Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

Alastair Ira Slater, MM (25 July 1956 – 2 December 1984) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

soldier who served in 'B' Squadron, Air (7) Troop, 22

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

(SAS), who was killed on 2 December 1984 in a

confrontation Confrontation is an element of conflict wherein parties confront one another, directly engaging one another in the course of a dispute between them. A confrontation can be at any scale, between any number of people, between entire nations or cult ...

with the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...

in Kesh, a village in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The operation led to the deaths of

volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde ( 29 August 1957 – 2 December 1984), English Tony or Anthony MacBride (also misspelled ''McBride''), was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer from Desertmartin, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. H ...

and

Kieran Fleming Kieran or Ciarán Fleming (born 25 October 1959 – 2 December 1984), was a volunteer in the 4th Battalion, Derry Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from the Waterside area of Derry, Northern Ireland. He died while att ...

, and the arrest of the others. The IRA members had been attempting to ambush a

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

police car with a land mine at the time. Slater was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

for his role in the action. Prior to joining the SAS, Slater was a member of 1 Para. He appeared in the 1982 British TV documentary ''

The Paras ''The Paras'' is a 1983 BBC TV documentary series about British Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom), Parachute Regiment recruits of 480 (Training) Platoon undertaking their basic training at the Depot of the Parachute Regiment (Depot Para) at Alde ...

'' as one of the instructors of a group of Parachute Regiment recruits undertaking their basic training. The programme began filming just prior to the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

. Slater was one of four SAS soldiers to be killed during

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

.Mike Ryan, , books.google.co.uk; accessed 15 November 2015.

References

External links

*
CAIN Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Al 1956 births 1984 deaths Special Air Service soldiers British Parachute Regiment soldiers Recipients of the Military Medal People killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland British military personnel killed in The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Military personnel from Leicestershire