Page 47 - Light Dragoons 2023 CREST

Exercise Defender 22 was a US initi- ated NATO exercise across the plains of Central and Northern Europe, that saw force elements deploy through Germany, into Poland and the Baltic States in May 22. Of course this came a couple of months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine but was not a reactive exercise to these events. This was a long planned large scale exer- cise testing NATO readiness, strategic base outload, developing operational capabil- ity and interoperability between allies. In short; Projecting force elements, Engaging with NATO allies, and Deterring Russian aggression through a demonstration of combined and joint NATO capabilities.
On the ground this saw C Sqn, the Legion, deploying out to Poland self-sufficiently as a lone UK sub-unit attached to a Polish Brigade. Having completed our validation exercise in the UK at the end of March, our Jackal vehicles were driven to the port of embarkation near Portsmouth at the end of April to be transported by a merchant navy vessel to Esbjerg in Denmark. Here they joined US and Danish equipment loaded onto a larger vessel before onward movement to Gdansk, in West Poland. An early thanks must go to Lt Erskine and his B Sqn Troop for spending a few weeks stagging on the wagons whilst they waited in Denmark, which involved battling with Danish import officials who were rigorous with their cleanliness checks, and spend- ing time by the hotel pool.
On arrival at Gdansk port the vehicles were met by the Sqn, who had flown in 24hrs before, for offload. On recognis- ing the stressful environment in the port with multiple logisticians, who had been cooped up there for already too long, the Jackals were mounted and we moved to our first link up with 12 Mech Bde, Polish Army in Torun, 200km South of Gdansk. Blue lighted by the police, who ensured we took priority on the roads, the road moves were relatively painless. We were also assisted by having a beefed up logis- tical team and Fitter section. Plus we had Capt Montgomery-Stewart as the lead planning officer, who had conducted rec- ces whilst the Sqn were on Salisbury Plain, and was key in making things happen as planned. Alongside him was SSgt Cheshire as an additional logistical planner with the
SQMS. SSgt Cheshire, as a veteran of mul- tiple Op Cabrit tours to Poland and now with family based very close to the training area in East Poland was our local SME.
Our first engagement with 12Bde was in Torun where the Poles had set up a pretty luxurious camping spot, complete with shower blocks and camp cots, just out- side the attractive historical town centre.
This time was used to conduct some com- munity engagement at a local school, by demonstrating our equipment capabilities alongside the Polish Mechanised Infantry Company, whilst also useful in under- standing each others differing equipment.
Another 300km move following the Polish APCs this time, which were capa- ble of some impressive speeds, and we had
The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
Exercise Defender 22
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