Page 14 - RSDG Year of 2021 CREST

12 EAGLE AND CARBINE
STORM finished with a combined helicopter/ground assault force operation to secure a site in Caerwent. A Sqn provided elements of both the ground and heli- copter forces, though the road move took significantly longer than the air move! After great successes all round, the BG recovered to Salisbury Plain to begin the end of exercise procedures.
The next 72hrs will be familiar to many veterans of BATUS or SPTA at ENDEX; a lot of maintenance, a lot of burgers, and not much in the way of sleep... Other than Lt Lambert, who continued to make the most of the hammock that he had perfected setting up through the course of the exercise (18 lengths of a size 9 Altberg between vehicles required for the optimum angle of dangle for interested parties). The end of the exercise also saw us lose a huge personality from the squadron; Lt Beatty departing for a two-year exchange with the Royal Canadian Dragoons based in Petawawa, southern Ontario. We wish him the best of success and know that he will use his infectious energy and passion to uphold the reputation of the Regiment overseas.
Having recovered back to Leuchars we began prepara- tions in earnest for SCOTS DG 50 with Sgt Randles and LCpl McGuire drilling us to within an inch of our lives. It was not wasted effort however, as the parade down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile demon- strated. The squadron looked resplendent and to be part of such a historic event in front of so many of our friends and family was an honour and privilege that won’t be forgotten. The fiftieth anniversary also marked the handover of Squadron 2IC between Capt Robbie Houstoun and the newly promoted Capt Jim Maclachlan. Moments after hangovers had subsided from SCOTS DG 50, Third Troop under Lt Scrutton and Sgt Hendry and a number of individual augmen- tees deployed alongside B and C Squadrons to Oman for Ex KHANJAR OMAN. With much of the unit deployed, the remainder of A Sqn took up the mantle as the Operation VENTUS Tailored Response Force lead sub-unit group, taking under command a number of specialists from 7RLC to bolster our numbers and
Firing Point Manager
provide key niche skill sets. This task was designed to provide a rapid response to a hurricane making land- fall in a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean and whilst it did not come to fruition, it provided a focus and different challenge to prepare for after Ex WESSEX STORM. We were fortunate to be able to take the opportunity to conduct AT whilst B and C Sqns were deployed, with the whole squadron rotating through a multi-activity package, Ex EAGLES TREK, coordinated by the HQ Sqn SSM, WO2 (SSM) Imrie.
The close of the year saw a flurry of activity as troops recovered from Ex KHANJAR OMAN. A second iter- ation the hugely successful Ex URBAN EAGLE was run by Cpl Tootle on behalf of A Sqn, delivering pis- tol ranges and an intensive period of urban operations training at the Northern HAS site on Leuchars air- field. We were fortunate to be able to bring some of the RHQ team into the fold, with the Comd Offr and Regtl 2IC boldly stepping up as enemy for the final clear- ances of the objectives; it’s not often that one gets the chance to shoot the Comd Offr and, as the welts from the Simunition paint marker rounds demonstrated, it was one that our younger soldiers took full advantage of. As we closed for Christmas leave we were presented with the next round of MACA tasks and deployed a number of soldiers to assist in the C19 booster vaccina- tion rollout; fingers crossed that 2022 will be the year that we can see the back of it!
Smoker