Page 34 - Mercian Eagle Year of 2023

Light Aid Detachment (REME)
From one busy year to another, 1 MERCIAN Light Aid Detachment (LAD) have performed and further built upon their formidable reputation by delivering the vehicles required for a huge range of Bn activities. These have included range packages, Ex IRON FIRE, Ex AURORA,
Ex CABRIT TEMPEST, Ex IRON CYCLONE, Ex IRON STORM, Ex SARMIS and ACES LIGHTFOOT to name just a few.
April – Exercise AURORA
LCpl Akinnola
Post an exhausting and unrelenting rehabilitation period of 15 Operational Equipment Standard Warriors from Germany we deployed within a Finnish Battle Group, in a Swedish Brigade, to Sweden for Ex AURORA. Here, the terrain quickly proved to be a challenge from
the norm in which drivers were forced to quickly adapt. Over the duration of the exercise, B Coy Fitter Section supported the Company by diagnosing and subsequently repairing a vast variety of vehicle faults from generators to vehicle battery fires.
May – Ex CABRIT TEMPEST TFH
Cpl Templeman
Having completed a 7-day activation period we deployed onto Ex CABRIT TEMPEST
to act as the TASK FORCE HANNIBAL (TFH) Fitter Section. Here, all our trade groups worked around the clock to achieve a 100% Equipment Availability to operate as an effective enemy force. The Warrior 513 and 512 remained busy over the period recovering multiple
supported a testing firing camp. Despite facing challenges with ES Mat and LCpl Hill setting a record for the highest number of BGTI items replaced on a firing camp, overall, it was a success, with the Company qualifying Gunners as planned.
Following the 4-week period in CMR, the Fitter Section, assisted by vehicle crews, had 7 days to turn both the fleet, and themselves around, ready for the BG BCS phase where Sgt ‘Cowboy Taz’ Taylor did a
A Coy Fitter Section on Ex IRON CYCLONE
fuel pump, the fleet was handed back without fault.
September – Ex SARMIS
LCpl Lloyd
Ex SARMIS saw HQ Fitter Section join a contingent of C Company on a gruelling road move from Bulford to the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, a 1650 mile journey! The vehicle packet composed of MAN SVs, SVR, Land Rovers and Quads performed surprisingly admirably, albeit not without incident, as we found that certain platforms had a penchant for developing faults. With credit to the challenging terrain, and a healthy measure of user error, we were kept busy throughout the exercise attending to mechanical and electrical issues as they arose.
All in all, 2023 has been a highly demanding year and one that has forged the LAD to become a strong community
of highly impressive tradesmen, who have engineering excellence at their core. More importantly it has reinforced itself as a place of happy individuals that will look back on the year with fondness and stories to tell
for many years. The LAD, whether it was
at 3pm in Bulford or 3am in Romania has always been a place full of laughter and a place where an incredibly hard-working team can be found. Overall, 2023 set the conditions for a highly trained, capable and happy group of REME soldiers, willing and ready to close on any task that is thrown at us in 2024!
EME Capt L Sandoe ASM WO1 M McGlone
WR 510 / 511s, along
with vehicles being
repaired continuously
in the Equipment
Casualty Collection
Point. Generator failures
proved to be frequent
and it felt as though
vehicle packs were
almost in a constant
state of “lifted.” The
Fitter Section bonded
well, strengthened
relations with wider
Dragon Company, and worked efficiently as part of a team, despite puzzling revelations surrounding the deficiency of vital large components.
June to August – Ex IRON CYCLONE
Cpl Mear
Ex IRON CYCLONE began with a Live Firing package at Castlemartin Ranges where post an immediate maintenance and preparation period the Fitter Section
brilliant job of keeping the fleet on the road during our daily BG serials.
September –
Ex IRON STORM
Cpl Beman
On the 8th of August,
B Coy Fitter Section deployed to Sennelager as part of TFH in support of 1 MERCIAN B Company. It was
the third time in quick
succession that the Fitter Section endured the skeleton-destroying 14-hour journey
by coach, after deploying earlier in the month to take over the ageing and unloved TFH fleet. Luckily, we had a certified Tech Wizard in the form of LCpl Akinnola who, despite the attempts of one tricky Drivers Instrument Panel, was never beaten. The Fitter Section performed and bonded
well and despite LCpl Gurung’s continued waking torture regarding a particular faulty
The Fitter Section bonded well, strengthened relations with wider Dragon Company, and worked efficiently
as part of a team
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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