On 21 March, Captain Rupert William Michael Bowers, aged 26, from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, attached to 2nd Battalion The Rifles, operating as an advisor to the Afghan National Army was killed by a blast from an IED. Captain Bowers commanded a small team responsible for the training and development of the Afghan National Army based in Forward Operating Base Ouellette, in the Mirmandab region of Nahr-e Saraj district in Helmand province. On 21 March 2012, Captain Bowers was leading a patrol to clear a position of the threat of insurgents when he was killed in the blast from an improvised explosive device.