Page 32 - The KRH Year of 2023 (CREST Sharing)

32 The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars
QM’s department
“MOD Form 8227... what’s that?” – Cpl C Lemott, Aug 2023
2023 started off with a bang on the return to work in January and the ROG QMs’ Departments were spinning plenty of plates in multiple areas. We waved off Cpl Rob Eardley on a very short notice trip to Estonia and welcomed Cpl Doc Holiday (more on this later), whilst concurrently organising the third and final Cannonball Run to CABRIT 11 with Sgt HF Twanje driving a bizarrely empty van for 3 days only to be stopped by the local police 10 miles from Tapa to be searched. After check- ing the back, they questioned him: Police: “You have driven from the UK with 11 small boxes in your large van?”, TJ: “Yes!”, Police: “Are you stupid?” Although empty on the outbound trip the van returned in good order/full and with Doc’s mobile gym so he could lift tin in the hotel during the evenings. The van also had an adhoc trip to Scotland to “collect stores” (QM’s “everyday” whisky).
As February dawned the ROG G4 team had a quick change of tack from preparing to deploy D Sqn to the States and off- loaded Ex DIAMONDBACK to the Rangers Battalion and set our sights on the delivery of 7 CR2 to Ukraine as part of the Gifted in Kind (GiK) programme. This stretched the G4 team to our limits, but behind the long hours there was a humbling atmosphere due the acknowledgement of what we were pre- paring the tanks for. In the end, the KRH became the G4 SPOC for all 14 CR2 being donated by the United Kingdom to get them on their way. A worthwhile task.
The return of the Battle Group in March involved WO2 (RQMS) Plant, who is affectionately known as “MFP” by the Officers’ Mess, taking over from the newly promoted WO1 Nath Dyer. Nath is now enjoying life in Bovington as the GSM where we have been reliably informed his roles include the running of the Corps Road Bike Racing Team and.... and....? Nath’s leav- ing meal had us all convene in Salisbury for a curry followed by a few light ones in a nearby bar. The location was governed by the QM’s refusal to enter any pub that displays a Sky Sports banner. This worked well for a few members of the Dept who “had a late start” the following day. We also said a fond fare- well to Doc who not only managed to confuse us daily with his outlook on life but also defy Darwin’s theory of evolution with his worrying depth of spray tan and white teeth. Doc has thankfully (for all parties) gone back to the tank park to edu- cate the masses that the QM’s Dept is not what he expected, is
Frank supervising areas
The QM disposing of the evidence
Farewell to the RQMS
actually hard work and we don’t spend all day with our feet on desks chinning people off.
Having only just scraped a pass on his Level 2 maths and with an abacus under his arm, the RQ set off for his summer holi- days in Castlemartin with Cpl Frenchie Lemott, our steady pair of hands in the ammo bunker, under the Ex IRON CYCLONE banner. The RQ and Frenchie had a baptism of fire (literally) with the first round down range as Fd Army still hadn’t agreed the amount of 120 mm we were allowed to use. As it happened, we had too much of one type and not enough of the other. A few phone calls and KRH notebooks later, all was sorted. There was a seamless transition from live firing in CMR to blank on SPTA with only 5 days turnaround, all credit to the RQ for managing this. Ex IRON CYCLONE tested the whole G4 node to its limits but to complicate matters even worse the season of army assurance was upon us. The Logistic Supply Assurance & Inspection (LSA&I) was to commence in September, with the preparation for this starting in May under the guidance of SSgt James Dunigan, our RLC Stores Specialist.
Everything was going well for the LSA&I, meetings were held, spreadsheets filled in, some boxes even turned green, paper- work shredded, and all was good. Monday 18th September couldn’t possibly go wrong. However, the night before, the QM’s house was struck by lightning (gen dit) which blew up the brand-new boiler installed in 2022 (£7k), the kids’ Nintendo, the internet router and the telly. To say the assurance gods were looking down laughing would be an understatement. Given the start to the day, all went well. This was all due to the hard work of the entire team.
As the year moved on, we had a few additions to the dept with the arrival of Cpls Rob Ashfield and Josh Freeman. Both have been immersed headfirst into the G4 world and are becoming true facilitators. Cpl Rob Eardley finally pulled off organising a Dept breakfast on the second attempt, who knew it was so hard to book a table for 12 people at a Toby Carvery for 0900 on a Thursday? The RQMS has also discovered a love for Frank the QM’s Labrador and is the first to volunteer to look after him when Capt Chris Pople is out of office or in meetings.
With every dawn comes a sunset. As I reflect on the past year, 2023 has brought its challenges as every year does. As some of the previous QMs are reading this, I am sure that is has brought back good memories and laughter. In 2024 the QM’s dept will bid farewell to Cpl Eardley (it’s a secret) and MFP (update later). This is also my last year as QM. My time sat behind the legendary Capt’s desk in my office has been one of the best of my career, but all the successes of the past years are not down to myself, but those I work with and for, the soldiers and offic- ers of the King’s Royal Hussars. Just please try and give us a little more notice next time.
“I am sure that you lot will all miss Frank more than me.” CP