Page 66 - Mercian Eagle 2012

Headquarter company
Since assuming command of HQ Coy in May 2012 it has been a busy, varied and hugely challenging time, culminating in a successful exercise in BATUS. The Company as expected has worked hard and the individual Platoons and Departments describe their own experiences in later articles. The year began post Op HERRICK 14 in the reformation of the Company and absorbing the Rear Ops Group back into the Battalion. As expected the change over in personnel was vast, this however did not distract from the multitude of tasks at hand.
A return to basic soldiering and re-familiarising ourselves with armour took up the 1st quarter, with HQ Coy
providing real life support to the Battalion
Gunnery camp and CT1 & 2 training. Easter leave
was rudely interrupted by the threat of fuel tanker drivers’ striking in the UK. The military plan to provide tanker driver cover affected a significant amount of the Battalion none more so than the MT Platoon. Of note Sgt Venables, the MT Sgt provided a valuable service to the planners, ensuring the correct people were loaded on
passengers and freight, accommodation and stores to take over and not least the early prep work to receive the ageing BATUS fleet on its last rotation of the season meant many a late night.
BATUS is a unique training opportunity, it allowed us to deploy
A1 complete for the first time in over 2 years and at its peak had more vehicles than the armoured elements of the BG combined. The Signals Platoon (minus Capt Euan Sandison, the RSO due to a freak mountain bike accident) at BGHQ and Detachment level were not found wanting and the difficulties they experienced of establishing Comms in BATUS will serve them well for later Operations. The
OC Maj G Williams CSM WO2 D Thomson CQMS Sgt L Hill
HQ coy by its very nature were extremely busy well before a vehicle got anywhere near the Prairie.
REME worked tirelessly ensuring 11B remained on the road and they also found a little time
for the rest of the Battle Group! A2 and the
QM led on the crucial phase of the MJDI trial whilst working with 2 LSR as the CSS BG in a Brigade construct also provided some valuable lessons. The Regimental Aid Post finally found themselves a Doctor and provided essential medical cover for much of the exercise.
to the appropriate courses. I have no doubt
that if the drivers were required 3 MERCIAN would have performed extremely well.
BGHQ and the Signals Platoon continued to train for BATUS completing their main training event CAST and CATT, this was preceded by a PACEX in Sennelager. A lot was learned and the RSO and his team certainly set the foundations for the demands
of Ex PRAIRIE THUNDER 4. From a real time perspective both the QMs and HQ Coy CQMS provided a valuable service during these 3 weeks ensuring 3 MERCIAN BG was fully supported.
Preparation for and the deployment to BATUS was a hectic period. HQ Coy by its very nature were extremely busy well before a vehicle got anywhere near the Prairie. The co-ordination of flights for
The BG could not function without its attachments for Prairie Thunder. Lt David ‘Dangerous’ Watts and his Med Tp from 29 Sqn, 2 Med Regt
provided clinical expertise and some great debrief points, just do not ask them to form up in a BG leaguer too often. The work of Sgt Pearson and his section of RMP from 111 Provost Company was acclaimed as best practice in the difficult role of prisoner of war and detainee handling.
Post BATUS HQ Company is in a good place, the majority will carry on in role through MST and deploy on OP HERRICK 19. There will
be hurdles ahead, uncertainty and a lot of hard work however I am confident that HQ Company is more than capable of overcoming this and supporting the Battalion through the demands of pre deployment training and the Operational Tour.
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MT Platoon
Since returning from Op HERRICK 14,
the Motor Transport Platoon has seen significant changes with only 5 members
of the tour remaining. The key changes are Capt Baz Mitchell taking over as MTO, WO2 “Chappy” Chappelle as the MTWO and Sgt “Veggie” Venables returning as the MT Sgt.
The Platoon has also said sad farewells to Cpl Anton Smith who is now the Regimental Shepherd at ITC Catterick, Pte “Mad Dog” Harrison who has retired from the Army
after 22 years and Pte
“S Bend” Nicholls who
has taken voluntary
redundancy. We wish you
all luck for the future. Over
the past twelve months,
we have had a few new
arrivals on the family front
with Cpl Woodward and his wife Lorna adding a new edition to their family named Maggie and Pte “Gerry” Hodge completing
his own fire team with twins named Kerin and Rys.
It has been a busy and varied year not least with the MOD response to the proposed fuel strikes
with most of the Platoon kindly exchanging their well earned Easter leave to go and help out those poor hard done by fuel tanker
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
it has been a busy and varied year not least with Op eScALin