Page 46 - Light Dragoons 2023 CREST

The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
At the top of the final peak of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge
an early rise from our barracks in Cardiff. On arrival, the first thing we encountered was the mandatory kit check. This was a rigid kit inspection, everythinh was unpacked and sieved through to ensure nothing was missing. Not missing any- thing, we were then ushered through to our safety and scenario briefs, collected our Comms equipment and then Lt Riall received his orders. With an hour to write orders and build a model, it was all hands- on deck. Model built and orders briefed, we then finally set off and with the weight of a fully laden bergen on our backs the challenge ahead seemed daunting.
The patrol was split into two phases, for the first part of the 60km route we were in ber- gen order. Then on reaching the halfway point we cached our bergens and scaled down to daysack order. The first half was over the Black Mountains, this was cer- tainly the most physically demanding part of the patrol. With fewer stands to hit, this was a test of endurance, grit and determi- nation. The two stands in this phase were CBRN and a mass casualty stand. The CBRN stand was our first and weakest stand however, learning from our mistakes we took the next stand by storm. Clearly impressed, the DS had no work on points, hinting at gold standard. Buoyed by our success, we then sort to make the most of the daylight hours. Sgt Rae, knowing the Black Mountains like the back of his hand, set a blistering pace and barely had to pull out a map. As darkness fell, we maintained a good pace and overtook team after team, each one in a poorer state than the last, gal- vanising the faith in our physical perfor- mance. Having been the penultimate team to set off, we were the first team to reach the lay-up / halfway point. This meant that we had gained at least 4-6 hours on most other teams. Our speed also resulted in us being held at this point for 6hrs, allowing for some much-needed sleep. On waking up, teams were still arriving, getting their next FRAGO, dropping their bergens and then having to set off again with no time to stop and rest.
The team with their silver medal
D+1. Having scaled down to daysack order, we looked to start the second phase of the competition as we had finished the first with speed. We were now moving over the Brecon Beacons and into Sennybridge Training area. We quickly began to over- take teams, most of whom had had little or no sleep. Our first checkpoint of the day was a CTR on an enemy compound. This being our day job, we attacked it with con- fidence and took down the necessary infor- mation before moving on. This second phase had most of the stands and along with the CTR we did AFV rec, fire control missions, media handling, IED clearance and a section attack. Overall, a less physi- cally demanding but more mentally taxing day than the first. As the light began to fade, we made our final push to the finish line. At this stage, our feet and shoulders really began to ache, but we maintained our speed and were the first to finish, finishing 8-10hrs faster than the next team. At the finish, we were then given an hour to do our patrol report before the back brief.
D+2. We got into bed at Sennybridge camp at around 0200 and were in place for the ceremony at 1100. Sitting quite
The only injury of the patrol
smug, as several teams still had their cam cream on only just making it back to the ceremony in time, we just hoped that our speed would translate into a gold medal. For the Cambrian Patrol, medals are awarded against a standard and not against other teams. In theory, every team could be awarded gold and equally none could. As the medals were dished out, it became clear how difficult it was to get a gold. Across the whole competition of 150 teams only eight were awarded gold medals. The Light Dragoons were ultimately awarded a silver medal which initially was certainly a disappointment. Having faired physically very well, minus a few blisters, we believed we had done enough on the stands to get gold. This was not to be and ultimately where we fell short was a lack of under- standing of how and where we were being assessed. Looking forward to next year, the Light Dragoons have a template which with a few tweaks and the right people can absolutely yield a gold medal. Overall, this was a demanding but rewarding experi- ence for all those involved and everyone in-squad can look back with a huge sense of achievement.
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The team with their silver medal