DESPITE British combat operations in Afghanistan coming to an end, Gloucestershire's 1st Battalion The Rifles (1 RIFLES) continue to hone their skills and to cement their partnerships with a key NATO ally in the event that they are mobilised again to serve their country. US Army Bravo Company, 10th Mountain Division 4-31 Infantry Battalion have been training with 1 RIFLES in Chepstow and on the unforgiving Sennybridge training area. The three-week exercise was the return leg of a reciprocal training mission which saw C Company 1 RIFLES travel to the remote, minus 30 degree bleakness of Fort Drum New York State earlier this March to learn cold weather warfare skills from their US counterparts. The US Mountain Battalion put the Riflemen through their paces on a demanding package where the swift and cold Riflemen learned everything from US Techniques Tactics and Procedures (TTPs) to how to move and fight across ice-covered tundra whilst wearing snow shoes. Once back in the UK, the Americans were prepared and the US unit split their Company down with each RIFLES Company gaining a US platoon. They then deployed as a formed unit on a gruelling and energy zapping round-the-clock rotation of offensive rural, offensive urban and defensive urban operations. "The American soldiers from the 'Polar Bears' had a really wilco attitude" said Major Bill Eden, Second-in-Command of 1 RIFLES; impressed with the quick and seamless integration of his US counterparts. "They're not used to operating in an austere location like Sennybridge, but they were brimming with enthusiasm to get stuck in. Their reply to every tasking was simple: 'too easy, sir'." The exercise has forged a strong bond between all ranks deployed on the exercise. "We just integrated our platoons into their companies, trying to learn some of their tactics and then using them and just trying to get the mission done", said US First Sergeant Skip Hazzard. The US soldiers finished their exercise by climbing Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons, the highest mountain in Southern Britain, where they held a promotion ceremony for two of their soldiers, much to the delight and bemusement of holidaymakers who were on the 886m (2,907 feet) summit at the same time. "I have lived and travelled most of Europe, I have never been to the UK before. I love it here, I'd stay here, I'd swap with any of the British guys", said US First Sergeant Emmanuel Fernadez. The last 1 RIFLES combat mission in Afghanistan may have come to an end nearly three years ago, but soldiers from the unit are using the partnership skills which they developed in Afghanistan – and continue to develop whilst on exercise – during an ongoing multinational mission in Mali now. 1 RIFLES are coming to the end of a year-long deployment to Mali as part of a European Union mission called Operation NEWCOMBE to provide stability to the West African country. 1 RIFLES also continues to mentor the Kazakh Army for deployment overseas to conduct peace keeping operations.