was also keen to point out how the posting had positively affected both his personal and professional development.

“The deployment was hugely beneficial to me because it gave me a valuable insight in to how the equipment we design and test is used in theatre.

“My time in Afghanistan also taught me a lot about what really matters in life – it put a lot of things in to perspective.”

With more MIRA employees due to carry out Field Service Representative work in the coming months, MIRA is continuing to work closely with the MOD to help save the lives of Coalition troops in Afghanistan.