Yahoo! News - Black Watch mourns first combat deaths of new Iraq mission

Hail the Black Watch:

I offer a salute to the Black Watch. They were raised as the 43rd Royal Highland Regiment; after the British army had an entire regiment reduced, they became the 42nd. It grew large enough that it was divided into two regiments, the 42nd and 73rd; during the African conflicts the two were reunited as 1st and 2nd Battalions, Black Watch. They first came by this title due to their uniform tartan, a dark blue and green pattern that looked black at any distance. It contrasted them with the Red Coats, who were the British regulars; irony being a common mode, they later adopted the uniform red coat themselves.

They have suffered their first combat losses since redeploying to support Iraqi National Guard and US Marine efforts around Fallujah.

"For a close knit family such as the Black Watch this is indeed a painful blow," said Lieutenant Colonel James Cowan, the head of the battle group.

"We will miss them as brothers in arms and we extend our sympathy and love to their families," he said in a statement Friday.

"The whole of the Black Watch is saddened by this loss. But while we feel this blow most keenly we will not be deterred from seeing our task through to a successful conclusion," said Cowan.

The Black Watch's service today continues a tradition that has passed from history into near myth. They remain the most famous of the Scottish Regiments, though they are not the oldest of them -- the Royal Scots have that honor. They have seen service in the Napoleonic wars, the Crimean War, both World Wars, and were the last British unit in Hong Kong. At every point they have served with gallantry and courage. They have been at the forefront of all the right causes since Napoleon, from the elimination of the slave trade to the crushing of the Nazis. I remember the awe I felt, looking on the order of battle back in 2003, to realize that they had been deployed in our support.

But this story has an odd beginning. The Black Watch was raised in the Highlands, for duty suppressing the Clans who were disloyal to the crown. They came from a world in which tribal loyalty was the ancient and accepted standard, and in which the British regulars could not operate without raising the ire of the populace.

They were, in other words, exactly like the Iraqi National Guard.

In two hundred years, some journalist may be writing an account of some conflict, some brushfire war in some corner of his world, and find that his breath catches in his throat to see that the Iraqi Guard has deployed. "Do you know who they are?" he will whisper, voice filled with reverent awe.

Out of such humble beginnings often grow proud traditions. Sometimes, they grow into legends.