On 16 July 2007, 258 Signal Squadron assumed independence from 30th Signal Regiment in order to become the Close Support Signal Squadron for HQ 52 Inf Bde, and their imminent deployment on Op HERRICK 7, 15 Sep 07 -17 Mar 08, as HQ Task Force Helmand. Within twelve months the Squadron turned itself from a General Support (Cormorant) Squadron, with a clear Area Systems focus, to a Bowman-ready radio unit, and fully participated in the formation of the Brigade and its first pre-deployment FORM cycle. With an equal emphasis on core military skills and special-to-arm training, the Squadron saw a busy year, requiring nothing less than a radical change of skill sets, ORBAT and approach across all ranks.

The Squadron quickly established its identity and embraced its newly inherited lineage, without losing a sense of its history. Still administratively controlled by 30th Signal Regiment and accommodated within GAMECOCK BARRACKS in Nuneaton near Coventry, the Squadron has to balance its commitments to the Brigade HQ in Edinburgh with its home duties, and the opportunities and limitations this arrangement inevitably brings.

258 Signal Squadron are looking forward to their official formation parade in Edinburgh when the Squadron returns from Operations in March 08, to being fully involved in the Brigade FORM cycle for Op HERRICK 12 in 2010, and to further establishing its identity and ethos as a newly formed R SIGNALS minor unit.