Page 17 - The KRH Year of 2023 (CREST Sharing)

The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars 17
Bogged in again – Cpl Larner breaks new ground
the Troop Leaders in the tower ‘accidentally’ mistook the 2ic’s daysack for the bin, and filled it with old coffee granuals and half eaten hot dogs. Lt Rothwell quite rightly took exception to the SSM’s haphazard abandoning of ammunition on the firing point, so decided to reverse her tank over the neatly stacked HESH rounds to teach him a lesson. Under pressure to reassert his dominance, the SSM delivered an expletive ridden tirade to the trembling officers and seniors which culminated in Sgt Rider having an electric screwdriver surgically removed from his chest cavity.
Despite these hiccups, the range ran like clockwork. SSM Harrison, his head liberally coated in Factor 50, could be observed overseeing his ammo-bashing chain-gang from a folding chair while SSgt Feeney, desperate to earn the coveted SQMS Golden Spatula, turned out burgers and slushies by the dozen (his true calling). Sgt Rawlings, in full schools gunnery instructor mode, masterminded his team of RIG minions to new heights of pedantry. Throughout, the illicit Squadron Bar evaded the King of Castlemartin, who only succeeded in shut- ting down C Squadron’s bar (which was fine, because there was nobody there anyway). Despite SSgt Feeney insisting on only serving warm beer, the elite bartending triumvirate of Hawksworth, Frusher and Oluwabiyi kept us well supplied as we enjoyed the sunshine after some hard days at the range.
A Sqn family photo, somewhere on SPTA
Ex IRON CYCLONE saw the Squadron deploy on to SPTA for four weeks, bouncing from end to end of the plain and mak- ing a terrible mess of the flora and fauna. The constrained nature of the area was the most consistent challenge, requir- ing some significant planning gymnastics to fit fourteen tanks into relatively small spaces. Nevertheless, some great training was undertaken, and everybody appreciated the opportunity to practice erecting and dismantling cam nets in full CBRN kit while the OC threw smoke grenades at them. That sort of thing builds character (and heat injuries).
As the exercise progressed, the weather deteriorated into the wettest July in living memory, to such an extent that the first maintenance day moved back into camp to ensure that essential equipment care could take place, which was not an unwelcome development. Even the unsettling trend of dodgy MTP ponchos could not keep the rain off their wearers, and the hard-bitten Cpl Stancombe could be seen crowing it on the back decks, poncho inflated about his ears. The return to base also permitted Sgt Rawlings and Tpr Shackleton to comman- deer nearly a hundred horror-bag sausage rolls and stuff them in every crevice of their tank to keep them sustained for the rest of the exercise.
After a late night deconfliction of training areas with the Australian contingent who were training Ukrainian infantry