Page 118 - The Light Dragoon 2024

we jumped into the water to wade to shore. The sand felt harder than concrete against our weak and wobbly sea legs but being reunited with our loved ones to the sound of the pū and pū (the traditional Hawaiian wind pipes) in the wash of the shore was a truly magical moment. Tanned, consid- erably lighter (between 6 and 10kg each), with big unkempt beards, and hands like leather, we were overjoyed and ever so slightly discombobulated. The next few days with our families were incredibly special but with it the stresses normality came flooding back - an experience many of this readership might be familiar with when returning from Operations.
Fast forward to September 2023 and the team reassembled in Düsseldorf for the Invictus Games. Our charitable fundraising efforts raised £120k; £65k of which has
gone to Prince Harry’s injured veteran’s Olympics, an organisation that funded and supported the epic rows by Roycey. What made this Invictus particularly special was that the Light Dragoon’s own, Steve Sampher, also injured on Herrick 16, was competing and a fantastic team of Regimental legends, Lt Col Bartholomew, Dale Mackenzie, and Jason Helas also joined us. Of course, we had more than just a few catch-up beers to mark the occasion. It was a great honor to raise funds for Invictus and we also got catch-up with Prince Harry himself which was a fantastic highlight. Watching injured veterans from 23 countries compete was an awesome way to round off our adventure and made it all worth it.
Lastly, to the serving and retired Light Dragoons who would like to have a crack
Done
at an ocean I say give it a go! And, like a handful of other regiments in the British Army, I would recommend The Light Dragoons invest in their own Ocean rowing boat.
HA
The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
Virtual Light Dragoon – our virtual community continues to grow!
Since the Virtual Light Dragoon (vLD) app was launched in 2022 we have made steady progress with
over 160 members having signed up. In addition, a number of new features have been added, notably a link to access an electronic version of the Regimental Journal, a seemingly small innovation, but hopefully a welcome one for those former regimental members to keep in touch with current day activities of the regiment. We also now have the facility to push notifications of news alerts or new initiatives to members.
vLD was launched to provide an easily accessible platform to enable former and serving regimental members to connect, to access a wide range of infor- mation, which notably includes key links to our mental health and well-being support application, Leafyard, and to the Peer Support Group, to provide information about upcoming events and to offer mentoring and networking opportunities.
But, what next?
This article sets out a selection of initia- tives that we would like to develop to take vLD to the next level.
Membership
We will continue to promote this through the existing channels, and through targeting relevant regimental ‘influencers’. We hope this platform can gain more traction and relevance by growing its membership and we need support in achieving that. If you
are reading this article and are a vLD network member, that is great, please spread the word. If not, please sign up and see what it has to offer!
Networking and mentoring
vLD offers opportunities to build networks, which could, for example, be based on former troop or squadron structures, and opportunities for those who are so inclined to provide mentoring and guidance. The latter is particularly relevant where serving or former members of the regiment are looking at their career options to know that there are individuals from within the regimental family with wide-ranging business experience and connections, who will be delighted to offer whatever guidance and advice they can.
I hope that we can develop the network of mentors and encourage proactive support to those that need it.
Job vacancies
There is a section within vLD which provides an opportunity for businesses to promote job vacancies. I am keen to engage with members for whom this might be relevant to consider using vLD to advertise relevant job opportunities.
Corporate partners
This aspect of vLD has always been seen as something for a later phase of its devel- opment, but as we build our regimental community, the hope is that this will provide an attractive opportunity for businesses to promote their services.
This facility is particularly relevant for businesses with regimental connec- tions who may see our community as an attractive market for what they have to offer.
While we are yet to agree a definitive model for how this works, one avenue for us to explore with a view to this providing funding to sustain this platform in the long-term is for such corporate partners to pay a nominal introduction fee to vLD when a business opportunity has materialised. While that provides an obvious financial benefit, the hope is that businesses will benefit from doing business, of whatever nature, with our community.
Events
We are keen for all members to use this platform to promote any regimentally connected activity. This is one of the key objectives of the platform, this facility is easy to access and to use to promote events, no matter the size or scale of them.
Feedback
The launch of vLD is a key initiative in the aspiration held by the regimental trustees to modernise and evolve the way in which we can connect and communicate to the regimental family.
Please contact Home Headquarters if you would like to find out more or become involved in one of these initiatives.
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