Page 30 - RSDG Year of 2021 CREST

28 EAGLE AND CARBINE
THE LIGHT AID DETACHMENT
Captain W Shaw REME
This is the second and will be the final time I have had the honour of writing an article for the ‘Eagle and Spanner’. I can honestly say that 2021 did not disappoint and has proved to be both a challenging & rewarding year for the Light Aid Detachment (LAD). It has provided a vast array of activities and a substan- tial amount of work to be conducted.
The Regimental Annual Firing package saw A Sqn Fitters deploy to provide real life support for the event as well as gain the required range qualifications for deployment on Ex WESSEX STORM. Concurrently they provided support to the BGHQ training event taking place close by. This proved to be an extremely busy period as the tired Land Rover fleet required sup- port throughout.
Phase one would last one week and involved deploying to Warcop to conduct dismounted ranges. This proved to be a wet and cold serial that comprised of conduct- ing pairs and Section level attacks, followed by repair- ing the BGHQ fleet. The VM’S where kept busy and had to work throughout the night open to the elements on the camp car park, repairing an unresponsive Jackal and several Land Rovers. The Armourer’s spent their time conducting pre firing checks and weapon repairs.
The Fitter Section were under pressure to complete all taskings, most importantly ensuring the vehicle fleet’s serviceability, for the 300-mile road move to Castlemartin, prior to conduct the next phase.
A successful road move to Castlemartin, and the remainder of the Jackal fleet unloaded form the LETs, the mounted phase of the ranges now begun. The main effort, being to qualify the Jackal crews up to the required standard. The fitter section where located outside of the main camp and next to the workshop. We quickly set up a working area and conducted a full rehab on the vehicles that had completed the long drive down south, the day prior. As a result, a large amount of work was identified, mainly from the BGHQ fleet. We got straight to work, utilising the large spares pack on the Fitter truck and managed to resolve the major- ity of the issues and maintain a high level of readiness, for the remaining two weeks. Our ES burden slowed as the week progressed, which allowed us to complete the relevant mounted shoots up to LFX 8 and the occa- sional kettlebell workout. During the last few days of the range package, ISI’s where carried out prior to the vehicles return to Leuchars. The Range package was a success and gave the vehicle fleet a much-needed