Formation Originally formed during the
Second World War, the unit eventually evolved into the 95 Forward Observation Unit (95 FOU). In 1975 the unit was reduced to its current size and co-located with the
SBS at
RM Poole. It was tasked with providing FO teams to the Royal Marines, the
Parachute Regiment; the
ACE Mobile Force (Land) (AMF(L)) and the SBS. The smaller sized unit soon found it was unable to meet its many obligations.
The Falklands War After the Argentine invasion of the
Falklands, the unit deployed to the South
Atlantic where it operated alongside both the
SAS and SBS. The skills of the
Commando-trained unit were in high demand as commanders re-discovered their usefulness. FO teams were relocated about the islands as the British advanced on the capital at
Port Stanley. Three British civilians in
Port Stanley were killed by British naval gunfire controlled by the unit, when a ships' gun beacon MIP radar malfunctioned. The three women were sheltering in a part of the town which the FO team officer had been briefed was free of civilians. The FO team were themselves in a very exposed position to the north of the town. The FO officer calculated the ship's error, but the ship's computer system did not indicate anything wrong, so after three rounds were fired the FO officer dismissed the ship from the firing line. The ship's weapons staff spent the next 24 hours going through their system, and discovered their radar had not locked onto the correct datum point, creating an error in firing equal to that calculated by the FO officer. The Argentine military command were very quick to announce this error as a deliberate act of aggression towards the Islanders. The FO team, which was still conducting covert reconnaissance and bombardment, learned of the tragedy from the BBC World Service. FO teams called artillery fire and air strikes onto Argentine positions in support of every major British assault. With the Argentine surrender, the unit returned to their home in Poole.
Persian Gulf 1991 148 provided teams initially in Northern
Iraq and later assisted in the
Scud missile hunt.
Yugoslav Wars 148 provided fire support to various British formations.
Iraq 3 Commando Brigade conducted an amphibious landing to occupy the
Al Faw Peninsula during
Operation Telic, the
2003 invasion of Iraq. On the first night of the operation the unit suffered its first deaths of the war when a US Marine helicopter crashed close to the Iraq Border.
Afghanistan Lance Bombardier Ross Clark aged 25 from South Africa, and Lance Bombardier Liam McLaughlin, aged 21 from Lancashire, were killed during a rocket attack in the Sangin area of Helmand province on 3 March 2007. ==Battery structure==