Page 106 - RSDG Year of 2021 CREST

112 EAGLE AND CARBINE
And on Fri 10 Dec with distinctly less hair than a year ago, the platoon I have trained, cajoled, pushed and pulled marched up the steps of Old College, through the Grand Entrance and commission as British Army Officers to the skirl of the Pipes and Drums of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. I cannot think of a more befitting ending and commencement of their careers.
For me I have learnt a lot about different leadership styles, how some people react to pressure, the process
on how Officers are selected into the Regiment, ‘wafty’ haircuts and how to explain something that should take one sentences over a few paragraphs. I have really enjoyed my time at Sandhurst so far and have met some brilliant people. I would fully recommend this experience to any Senior NCO in our regiment. I am moving onto be directing staff on the next instructor cadre in Jan 22 and hope it is just as good.
‘Oh Sure, Bud’
Early Musings on Exchange with The Royal Canadian Dragoons
Captain R Beatty
I’ll begin this submission to this year’s Eagle & Carbine by debunking an oft-held truism regarding our Canadian brothers. Far from the congenitally polite, chronic apologists that popular culture would have us believe exist out here, Canadians are, in fact, quite warry. A heavy involvement in Afghanistan, coupled with a winter-hardened grit and an attractively intoxi- cating cavalier attitude (which, I assume, can only exist in countries in which cowboys are still a thing) all serve to produce a type of soldier that any Britisher would be proud to stand alongside - I certainly have been for the past four months. What follows is a brief note on the early impressions of one wayward eagle nestled in amongst these wintry ‘Springboks’ – The Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD, or simply ‘Dragoons’).
I started my time here by diving head-first into the sprint version of Ex IRON WARRIOR, a 21km tab- bing, canoeing and portaging (that’s carrying a canoe overhead, at speed) race that took place in September 21, with a view to making a strong first impression. My summer training plan, however, fell victim to a gross underestimation of North American tabbing ability;
leaning perhaps too heavily on my impression of our US brethren during Op CABRIT. This made for a bit of a shock over the first 2km as I attempted to keep pace with the airborne chap at the leading edge. In my defence, he was wearing trainers and I had militantly opted for a pair of Altberg microlites, but the excuses will stop there. After a good morning hovering just below the heat injury threshold like a good SCOTS DG officer; I finished in the top 5 percentile overall and as the fastest Dragoon of the day. Rats.
Happily, for an enthusiastic (insert rhyme here) Exchange Officer such as me, almost all of the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) doctrine is derived from British military thinking - with little influence from its pow- erful neighbour to the south. In perusing Canadian aide-memoires and observing their activity in the field, the shadowy hand of British tactical thought is every- where, if often somewhat diluted. For instance, where the British Army officer shackles himself to the Seven Questions (or is it 19?), the CAF Officer handrails a Battle Procedure outline that could be carried around comfortably and complete in a smock-pocket. What’s