Page 58 - Mercian Eagle 2012

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With the Platoon at all the right starting standards and the ORBAT looking pretty strong we had our first dealing with the SCOTS DG in the form of a 2 week CATT/ CAST at Sennelager. The crews were the ones that were deploying to Canada so this was the first time working as a Platoon in an armoured role. Cpl Ryder stepped up
to Warrior Sergeant where he did a great job, even though the CATT simulators
were warm and at times quiet cosy which lead to a lot of ‘Admin’ being done in the simulators. Whilst there we worked a lot with the SCOTS DG and went through the basic manoeuvres of an armoured Battle Group. We practiced doing the bread and butter tactics of an armoured Company, like bridge crossings and integrated attacks which proved invaluable on Prairie Thunder 3.
With the arrival of 2Lt Smith fresh from Brecon and also a small attachment from Dragon Company, A Company and Signals Platoon the ORBAT was bolstered and
One of the clearer routes through the woodline
The exercise flew by and before we knew it we were back in Crowfoot smashing out the post exercise admin and enjoying the free refills of coffee in the café. After a week or so in camp we were ready to leave back to Fally and then onto the next main effort which was Grafenwoehr and Exercise Sabre Junction.
When the Platoon returned from BATUS we had a long weekend and we were ready to deploy again.
The 6 Platoon team then set about preparing for
deployment, with
myself dealing with
the dismounts and
Cpl Ryder sorting
out the Warriors. In
true 6 Platoon style, moments before the vehicles were to be loaded onto the train, we had a Warrior vehicle engine fire, which set the tone for the rest of
the exercise. We had 2 new additions to the Platoon Pte Pottinger and Pte Conner fresh from the factory at ITC Catterick. Yet again we had attachments to bolster our numbers, provided by 4 SCOTS we had a section attached to us headed up by ‘Where’s my monocle’ Cpl Hiagi and with the new ORBAT we headed off to Grafenwoehr.
On overwatch with the Northen Lights
The exercise was broken down to 2 phases Grafenwoehr being the live firing and Hohenfels being the TES training area. The live firing was a slight let down with most of the ranges being very limited and not being suitable for Warrior. The highlight of the ranges being the 360 kill house with a gantry where I could watch the fire teams and sections move through the various rooms. From Grafenwoehr we moved to Hohenfels for the multinational exercise which was by far the slowest exercise that
I have ever done. After a very long 3 days
in defence we finally saw some action, as the BMPs and the Leopard 2 Tanks rolled through the section’s defensive positions
6 Platoon struck and this was the start of a long 24 hours which included a 10 km tab. With all the Warriors destroyed and only
9 blokes left in the Platoon LCpl Fosters became a one man effort to destroy every tank on the battle field. It also gave us an opportunity to work with the Americans
on a vehicle check point. This was an interesting time as the lads got stuck in learning about sport, culture differences and their TTPs, but the main observation was how jack they were when it came to waking up for stag. Overall Exercise Sabre Junction dragged and seemed a lot longer then 4 weeks but now back in Fally the emphasis is on adventure training leading up to the Christmas period.
we were ready to deploy to BATUS. On arrival the adventure training kicked in and
a selection of blokes
were sent away to
do one of the many
activities that were
laid on for the Battle
Group. The exercise
itself was broken down
between 10 days live
firing and 3 weeks
exercise. The live firing
was good and overall
the Platoon performed
to an excellent standard
on the light role attacks and also the Warrior integrated ranges with the highlight being the Platoon attack. This would be the first time the Platoon had done a Platoon attack so it was a good chance to see how the Platoon performed on a live range with 3 relatively new section commanders and also a new Platoon Commander. The range went really well and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
The exercise flew by and before we knew it we were back in crowfoot smashing out the post exercise admin and enjoying the free refills of coffee in the café.
The dense wood blocks that needed passing through
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