Page 44 - Journal Compilation

After leave the RAAT continued apace, alongside increas- ingly heated preparation for the ECI. Not all of this was bad, as Tpr Broomhall thought that he had met the love of his life at Ashchurch. Sadly he was stood up as he waited outside Tesco in uniform to meet her, and had to make do with Tpr Alderton instead. Mr Everard, supported by Cpl Reddin and LCpls Jordan and Osborne convened their ‘sniper school,’ which put the chosen few through their paces on Otterburn. Why there was a swim- ming serial for LCpl Pennington is not clear. We also managed to get plenty of the junior members of the Squadron away for Adventurous Training courses, and are sincerely grateful to Major Pery for giving us the run of Kiel. Tpr Lowe will never forget his rst time a oat, and his understanding of professionalism and red warning signs is much improved.
Back in camp, the hectic pace continued. We said goodbye and thank you to WO2 Lawson after a brilliant eighteen months as SSM, and welcomed Mr Buchan. As the majority of the rest of the Regiment deployed to either Spain or Morocco we were left with a small window of opportunity to do some of our own low level training and also have some fun. That led to the discovery that Tpr Paylor and Mr Smith’s idea of a fun day out differed wildly as they ended up tabbing over 60 miles in a week on a NAVEX and the Yorkshire Three Peaks. Our low level training culminated in a ve day Ex LEGION DRAGOON on a wet and miserable Catterick Training Area. Three things stand out; Sgt Hirst n- ishing the exercise (as DS), Tpr Newton’s insistence on having a shower and the sound of a hangar door banging to 0500 during a Squadron Smoker (happily the SSM was on hand to control this).
The C Sqn work life balance continued apace in November. Lts Gray and Armstrong deployed on the arduous Silver Dagger course on a remote island off Denmark, and although they didn’t nish, they were the only international students left by the time they withdrew due to injury. Sgt Price distinguished and embar- rassed himself by nishing rst on his All Arms JAVELIN Commanders’ Course but failed to turn up to the prize-giving. Half the Squadron deployed to Kenya as Force Protection. The silly season also bought another smoker, this time celebrating/ commiserating Sgt Duncan’s leaving on promotion to the Signals School. Tprs Patterson and Harvey probably took Squadron bonding a little far, Tpr Appleton once again wore a dress (let’s hope these two things aren’t related).
Young love blossoming
There were some consistent performers throughout the year who deserve mention. Tpr Booker has continued to eat, LCpl Ward has continued to schimf, Cpl McMorrow’s interest in cats and owers can’t be explained and Sgt Stevens has continued to mum- ble in Jockanese as he has destroyed us in the Gym. Perhaps our greatest achievement during the year was managing to qualify two minibus drivers, a feat now roughly equivalent in complexity to co-ordinating the D-Day landings.
Finally, we said goodbye to Cpl Grant who was posted on promo- tion, we lost Cpl McMorrow back to the Engineers in Portsmouth after three years with LD, and Cpl Deans, LCpls Nutton, Hubbard and Owen and Tprs Torbitt and Johnson to a combination of Civvy Street and QOY. Something tells me we’ll see a few of them in uniform in Gaza sometime soon though. We also welcomed Cpl Berry from the RIFLES and LCpl Rincon-Barker from the Gunners as well as a steady stream of new recruits. The Squadron is in good heart as we look forward to the New Year.
The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
The Firm...
TRMR
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