Page 27 - Mercian Eagle Year of 2023

Pl Cmd Lt James Sendall
Pl Sgt Sgt Saula Baikirewa
26
9 Platoon
It has been a very busy year for the soldiers of 9 Platoon with overseas exercises, Support to Experimentation and Training tasks, re-rolling to armoured infantry and individuals augmenting units across the Brigade and Battalion. The year started as last year ended, with the Platoon deployed on Op ISOTROPE, supporting the Home Office with the small boats crisis. This period also included some exciting and difficult training, setting the conditions for the rest of the year.
After a period of well-earned leave, many soldiers in 9 Platoon joined 8 Platoon’s foray to Kenya. This was a fantastic learning experience as Task Force Hannibal in the Scots Guards Battlegroup. All those who deployed returned telling great war stories and even better stories of safari. For those less fortunate to deploy with 8 Platoon all was not quiet. Ex KUKRI CHOP involved
9 Platoon going head-to-head with TES against our greatest enemy, 7 Platoon. Whilst the jury is still out over who the real winner was, the soldiers of 9 Platoon thrived with the challenge and revelled in taking the fight to
A Section Commander Back Briefs his 2IC during Ex SARMIS PDT – Brecon, Sep 23
their fellow colleagues.
Alongside all of this
was the challenge of
training for the re-role
to armour as Warrior
Drivers, Gunners, or
Commanders. The
soldiers of 9 Platoon
took this busy period
in their stride and flourished with the challenge. Due to the pace of life many soldiers were acting one rank up, either running the platoon or managing a section.
As spring moved to summer, 9 Platoon deployed with the company to Castlemartin Ranges to conduct the Company’s first gunnery camp. This saw the crews
with a period of BCS
in Brecon to confirm fitness, develop our junior commanders and expose our SP to some of the complexities
of what would be the mountainous terrain of Romania.
Ex SARMIS was an arduous though highly enjoyable and
testing exercise. The main difficulty was the geography with the troops working at altitude throughout. The team particularly enjoyed working with other nations’ forces. By endex and patch exchanging, many looked less like MERCIAN soldiers and blended in more with either 10th Mountain
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
Ex SARMIS was an arduous though highly enjoyable and testing exercise
complete their Initial Gunnery Tests and
all soldiers complete the progression of training to live firing section by day. Helped out by the fantastic weather and great range package the soldiers got to conduct some good quality training followed by trips down to the beach to enjoy the sun.
By September the Platoon was preparing for Ex SARMIS in Romania, the first collective training exercise for 9 Platoon and the Company as a whole. We started
or the Romanian Brigade. In spite of the highly arduous conditions, including one day of advancing to contact up and around the mountain side, the soldiers of 9 Platoon showed great physical robustness, courage and mental resilience.
We then moved onto an LFTT package including a platoon attack and weapons familiarisation shoot on top of a mountain plateau. All concluded by a well-earned 36 hours to enjoy the sights of the beautiful city of Brasov. Praise should be given to Pte Cheney who despite being relatively new to the Platoon acted one up as a section 2IC for the duration of the exercise. For this he was awarded a commendation from the Romanian Brigade Commander.
Overall, this has been an incredibly busy year for the soldiers of 9 Platoon. All of whom are now looking forward to a well- earned Christmas break before we hit next year with as much gusto and vigour as the last. Congratulations should be passed to Cpl now Sgt Bradley, a section commander in 9 Platoon now posted to the 1st Battalion the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment as a Platoon Sgt. We wish him the best of luck.
9 Platoon Conducting Urban Training Whilst Deployed on Op ISOTROPE – Lydd & Hythe, Jan 2023
9 Platoon on Completion of Exercise SARMIS – Romania, Oct 23