Page 50 - The Light Dragoon 2024

The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
It is not often that Light Dragoons venture into the jungle and not lightly is the task undertaken, for deep under the canopy in the thick of the flora, in the clotting heat, even the mightiest soldiers fall.
This challenge, a patrol competition in the jungle of Brunei befell a crack-team of Dragoons from A Sqn ‘The Empire’ led by Capt Elkington. Selection was rigorous, the criteria: strict. But over the course of two weeks six soldiers with the correct range qualifications were chosen, as well as one who happened to be in Brunei already.
The next three weeks were a rigorous cycle of fitness, lessons and kit preparation. Morning and afternoon Capt Elkington assembled his section and led them through a series of runs, gym sessions, recovery sessions and theory. Small physical gains can be made in a mere three weeks, but the effect on the mind is great. It was with clear lungs and healthy bodies that the team departed from Heathrow on the 17th September.
Arriving in Bandar Seri Bagwan (BSB) to a hot rainy welcome, the LDs were escorted to Sittang Camp. The Gurkha Support Company who inhabited this rudimentary collection of sheds were bemused by their presence, “Sahib, you have arrived a week early, the other contestants do not arrive for a further seven days!”. But their unwavering rigidity was ignored, the LDs were here to acclimatise and practice their drills in the heat. The LDs were here to win.
The first week was spent conducting back- to-back rehearsals on the beach with the waves of the South China Sea lapping on the shore only metres away. As JWI, Sgt Monaher would lead rehearsal of concept drills which were performed with great attention to detail. Within a week, the men could do the drills blindfolded and communicated only in hand signals.
The second week brought with it our comrades from the wider Brigade. Teams from the Rifles, Scots, Coldstream Guards and of course, the Gurkhas, assembled at Sittang Camp. Acclimatisation now began in earnest as well as back-to-back lessons and demonstrations in the lecture hall. Participants were taught everything they would be assessed on. Included within this package was a trip to Brunei’s capital city, BSB, which proved less enlightening than hoped. At the end of this week, we were afforded two days training under the canopy. An ominous event occurred when erecting hammocks. Three of the larger members of the patrol had already thudded on the deck from a height of three or so feet. LCpl Greenan, having delighted in the torment of others, then swung his legs onto his suspended bed and flippantly
Sunda Patrol
said, “bon voyage”, before immediately hammering down on the floor. Only the skinny survived the night prompting Tpr McGuiness to comment that “only inferior genes survive in the jungle”.
Two days later, Capt Elkington, in a bid to display the superior quality of his own genes, fell prey to some mysterious ailment attacking his legs. He was carried to the med centre by his men and took no further part in the competition.
Responsibility now fell to Cpl Hampson who stepped up to lead the patrol, with LCpl Lawton a very capable 2IC. With two members of the patrol picking up their first stripe while in Brunei and the rest troopers, we were very much the junior team, but in small teams there are no hiding places and every man had to take his place in the firing line.
Deployment via TCV was made to the training area. The competition was split into thirds, each comprising 24hrs activity. Day one focused on a river crossing followed by a close target reconnaissance. Day two, the patrol showcased their contact drills, while day three assessed jungle survival. At all times, the team was being assessed on their patrolling skills, down to the smallest of details. This level of scrutiny was only one factor in an already hostile environment. The intense, thick heat of the jungle, the forbidding terrain and the equally inhospitable fauna all conspired to degrade the team in both mind and body. Packs weighed heavier, clothes soaked and rubbed in a mixture of perspiration and grime aggravating the sores and rashes which developed on the skin. Reaction times were slowed and everything, even walking, took longer.
Capt Elkington, was sat beside his crutches in the Sittang cookhouse and heard the voices of Englishmen on the forecourt. He limped over to the window and saw a team from the Coldstream Guards, smeared brown and red, their clothing indistinguishable from their distorted faces. Behind them staggered a rag-tag group of other capbadges covered in blood. The jungle had claimed its first casualties, but no LDs were among them. The junior light cavalry soldiers continued to cling on, tramping through 12-hour days, up and down ridgelines before collapsing into their hammocks for a long sleep. They performed well on the river crossing, displayed proficiency with their compasses on the CTR and on the second day, reacted exceptionally well to an ambush in the rear on a very tricky and narrow apex of a ridge. At the end of day two, with survival day ahead, the Dragoons thought they had come through the worst.
On waking the next morning, the patrol was stripped of its equipment, down to rifles and belt kit, which included a small survival tin. They would now have to survive the next 24hrs using the techniques delivered to them by the Gurkhas in week one. Water had to be collected and purified, either from rivers, leaves or rudimentary condensing mechanisms. Shelter had to be built and so A-frames and bamboo canopies complete with leave thatches were constructed. Signalling devices were erected and food was gathered and prepared. LCpl Westmacott, blunt parang in hand, swaggered into the centre of the patrol, pushing aside LCpl Lawton. After several failed attempts whereby his emaciated frame was unable to summon the strength, a Gurkha OM sauntered over and dispatched the chicken, which was then prepared over the fire with chilli salt. This poultry offering raised moral for a while, until the Dragoons turned in for bed, without their mosquito nets and were eaten alive by the jungle.
But in the morning, the dragoons could breathe a sigh of relief, for their trials were over. After a march to jungle training theatre, all teams were informed that the competition was over. 112 broken and grubby faces stared towards CO 1RGR and the Brigade Commander as they prepared to reveal the prizes. Predictably, all RGR teams received a gold medal but after this the field became more level. Only two teams were awarded silver and these both had a disproportionate number of NCOs and Seniors within them. The list of bronzes was then read and the LDs had obtained a very firm medal in the category. It must be stressed again that the LDs were the only non-infantry patrol present and had beaten a good many of their infantry competitors. The team of wiry, leaned-jawed Dragoons marched up proudly to collect their prizes from a very impressed Brigade Commander. It was a magnificent result.
Arriving back in camp, Capt Elkington, seeing Tprs Walton and Pickering among the general clamour of soldiers, asked them how it had been. Though covered in the evidence of insect bites, rashes, dirt and sweat, they both peered out from behind thick walls of cam cream and said, “it was alright boss”. May God ever create British Soldiers. May he forever shine down on the Light Dragoons.
DE
48