Page 10 - Four Cavalry Regiments (Crest)

24 The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars
B (XIV) Squadron
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic should be immedi- ately obvious to the eagle-eyed reader. Gone are the lengthy passages of text in Sqn articles. Everybody just looks at the pic- tures anyway...
Every year is “busy,” but not every year has been this peculiar. The start of the year saw uncertainty begin to creep into the Sqn, as the realities of this virus started to become more obvi- ous. The Sqn continued to prepare themselves for what looked like a superb training year, culminating in an exercise in Serbia. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
With a national lockdown on the horizon, B Sqn deployed com- plete to Castlemartin Ranges for a fortnight. With all the addi- tional COVID-compliance measures imposed, this was no mean feat. Nevertheless, the Sqn tackled ranges with their usual good humour and hard work. No Pembroke curry houses or nights out
3rd Troop prepare to assault a building
1st Troop prepare for a game of bulldog
in Tenby this time, but perhaps this was why the Sqn achieved a 100% first time pass rate, with a few L6s in the mix. The Sqn returned to Tidworth to then find themselves ordered to disperse. So began a bizarre and lengthy period in Sqn history, with Tp Leaders and Sergeants delivering lessons remotely to their sol- diers over Zoom, Teams and WhatsApp, and PT being tracked via a Sqn Strava group – which definitely wasn’t just people driving or cycling incredibly slowly to replicate running...
These restrictions started to ease, and July saw a gradual return of the Sqn to Tidworth, and particularly to the Tank Park. It also saw the handover of Sqn personalities. Firstly, Mr Pollard handed the reins of Sqn Sergeant Major to Mr Plant. A few weeks later saw the arrival of Maj Hollas to take over from Maj Welford. The new Sqn Leader did his best to hide the Inniskilling Watergate on his beret by adorning himself in every other bit of Hussar gear he could find. The Sqn were only marginally relieved to discover he’d done more time with the second-finest Hussar outfit than he had RDG. Green trousers have definitely been swapped for crimson ones!
With a post-summer mounted range package having been kiboshed by COVID, Lt Tom Maddison ably filled the gap in the FoE with Ex FOURTEENTH BREACH. Despite Maj Hollas’
1st Troop set off on patrol, CBRN gloves optional