Bermuda soldiers today turned riot squad and faced down a hostile crowd and a barrage of missiles.

Soldiers from A Company teamed up with the Operational Support Unit (OSU), the regiment’s public order specialists, to deal with escalating hostilities in a special combat town at the US Marines’ Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Troops spent the day practicing negotiation skills in a bid to defuse potentially dangerous situations, as well as facing rioters from the regiment and US Marines, armed with missiles to simulate real-life riot conditions.

One company trained yesterday, while the other, which was out in the field, trained in combat town today.

On loan Royal Anglian Regiment instructor Colour Sergeant Ashley Ward said: “It was a complex environment and they performed well in difficult conditions; it’s not just an overwhelming force, but hot conditions.”

Clr Sgt Ward added: “We had some big guys from the Marine Corps and they were very keen to get stuck in.”

He added the scenario had been deliberately set up so the OSU was outnumbered, and singled out commander Lieutenant Paolo Odoli and Private Sheneve Campbell, 21, of Warwick, who, despite being bounced off the side of an armoured Humvee, stood her ground.

Clr Sgt Ward said: “Lt Odoli had great negotiation skills and Private Campbell, despite taking several big blows, proved more than a match for anything the United States Marine Corps could throw at her.”

US Marine Corporal Camden Wysong, who led the rioters, added: “They got me pretty good — but it was fun. We do this riot training all the time and the Bermuda guys did well.”

Regiment Commanding Officer Lt Col Michael Foster-Brown said that unlike the Marines riot training, the regiment allows rioters to throw missiles at public order troops.

He added that the exercise, which involved both A and B Companies, was one of the most complex and demanding the regiment has ever undertaken.

Col Foster-Brown said: “We hope for the best — but train for the worst. I am confident our soldiers, if ever called upon, will perform to the highest standards.

“Our soldiers achieved their aims facing a large crowd of rioters. And the skills they need to perform in these demanding conditions are readily transferable to other areas of our operations.”

In the early hours of this morning, soldiers from A Company also mounted a strike operation on a suspicious house, hitting the building in a carefully planned predawn operation which netted prisoners, weapons and cash.

Private Kleche Burgess, 23, from Devonshire, said afterwards: “From when I woke up to now, it was great.

“It really got the adrenalin pumping. I arrested one suspect myself and recovered two weapons — you feel a real sense of achievement.”