Page 66 - MERCIAN Eagle 2011

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Headquarter Company
Rear Operations Group By Maj Richard ‘Shippa’ Hoy
The Rear Operations Group (ROG), is what many readers would know in old money
as the Rear Party; and for anyone who has ever been on a Rear Party or ROG they know it is no party, hence the change in name. Most soldiers would much rather be on operations than stuck in camp - that is, less those who are leaving the Army and are focused on their future. Unfortunately, the ROG is an essential part of the deployment, and whether the soldiers want to be there or not they play a vital role in supporting
the deployed elements and their families left behind. The 3 MERCIAN ROG for Op HERRICK 14 on paper was considerable with over 250 all ranks at the start of the tour; the reality of what was in camp on a day to day basis was of course less than this with soldiers off on courses, leave and deployed to the UK as the part of the ROG Forward. What many forget is that the ROG is not just a six month ‘tour’ but a minimum of 9 months - and longer if a unit such as
3 MERCIAN deploys its sub-units over a
2 month period. It is even longer for those covering the ROG during PDT, like the long suffering WO2 (CSM) Henney. The ROG
is responsible for ensuring the Battalion
is deployed in good order, maintaining
the barracks and equipment, training and deploying Battle Casualty Replacements (BCRs); the most important task is to look after the families and loved ones of those deployed and the soldiers recovering
from theatre with injuries. So although unglamorous and often frustrating it is an essential force element.
The 3 MERCIAN ROG was based on HQ Company, with some key players missing, and some imaginative substitutes and additional support. The ROG OC was Maj Richard ‘Shippa’ Hoy, prior to him escaping to Afghanistan for a rest as the BGLO
to 3 (Cdo) Bde and handing over to Maj
Ollie Major in mid August. His first request on arrival was that we send his internet password. The ROG 2IC, Captain Andy Harding (R Signals, FTRS), had a particularly steep learning curve as he arrived as the first
LCpl Olivia Batey at work on Op HERRICK
Sgt Gina Broadhurst and LCpl Jenny Gilchrist
elements had already deployed. There was a large BCR Platoon that had up to 50 soldiers trained and ready to deploy at any one time, under Sgt Woolley and then Sgt Williams, as well as a ROG/ Rehab Platoon with all those who were medically downgraded or waiting discharge, in the capable hands of Sgt Mellor, the Provost Sergeant. In the UK was the ROG Forward consisting of 20 soldiers under the command of Captain Steve Ostle and WO2 (CSM) Thompson, supported by the Regiment Support Team under CSgt Shanahan. The ROG (Fwd)’s primary task was to provide support to casualties and their families in the UK; and bearer parties,
if required, with a secondary task of fund raising for casualty support. More on this later.
Training CSM Henney established a structured ROG routine with parades three times a day, daily PT, sports afternoons
on Wednesdays as well as equipment
care days every Thursday. Although this does not sound remarkable to the older generation, few soldiers regularly experience barrack routine nowadays due to the busy training and operational commitments. Of course with barrack routine there is always a danger of boredom, but with essential BCR training and driver training in the
offing this was thankfully not the case. The training side was a great success with more than 51 BCRs being trained through the tour and 49 being deployed to theatre to
complete training in Bastion to reduce their deployment time should they be needed. Much of the BCR training was coordinated at Brigade level, pooling training resources from all units and coordinated centrally.
The BCRs rarely complained about not deploying, for although they were desperate to get out there, they knew something would have happened to one of their mates in theatre. Thanks to the Battalion’s luck holding for most of the tour we did not have to deploy many BCRs as battle casualties.
On the non operational training side,
Sgt Hyden, along with Cpl Andrews, did
a cracking job in reducing the Battalions Armoured Vehicle Driver deficit in preparation for the next training cycle. In total they trained 17 Warrior Drivers and 8 Bulldog Drivers.
Sgt Mellor also had great success with the Rehab Platoon with more than 17 soldiers being upgraded during the tour. Finally the Chefs entered Ex Rhino Caterer, a military skills and catering competition for Divisional Chefs and came a very credible third out of 20 teams after much training.
Sports Competitions To help maintain morale the ROG threw down the gauntlet
to the other Fallingbostel ROGs to compete in a number of sports competitions. 3 MERCIAN ROG fared well coming first in the football competition, a credible second place in the Highland Games, which is not bad when there are 2 Scottish Regiments
in camp and the closest thing we have to Scotland is Sgt ‘Jock’ Clark from Welfare, second in the Tug of War and fourth in the cross country (the less said the better with only 4 teams in the race!) A number of soldiers also entered Exercise Rhino Soldier, a Brigade organised 12 mile booted run with some rather special obstacles with the girls team made up of 2Lt Michelle Taylor, Cpl Seaman, LCpl Robertson, Pte Skill and Mrs Williamson coming second. Cpl Farrell, who was a driving force behind many of these activities, also organised a number of smaller scale sports events weekly for the ROG including football, rugby and a ROG
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
Maj Mitch Pegg and his ANA mentee Maj Mohammed