Page 32 - Mercian Eagle 2012

OC Major Adrian Garrett 2IC Capt Mike Brigham CSM WO2 Darren Aley CQMS CSgt Andrew White
30
B (champion) company
I joined the Company at the start of a chaotic 6 month Pre-Deployment Phase in March 2011 and it is only now – in October 2012, that the Company is able to draw breath
and plan for the very different challenges that 2013 will present. It goes without saying that commanding a Company of nearly 200 soldiers with responsibility for five checkpoints, across a 36 km square area has been one of life’s greatest privileges.
the spectrum, sharpshooters and sniper platoons. The Private soldier and junior commanders have rarely in recent history been tasked to make split second decisions which would have such strategic implications. ‘Do I give the command to open fire? He is carrying a weapon but is he a member of
the Afghan security forces, an insurgent or a farmer legitimately protecting his land with a lawfully held single-round rifle?’
The Company’s conduct was exemplary, but luck played its part and we escaped with four IED strikes against vehicles, a weapon shot out of a firm grasp and Pte Plackett sustaining severe bruising when
his plates caught the round of a sniper. We were the last Company to recover from theatre at the end of April 2011 and with the rest of Battalion the next big challenge was adopting ‘the Olympic smile’ in time for the London Olympics. Having only just taken our Post Operational Tour Leave, we were thrust into training at ATR Bassingbourn
and deployed to the All England Tennis Club, followed in close succession by a deployment to the Olympic Mountain Biking at Hadleigh Farm Essex (Mount Essex?). Proving the fighting spirit and humour of the Battalion’s Champion Company was still intact, the Company succeeded in mounting 12-hour nightshifts for four weeks without respite. Despite disrupting our summer, the London Olympics 2012 was something we were all incredibly proud to have been a part of.
And what of the near future?
The Company is already preparing for
a deployment of a very different kind. In January 2013 the Company will deploy on OP FIRIC – The Falkland Islands Roulement Infantry Company – where we will have access to some of the best Company Combined Arms Live Fire training the Army still has to offer. With training exercises planned for Kenya and a deployment on a Cyprus UN tour just on the horizon, 2013 is set to be another frenetic but richly diverse and rewarding year.
Op HERRICK 15 will be
a life defining experience
for so many members of
the Company, engraving
its indelible mark on
their character and
professional bearing.
Despite our previous
three deployments to
Afghanistan, this was the first time we trained as true COIN practitioners using a diverse armoury of weapons that allowed us to apply precision, proportionality and restraint to every aspect of our conduct. The tactical level has never had as much access to and control of strategic assets such as Armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles but also, at the other end of
Op HerricK 15 will be a life defining experience...
Sniper OPTO RAALMAA
Garrett, ANA, Tajiman
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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