Page 83 - Light Dragoons 2023 CREST

In March 2022 I arrived at Warminster downgraded and in a neck brace follow- ing surgery and a period of convalescence after a skiing crash on Exercise White Knight 37 the previous winter. Not the ideal situation to embark on a new job but sometimes these predicaments can’t be helped.
What followed was a fragmented year with 6 months covering Observer Mentor (OM) duties working at the Command and Staff Trainer (CAST), while nominally as SO2 Armour at Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (CATT), and 3 months working as XO Land Warfare Centre (LWC) prior to going to Staff College. For 2022 CATT(S) and CAST(S) combined their workforce working to a single SO1 as the CATT building was receiving a new roof.
Both CATT(S) and CAST(S) are part of the Command Staff and Tactical Training Group (CSTTG) which is subordinate to the Collective Training Group (CTG). CTG is in turn subordinate to LWC – the training HQ for the Field Army. The team at CAST support the chain of command
in the design and delivery of combined arms staff training at formation and Battle Group level from training level DELTA to FOXTROT.
So what does an OM do? In short, watch a planning team use the estimate to produce orders and comment on their performance using a series of indicators generated as appropriate to the various Command Post Exercises required to validate.
Over the 6 months spent working for CAST(S) I primarily covered the manoeu- vre tactical function but also looked at some elements of command during plan- ning. I also had the opportunity to look at developing CAST mentoring of the simu- lated execute phase. Critically for my per- sonal development I had the opportunity to observe two regiments (4 Regt RLC and 4 SCOTS) and two brigades (20X and 12X) throughout their training progression as well as to work on material for the Battle Group Commanders Course.
From CAST I was trawled to work at the LWC for 3 months as Executive Officer
(XO). This is a similar co-ordination and staff role to that of Adjutant in a regiment but working to the Chief of Staff (COS) in a 2* headquarters. Tasks included hosting visits, co-ordinating meetings on behalf of the COS, Unit Security Officer duties and producing the weekly DOWNREP as well as other staff work. While I had not vol- unteered for this trawl, I certainly found that the purpose of the LWC appeared reinforced with the Op INTERFLEX and MOBILISE and enjoyed the pace and diversity of work at the LWC as well as the awareness came with the role.
2022 has been an interesting year between being selected for promotion to Maj and Staff College. Both CAST and LWC have widened my knowledge of Field Army training and given me the opportunity to develop and I would wholeheartedly rec- ommend looking at jobs in either to other Light Dragoons. Thankfully the fractured neck has also fully healed and been passed as medically fit.
JMHP
The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
SO2 Armour and XO Land Warfare Centre, Warminster
Having arrived and got my feet under the desk as the J3 Desk Officer covering the Western Balkans and Black Sea Regions, my focus was primarily on Operations ORBITAL (Ukraine), ELGIN (Kosovo) and TOSCA (Cyprus), but more widely on all military activity in Europe. Shortly thereafter I was shifted onto the Afghanistan Operations Team and spent the following month working predominantly night shifts, with my primary task being understand the situation in Kabul in order to prepare briefing slides and an assessment report for PJHQ and the MOD as defence delivered Op PITTING. It was a truly remarkable effort, into which I played a very small part but witnessed what
PJHQ, SO2 Land
defence can deliver when the chips are down.
There was little time for rest, as Afghanistan concluded, Ukraine became the next hot-topic, and I was back to my previous role as Black Sea Region and ORBITAL desk lead. What has followed has been a year of intense work as the UK has responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The J3 UKR team has grown by a fac- tor of six which I have found myself as de-facto COS. The activity delivered through gifting of equipment (both UK and international) and training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been monumental – I know that much of the Regiment has seen it from a differ-
ent perspective as they have delivered INTERFLEX.
I can’t recommend working in PJHQ more highly; At the operational coalface, desk officers are in the privi- leged position of planning, generat- ing and overseeing the delivery of all conventional UK Military Operational output. As an SO2 I am trusted and significantly empowered to make deci- sions well above the level I might have expected prior to posting here. The team is diverse, inclusive and all towing in the same direction making it a col- legiate and friendly place to work, even when the pressure is really on.
CGMG
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