Page 25 - MERCIAN Eagle 2011

A (Grenadier) Company
OC
2IC
CSM CQMS
1 Pl Comd 1 Pl Sgt
2 Pl Comd 2 Pl Sgt
3 Pl Comd 3 Pl Sgt
Maj D Canham Capt P Godsiff WO2 M Limb
CSgt S Catherwood Lt G Tyldesely
Sgt C Lavelle Lt P Marriot Sgt M Sharpe 2Lt T Onion Sgt J Brown
Written by Maj Dean Canham
The year since A (Grenadier) Company’s last Mercian Eagle instalment has seen
the Company transit the full journey from Hybrid Foundation Training, culminating in Exercise ASKARI THUNDER in Kenya, to the completion of Mission Specific Training (MST) and deployment to Afghanistan on Op HERRICK 15.
late in the summer of 2010. The course is designed to revise and teach new Company and Squadron Commanders the nuances
of the combined arms battle and requires an infantry company for them to command on the exercise. Despite having to play
out often frustrating, or downright bizarre, plans which were spun
The turnover of personnel has been huge. I took over the reins as OC from Major Paddy Ginn
Grenadier ethos remains as potent as ever
out by the Majors
of every capbadge (most of whom hadn’t picked up a rifle for 3 years!) the exercise was of immense value
in December 2010,
releasing him away to the MOD. Summer 2010 saw Captain Phil Godsiff assume the Company Second-in-Command post and the CSM and CQMS batons being taken over by WO2 Limb and CSgt Catherwood respectively. Lt Tom Onion arrived mid pre-deployment training from Platoon Commanders Division Brecon to take over command from Lt Tom Herron and gives his perspective on being a new platoon commander below. With dozens of recruits joining the company from ITC Catterick and a reinforcement of TA personnel for the tour, the Company is looking very different to how it looked a year ago, but the Grenadier ethos remains as potent as ever.
A (Grenadier) Company snapped up the opportunity to support the Combined
Arms Tactics Course’s Exercise LIONS STRIKE on
Salisbury Plain
as a run out for section commanders.
The opportunity to experience operating alongside the Warriors, Challenger 2s and numerous Royal Engineer assets which come to play on the exercise, is a rare
one and one which everyone benefitted from. It also set the scene well for the run into Exercise ASKARI THUNDER in Kenya, which is where the Battlegroup spent most of September and October 2010. Lt Paul Marriot describes his experience in Kenya below.
The prospect of nine months worth of pre-deployment training stretching out ahead of me as a new OC was met with mixed feelings. It looks like (and is) a long slog up to the tour. But the deployment at the end of it maintains the requirement to focus. I asked myself when the CSM and
I would actually get to train and develop the Company as we wanted, but as it turns
Pte Huggett ascends the ice wall in Kinlochleven
out much of the pre-deployment package facilitates this and we had more influence than we had expected.
The schedule has been demanding for all concerned. Since the start of MST in January the average soldier has spent 15 of those 30 weeks away from Belfast. With most of the individual courses
and collective exercises taking
A (Grenadier) Coy multiple ascent Ben Nevis
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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