Page 20 - MERCIAN Eagle 2011

RAO
Det Comd RAWO
Major Stewart Duncan 2Lt Caroline Stalker WO2 (SQMS) Myers
18
AGC (SPS) Detachment
Over the last 10 months there have
been a number of new additions to the detachment. We have welcomed a new Det Comd, 2Lt Caroline Stalker, a new RAWO, WO2 (SQMS) Myers; also joining the team has been Cpl Waltham Snr Human Resource Assistant HQ Coy, Pte Beck
Jnr Human Resource
Assistant C Coy, and
Pte Lang Jnr Human
Resource Assistant B
Coy. We have also seen
three of our Jnr Human
Resource Assistants go
on maternity leave over
the last 3 months and
we wish them all the
best.
The detachment
has faced many challenges over the last 10 months, most notably the deployment and recovery from Op HERRICK 12, which was a very tough tour for the Bn. Due to a last minute change in the Bn’s role, the Det orbat was reduced with the Bn deployed to six different locations with the four rifle companies, the BHQ as PDATT and the
G1/G4 support. The Det had a Coy HRA located in each FOB with the RAO and a team of three running the Bn J1 JOC for casualty reporting, in theatre admin and R&R, whilst the majority of administration was carried out by a strong and patient rear party element in Catterick.
mountain biking, walking up Snowdon and then finishing off with a bit of competition on the go-karting circuit and archery.
What lies ahead for the future? We will be saying farewell to Sgt Downes, the Regt Acct and Sgt Langley, the SSA; two loyal members of the Army for 22 years. We wish them the very best for the future and whatever career they decide to take up next.
Also coming up is the deployment to Kenya in January. This will allow the Jnr HRAs to practice their fieldcraft knowledge, giving them the opportunity to further develop the infantry skills they have learned over their career. This time round the RAO will be staying behind and the new Det Comd will be deploying as UDO with the FSA. Kenya will give everyone going the opportunity to work in the heat, making it very good training, with a bit of AT thrown in prior to the run up to Op HERRICK 17.
Boxing Squad 2011 by Capt Nick Dermott
The ancient Kingdom of Mercia had an outstanding fighting pedigree and at one time covered an area from Northumberland to Lincolnshire and over to the Welsh Borders. 1 MERCIAN resurrected this fighting pedigree with its boxing squad in 2011.
In early January 2011 the Coys formed squads in order to compete in the Inter- Coy Competition scheduled for April. Three months was set aside to prepare for the event. Early morning runs, abs circuits, saunas, circuit training and skills sessions soon became the daily training cycle of the boxers. Pte Unsworth (Semi- Professional Boxer) had returned from his English Title bout and was soon amongst the teams passing on his training tips and experience. When the sparring started it soon became apparent that as a Battalion we were fortunate to have some very talented boxers. Those who sparred with Pte Unsworth certainly felt every bit of his experience!!!
The Inter – Coy Competition started on 11 April with the preliminary bouts and the Finals night was held on 14 April in Marne Barracks Gymnasium. As the Battalion settled down the first of the evenings pugilists waited nervously to enter the ring. With a fanfare from The Corps of Drums the evening began. The standard of bouts throughout the evening proved to be of
an extremely high quality. The Judges awarded “Best Runner Up” to Pte Beech and “Best Boxer” to Pte Hassal of SP Coy. After a close run competition C Coy were the eventual winners.
After a short break in training over Easter a MERCIAN select squad (chosen from all
1 Mercian Boxing Squad with Brig Bruce (Comd 4 Bde), CO 1 Me
In the last 6 months the main focus for the detachment has been preparing for the new format SPSI. With a lot of effort from all of the detachment we managed to pass the inspection with flying colours, gaining a very respectable overall green in all areas.
Comments from the inspecting team were very positive toward all Coy HRAs and the work they are doing within the Bn.
It hasn’t all been work though, with the majority of the detachment managing to get away to Anglesey, North Wales for three days of adventurous training in July. All enjoyed the time away which included
The detachment has faced many challenges over the last 10 months, most notably the deployment and recovery from Op HERRICK 12
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
MERCIAN Battalions) went to Chilwell to box in an event to support The MERCIAN Benevolent Fund. The opponents were boxers from the local area. This proved
to be an extremely tough challenge for the novice boxers as the local boxers – some of whom had been boxing for a number
of years – had a greater skill set in their armoury. In the end only one MERCIAN boxer was successful in winning a bout but all who boxed gained tremendously from the experience and over £2500 was raised for the Benevolent Fund.
A highlight for the season was an invitation from 1 SCOTS for an Inter- Battalion match in Edinburgh. The travelling supporters from 1 MERCIAN were greeted by 1 SCOTS Pipers who made sure our entrance into Dreghorn Barracks was accompanied by the sound of the Pipes. The evening commenced with a series of skills contests before the
Inter-Battalion match. 1 SCOTS took an early lead; a number of bouts could have gone either way and were separated by only 1 or 2 scoring punches. The best
bout of the evening was LCpl Griffiths
who fought the current Army Champion from 1 SCOTS. LCpl Griffiths was on the front foot throughout the bout and despite the obvious experience and skill of his opponent managed to secure a convincing win. This earned LCpl Griffiths the award of “Best Boxer” for the event. With this victory, momentum switched to 1 MERCIAN who, after a very close contest, were the eventual winners.
With this hard won victory behind us the boxing squad is keen to maintain the momentum and on 20th Oct 1 MERCIAN will fight a development squad from the Army Boxing Team and on 13 Dec the re- match with 1 SCOTS is in Catterick.