Page 57 - Mercian Eagle 2012

6 Platoon from Herrick 14 to now.
Sgt A Sweete 6 Pl Sgt B Coy, 3 MERCIAN (STAFFORDS)
I took over as Platoon Sgt of 6 Platoon
B Company in December 2011 with most of my Platoon either on leave or on courses. I was told that I wouldn’t be getting a Platoon Commander till BATUS which was nearly
6 months away. So I was required to step up and fill the job as Platoon Commander straight away. I got in role turning up late, not ironing my kit and at times not knowing what day of the week it was, as hard as it was, I cracked on.
My Platoon was spread out all over the place on courses, but back in Fallingbostel our main effort was first the deployment
to BATUS on Prairie Thunder 3 with the SCOTS DG Battle Group and then to Grafenwoehr for a multinational exercise. The Company was leaving earlier then
the rest of the Battalion so a lot of things needed to be done in a short space of
time. This included the running of light and armoured ranges. The light role ranges were done as a 2 week camp down Sennelager which would qualify the Company to go
to BATUS but there was still a load of blokes on courses so there was wash up afterwards. The armoured ranges were done locally on Hohne ranges for 2 weeks and qualified every crew up to and including the Annual Crew Test.
Week by week people were also returning of courses Cpl McGraw who returned successfully from the Section Commanders Battle Course. There was also LCpl Thompson who passed his Junior NCO cadre. Then the big arrival of the drummers LCpl Foster , Pte Hudson, Pte Raworth, Pte Linton, Pte Mellor, Pte Robertson and Pte Whitehouse all of which passed the drums course which was a great addition to the Platoon. Then there was Sgt Hopely returning from UKSF selection, Pte Thay returned
from winter maintenance in BATUS and Pte Hunt returned from the officers mess. With the sudden influx of troops the ORBAT for
The remains of 6 Platoon
Working along side the Americans
BATUS started to take shape and look more like a Platoon rather then a section.
Within this time Company boxing was taking place and the Platoon had a strong representation within the Company with Pte Coakley and Pte Mills who fought well
but were unlucky. Pte Perez managed to fight his way to the final, but 6 Platoon had success with Pte Rowley-Johnson and Pte Akhee winning their weight categories. All participants showed great courage in the ring which is what it was all about.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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