Page 42 - Mind, Body & Spirit Number 104 2020/21

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www.raptcassociation.org.uk
4TH BATTALION THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF SCOTLAND ‘THE HIGHLANDERS’
Iarrived at 4 Scots in September 2020. Having a career within the Infantry myself before transferring to the RAPTC, I thought I would be well placed to assimilate into the Battalion way of life
and understand the ethos. I was not wrong. Although a busy time for the Battalion with the majority being deployed to Afghanistan on Operations, I was quickly welcomed as one of their own.
Now, there was one slight problem which I would have to address straight away and that was the thick Scottish accent. After a few occasions of having to say, “sorry what was that?” or “say again over?” I understood I would need to take a very quick crash course in ‘Jockanese!.’
The Battalion itself is a large Unit of 650. There is a busy churn of jobs and tasks and it wasn’t long before I found myself at the heart of one of the readiness taskings.
In January 2021 I was part of a HQ Company team that deployed to Manchester on OP RESCRIPT. Our task was to assist the local authorities to provide mass COVID-19 testing to local businesses and organisations. It wasn’t long before I was given the task of leading a small team to run a testing site myself. A very different environment to what I’m used to as an RAPTCI, but adapting to the situation I embraced the task and thoroughly enjoyed the time there. It turns out RAPTCI’s have a very diverse skill set!
Sunset Challenge Charity Event - Sat 14th November 2020
At 0600hrs on Sat 14th November 2020, Sgt Tony Waters from The Light Dragoons and myself embarked on an adventure we will never forget as long as we both shall live.
Both Sgt Waters and I being keen endurance athletes we wanted to challenge ourselves with something that would really test our mettle going into the winter. With multiple Ironman and ultramarathon events under our belts we were no strangers to hard work for long periods of time. However, this challenge was going to be harder than anything we had ever done before.
With all official endurance events cancelled around the country due to lockdown we decided we should come up with one of our own. We eventually decided that we were going to attempt to run for 12 hours straight around Catterick Garrison running track only stopping momentarily for either food, drink or a change of trainers.
SSgt Hanson and the team on OP RESCRIPT
Now, with this attempt we wanted to try and see if we could raise some money for charity. The charity we decided on was MIND, a mental health organisation that provides help and resources to those that suffer with depression, anxiety, stress and other mental health issues. A worthy cause that Sgt Waters and I can relate to with close friends and family affected in some way.
Starting at 0600hrs in the morning we stepped off into the unknown, it was still dark and at least an hour and a half before we would see the sunrise.
We went through a mixture of emotions over the next 12 hours but mile after mile the desire to complete the challenge for others in need spurred us both on through to the 1800hrs timeline.
We crossed the line at 1800hrs having ran 70 miles each (140 miles total), 560 laps of the track, ten pairs of trainers changed, 13,000 calories burned and raising a grand total of £2000 for the MIND charity. Officially the most testing physical event we have ever done.
A massive thank you to all that helped support, donate and make the event possible.
SSgt (SSI) M Hanson RAPTC
SSgt Hanson & Sgt Waters still smiling 6 hours in!
SSgt Hanson & Sgt Waters - Flying the flag for the Corps and the Charity MIND