Page 63 - Mercian Eagle 2012

16 week course run out of Warminster. This was great preparation for him personally for BATUS, and indeed, Afghanistan next year and he acquitted himself superbly gaining an Instructor Recommendation.
After this our training and preparation was essentially complete, all that was left now was to deploy to Canada and take over the vehicles, which the guys always say have been given to them ‘in clip’! A week of hard work ensued, fixing all of the problems
that we had inherited and ensuring that they were going to be able to complete the duration of the BATUS exercise without too many mechanical issues. Once that was completed we were off and on to the area.
Mortar Platoon
2011/2012 – Reorg Post HERRICK 14
The Mortar Platoon of the 3rd Battalion
the MERCIAN Regiment has had a busy, and hectic year since returning from
Op HERRICK 14. On completion of POTL the Platoon were given a warning order for a large training bill that included a variety
of RAAT tasks in the UK and Germany.
The Mortar Platoon road trip started in January and did not finish until May, seeing members of the Platoon deploy to Australia (WO2 Flint – alright for some) Salisbury plain
The exercise itself is broken down into two main stages: around a week of low level live firing where individual sub units and Platoons can go away and hone their skills on some of the best live ranges in the world, before people slowly start coming together to perform the same thing, as a Combined Arms Battle Group of over 300 vehicles and around 900 personnel. Javelin Platoon are one of the most critical assets to the commander because of their ability to see and destroy. Upon the exercise Javelin Platoon performed well in all areas. Half of the Platoon was combined with the Reconnaissance Platoon and formed an ISTAR Group. This is something new to
(Not so nice) and to Southern Germany
in the Graffenwher training area alongside 3 RHA. The training benefits were huge, and have kept skills that were used to such lethal effectiveness in Afghanistan sharp.
As expected the Platoon’s profile has continued to grow, with a special note
going to the blood, sweat and tears that went into winning the 3 RHA section cup. The competition spanned a training area of 18kms with varied terrain. The 3 MERCIAN team was made up of Cpl Ward, LCpl Fayle,
the guys and was an enjoyable task, even if they did spend a lot of the time taxing around the recce guys who had broken down, yet again! The other half did what they do best – Kill Tanks! Something they did with great skill and professionalism.
Now the Platoon will prepare itself for the role of Fire Support Group on HERRICK 19. There will be a brief period of recuperation before Christmas, but as soon as that is over the guys will be straight back into the Pre Deployment Training cycle where, once again, I am sure they will acquit themselves brilliantly.
LCpl Murphy, Ptes Grimes and Lymer. The teams were required to navigate across the training area whilst carrying all their kit and overcome a variety of mental and physical command tasks. The tactical river crossing was a particular high as they were over and through within 10minutes with a close second going to the final obstacle course post night navigation exercise where they
OC Mortars Captain O Flackett 2IC Mortars WO2 J Flint
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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