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Ex Lion Star V – Cyprus 2012
Lt Lloyd Watt,, C Company, 4 MERCIAN
May 2012 saw 4 MERCIAN deploy on Annual Camp for two
weeks. This year was slightly different from previous years, as camp took place in Cyprus as part of Exercise Lion Star V. In total, 132 exercising troops (including members from both the East Midlands and Birmingham UOTCs) departed Wolverhampton BHQ in the early hours of the night to take part in a very ambitious overseas training exercise.
Based out of Radio Sonde Camp and operating as a fully-
formed Company, the exercising troops of ‘Gheluvelt Company’ took part in four different aspects of training during the first week. For the
Exercising troops of 4 MERCIAN step off an RAF Huey Rescue Helicopter as part of the FTX on Lion Star V. (6th June 2012)
Gheluvelt Coy get ready for a debrief after their beach assault from the SPSIs. (3rd June 2012)
Soldiers and JNCOs, contemporary training was conducted by the SPSIs in order to refresh their memory and skills from section-level up to platoon-level tactics, in order to prepare them for the five-day FTX taking place in the second week.
For the SNCOs and Officers, Major Walkley (Bn 2IC) and Captain Mahoney (E Coy PSAO) had designed a special package, taking
the 1955–1959 EOKA campaign as a basis and comparing it with other counter-insurgency campaigns that have taken place in recent history. The aim of this “Cyprus Surprise,” as it was dubbed, was
to develop wider military knowledge and understanding both at
THE MERCIAN EAGLE