Page 21 - Mercian Eagle 2012

1 MERCIAN REME LAD by Capt Andy Peters
The last twelve months has seen a massive period of change for the LAD (Light Aid Detachment). Under OP ENTIRETY
the manning has increased from an establishment of 0 + 7, commanded by SSgt Jones, to 1 + 22, commanded by Capt Peters and WO2 (AQMS) Guthrie. This increase in manpower is needed to support the battalion in the Protected Mobility role in which it will deploy to Afghanistan on OP HERRICK 17 and is made up of both regular and TA soldiers.
north to Nanyuki Show Ground (NSG). After a swift and trouble free (yeah, right) handover/ takeover of the vehicles we began the arduous task of keeping a 30-odd year old fleet in the hands of a user who repeatedly pushed them up to, and in a few cases, beyond their limit. Often with little more than chewing gum and a roll of ‘black-nasty’ some of the classic repairs that were witnessed during the exercise include........actually,
I’ll stop there and just state that most of
the vehicles that were pushed into the LAD managed to drive out after a day or so of head scratching and lots of hard work. All members of the LAD worked incredibly hard
at keeping the vehicles on the road so that the battalion could get the most out of its training. Many of the more junior members of the LAD learnt a great deal in battle damage repair and this will prove invaluable in the forthcoming operational tour.
On return from ASKARI THUNDER 5 nearly every member
of the LAD has hit the ground running.
Most have found themselves away on
back to back equipment courses such
as MASTIFF, JACKAL, HUSKY and FOXHOUND. Each of these courses lasts one to two weeks and as a result of this training burden the LAD will not see all of its manpower in the same location until the day before the OC and AQMS fly to Afghanistan at the end of September. In total 20 people have completed over 80 equipment courses and in addition there has been numerous
Water logged REME tent on CFX
2012 started at a frantic pace, several members of the LAD, including the OC,
were only posted in a couple of days before the battalion departed
to Kenya to take part
in Exercise ASKARI
THUNDER 5. These
few days were spent
settling in, getting to
know each other and
getting issued MTP
combats as apparently
green ones are no
longer fashionable.
The morning of the
deployment to Kenya arrived and started with a very early and freezing cold MCCP
(do we really need to be in at three in the morning to fly at ten?) followed by a trip on buses to Teesside airport. Around twelve hours later, and pretty much only a horror box containing a frozen pasty to feed us, we landed in Nairobi. Thankfully the temperature was much warmer than Yorkshire in January but it was a warm trip to the BATUK location in what can’t really be described as luxury coaches. Here everyone spent the night, before setting out on the long-haul journey up
Around twelve hours later, and pretty much only a horror box containing a frozen pasty to feed us, we landed in nairobi.
Night work in Kenya
military training and exercises to complete, PNCO Cadre, ARB, Lydd ranges, Team medic, CAST, CFX, CALFEX, FTX to name but a few. The training has been relentless but I am confident that as a result of it the LAD soldiers are well placed to support the battalion on OP HERRICK 17.
Proof of the competence of the tradesmen within the LAD, and to be fair the good standard of equipment care within the battalion was the high level of equipment availability for the final exercise, FTX. This exercise took place in the last week of August and was the culmination of all the different training completed over the last five or six months. It was also the first time that many of the soldiers within the LAD got hands on the equipment they were maintaining, since completing their various courses. The weather was atrocious nearly the entire time and at one stage the REME found their accommodation to resemble
an indoor swimming pool. They did not
let the poor weather dent moral though
and worked long hours to ensure that
the equipment was maintained to a high standard. As a result of their hard work we managed to keep 100% of the equipment on the road until the last day but then lost a HUSKY due to a lack of spares.
Training aside I would also like to quickly mention integration within the battalion. It is easy for close-knit units to forget about their attached arms and to leave them out of the loop. It is definitely not that way with 1 MERCIAN. The LAD is fully integrated into the battalion and takes part in all aspects of work, sport and social activities. 1 MERCIAN has proved to be a friendly and welcoming unit and to any REME personnel out there, if you are after a good posting this is the unit you should choose (as long as you don’t mind lots of battle PT).
Jackal recovery
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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