Page 82 - Light Dragoons 2023 CREST

The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
Fire team attack with a 2 star
and down in a couple of hours. Standing at the top of a climb you find yourself in the foothills of the alps marvelling at the lake and the stereotypical Italian towns that were dotted around it. After a sweaty decent you can run into the lake for a cool down and swim. Italian life is caffè and prosecco on tap with an abundance of sun in the summer and good snow in the win- ter. Within a month of arriving, a group from the HQ hit the mountains and my first run of the season was a hike and ski off the top of the Brighthorn, looking into Zermatt and Cervina while gazing wist- fully towards the Matterhorn. All in all, a great way to start any ski season.
Back in Camp we have grappled with the complexity of deploying on two large
Command Post exercises and immersed ourselves into the virtual Sahel that extend from the Mali tri-border area to the Lake Chad basin and down to the Gulf of Guinea. As a HQ we have become competent as a Joint Task Force HQ running an Italian Division as the Land component, a French or German Joint Force Air Component Headquarters, which provided our Air ele- ment, and a Maritime amphibious group with a Chemical Biological Radiological & Nuclear (CBRN) Task Force in support. While I have been lucky to understand some of the realities of the ground, from the Light Dragoon deployment to Mali, I have found it hugely educational step- ping up to the operational level. However bizarre it might feel doing it from the com- fort of a Norway bunker in winter.
NATO has a perception of being sleepy to the ill-informed, and yet a year ago it all changed. As I arrived, reports of the immi- nent Russia/Ukraine war started to come into view. While not directly involved as a HQ, we have participated in contingency planning and the renewed refreshment for the defence of Europe. It has been fascinat- ing and horrifying to see this brutal war from the side-lines. It has been impressive to see a proactive and relatively successful
Remembrance Sunday
The Matterhorn sharkfin
response by comparison with the woeful response to the annexation of the Crimea in 2014. It will be interesting to see if this is another watershed moment for the NATO Alliance that has long been under criticism and seen to have become archaic and irrel- evant. I suspect many have changed their tune. The Alliance has been fortunate to evolve in advance of this war in a way that looks promising for the future.
All UK personnel are sat at the forefront of enhancing our national reputation in NATO. I am very fortunate in that playing my part has been so fun! I will continue to enjoy the challenge, to understand and try to contribute to the vast array that NATO has to offer. I encourage anyone who is looking; go and do a job in NATO, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
JCBB
Italian Palazzos and Prosecco
...more ice
...endless ice!
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