Page 62 - RSDG Year of 2021 CREST

60 EAGLE AND CARBINE
WARRANT OFFICERS’ AND SERGEANTS’ MESS
2021 had a slow start to mess life due to the ongo- ing restrictions of Covid-19. The first main event on the calendar is usually Burns Night, directed by the RQ(T). The night is one of the most anticipated eve- nings, allowing the mess to come together for a night full of fun, laughter, good food and Gaelic music, how- ever, this was not to be. With the regiment being split to the four winds with brigade trawls, ranges, training and career courses, there was not much time for the mess to socialise over the first half of the year. As we moved into the summer, the preparation for Exercise WESSEX STORM was well under way.
WESSEX STORM 21
Five years have passed since the SCOTS DG BG has taken to the field on Ex WESSEX STORM and a lot of new officers and soldiers have joined the Regiment since then. Even within the WOs` & Sgts` Mess we have had a lot of new faces and everyone has changed jobs since the last Ex WS – you can always teach an old dog new tricks!
Pre-exercise admin is where the Sgts` Mess comes to life, ensuring all our vehicles, weapons and troops are in good order and ready to hit the ground running. The RQs were frantic as ever getting the correct vehicles – cheers LTF! - and ensuring accommodation was sorted for the range period at STANTA – oh wait, there wasn’t any! Some may blame C19, but we all think it was the Ops Officer trying to get an MBE for saving cash. SSM’s were deep in spreadsheets and ensuring there were enough bodies to fill the vehicles, whilst SQMSs were up to their eyes in serial numbers and stickies!
As mentioned, we deployed to STANTA, Thetford, for the first phase of our deployment: two weeks of MCC & DCC live firing and some CT2 to blow the cobwebs out
before hitting the ground running on SPTA. It’s key we get this runout before major exercises to iron out teeth- ing problems with kit and processes; sadly, we no longer hold all the vehicles and weapons we require to deploy on a big exercise and it usually comes to us a week before getting out the door. A lot of good training was conducted at STANTA as the BG started to test itself in preparation for WS. There was even a chance for squadrons to have...wait for it...smokers!! The mythi- cal events that used to be the norm from days gone by in times now only remembered by the MTWO!
All ‘fun’ was put to bed when we left for SPTA, as the whole BG was to travel over 200 miles on civilian roads to Salisbury Plain. It is a testament to our LAD and the troops that we can move vast distances and have mini- mal vehicles needing recovering or fixing: something that is quite unique to the Light Cavalry. Ex WS is well resourced event, plus having another two BG`s on the plain meant a lot of variety and opportunities to learn new skill; as reconnaissance soldiers we should be constantly thriving to learn new skills and be inquisi- tive by nature. Being able to deploy by helicopter and insert into sub-surface OPs for 48hrs, travel hundreds of miles to launch a raid onto a complex urban facil- ity or hold off wave after wave of armoured vehicles with anti-tank screens and use of artillery, the Light Cavalry is still the best bang for your buck organisa- tion, even if the MTO doesn’t book coaches for getting back up the road!
Deploying into the field for seven weeks is no mean feat, especially given that for the past two years we have been living with C19 and helping the country with testing & vaccinations. The Regiment is in good hands - we have a strong cohort in the Sgts’ mess who keep the regiment ticking along, seaming together the