Hats off to Ukraine – UK soldiers pitch in to pack helmets destined for warzone

Around 84,000 surplus items of military headgear are being readied for shipment from Shropshire to Poland.

Members of the military pack thousands of surplus helmets donated by the army for ‘Hats off to Ukraine’, at MOD Donnington in Shropshire. Thirty members of the Midlands’ based “Poachers”, from 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, have sorted and packed 84,000 surplus helmets bound for the Ukrainian military in just two weeks, and are now in the final push to pack up all the helmets by Friday. Picture date: Thursday March 31, 2022. (PA Wire)

British soldiers have taken up the unusual challenge of sorting and packing 84,000 surplus helmets bound for the Ukrainian military.

Thirty members of the Rutland-based 2nd Battalion of The Royal Anglian Regiment are in the second week of a push to pack up all the helmets before the weekend at Shropshire’s MoD Donnington logistics hub.

Working from morning until night, the Cottesmore-based troops are toiling away in a huge warehouse, where the surplus kit has been sent to from other military stores around the UK.

British military labels being removed from kit before its despatch to Poland (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)

The task includes physically stripping the helmets of any British Army webbing or identifying badges and packing them in crates each holding 100 pieces of headgear.

Sergeant Oliver Church, a platoon Sgt from the regiment’s A Company, who is co-ordinating the work at Donnington, said: “The lads are more than happy to help the cause.

Members of the Rutland-based Royal Anglian Regiment are working at MoD Donnington in Shropshire (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)

“Hopefully what we are doing will be going to help our military counterparts in Ukraine, providing them with the vital protection they really need at the moment.”

During the operation, soldiers have processed up to 12,000 helmets a day, packing cardboard boxes ready for onward transport to Poland and then to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.