SOLDIERS from Canterbury are among 520 members of the 2nd Battalion the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment who have been sent to Iraq on a six-month tour.

The men, who are based at a barracks in Shropshire, are replacing 40 Commando Royal Marines and are being deployed to Basra in southern Iraq.

While there, they will take part in escorting conveys, public order duties, patrolling, guard duties and other tasks.

One of them is Cpl Luke Dhaliwal, from Barfreston. He said he and his colleagues had been looking forward to going for a long time.

"We were disappointed we couldn't go over when the conflict first happened," he said. "I am very excited about it as well as anxious about what lies ahead. But this is my job and it is what I want to do. I want to make sure that I can put the training of the last 14 years into practice."

Cpl Dhaliwal said they had been learning Arabic as part of their training and had learned important words such as 'stop' and 'we are from the British Army', as well as everyday words.

Battalion commanding officer Lt Col John Wright said this was the first time it had been to Iraq. Last year it was in Northern Ireland.

"We have been able to draw on the experience of those who have been before and are confident our training will allow us to cope with what comes our way," he said.

"We will be there to reassure the Iraqi people and ensure they can go about their business and start to rebuild their country and we are very happy to do that.

"It will take a little while for us to get used to Iraq. We are deploying in the middle of winter when the climate is not as harsh but by the end of our tour it will be testing for us."

An Army spokeswoman said: "The soldiers will be on a six-month operational tour, which is a routine rotation of UK forces. They have been training hard over the past few months for this deployment."