Page 75 - The KRH Year of 2023 (CREST Sharing)

Ex STEADFAST JUPITER (3-20 October 2023) was a SHAPE scheduled Command Post Exercise and Computer Assisted Exercise with participation of 7000 pax in 24 training audi- ences, spanning 4 levels of command in 27 geographic locations – hailed as the biggest NATO exercise since the Cold War. It aimed to train SHAPE, Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFCBS), STRIKFORNATO, NATO Command Structure Joint Force Air Component (NCS JFAC), Multinational CIMIC group (MNCG), Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC), Land Component Command (LCC), NATO Response Force Component Commands (NRF CCs) - (HQ ARRC, ITMARFOR, POL SOCC, CJ-CBRND-TF (POL), and JLSGBS), 1st German- Netherlands Corps (1GNC), Maritime Component Command (MCC) and Theatre Component Commands (TCCs). The exer- cise comprised high to low intensity warfare in different Joint Operations Areas (JOAs), against a peer/ near-peer adversary by planning and conducting an Article 5 multi-JOA operation.
Still reading I hope..! So amid all the above complexity and at the NATO Joint Warfare Centre (JWC), in Stavanger, Norway, three Hussars working in various NATO HQs found them- selves inadvertently flung together by happenstance once again in a WW2 bunker, and we thought that the circumstance merited a short piece in our esteemed journal accompanied by a photo! Here is an update from each:
Lt Col James Cullinan (joined KRH Sep 9; last served at RD as BG COS for Op HERRICK 16, in 2012), after two back-to- back assignments in the Land Warfare Centre in Warminster and then a brief stint at the Defence Cultural and Language Centre in Shrivenham to pick up some very basic Turkish, is now posted for 3 years to NATO’s Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey. I recall, nearly 10 years ago, Jules Smith posting some incredible photos on Facebook of their time in Turkey and must confess that these were instrumental in my PPP deci- sion making process! After some pretty epic admin, including driving out both our cars (2500 miles twice!), we have relo- cated from Wiltshire to Turkey. The job started in mid Sept 23 in the role of Capabilities and Force Integration Team (CFIT), a team that conducts Verification (a ‘quick and dirty’ Combat Ready Evaluation (CREVAL)) of NATOs Eastern Flank Front Line Forces to provide readiness reassurance to SACEUR. It promises to be an interesting tour, with lots of opportunity for adventure, travel and sailing in the Med..! Domestically it’s an amazing package, massive free house, wall to wall sunshine, a large pool, a maintained garden, views of the sea, a nearby mosque and the best commute of my career to date – along the coast road, with palm trees, beaches, mountains and incred- ible skies! Thankfully my pathetic Turkish language skills are more than mitigated by the excellent google translate; a cun- ning linguist I am not! On the exercise in Norway, my role was in an EXCON Response Cell, representing the Immediate Reinforcement Force (Tier 2) Air Mobile Divisional Commander – a role for which my career to date has not entirely prepared me..! Fortunately, I was well supported by capable Air Mobile SMEs from America, France and Spain, so my airborne short comings weren’t overly exposed!
Lt Col Jez (aka ‘wettie’, it’s a long story, and not for here!) Hay (joined the KRH Sep 98; broke his back twice, last served as D Sqn 2ic and was the RGO, in 2006). After Squadron Leading with the QRH, he is currently serving as the OPSCEN Director
in the Multi-National Corps North East, in Szczecin, Poland. He has the Sulwalki Gap and the Baltic States on his ‘flick’, so SACEUR now sleeps easy! He is attempting to learn Polish and hopes to visit Op CABRIT in Estonia, ideally when the Regt is next in command. So far managing the Polish border has become a bit all consuming! He has seen a vast change in tempo and has brought focus within NATO; the North Eastern Flank continues to be a challenging environment through which to navigate. On the exercise in Norway, he managed to jump ranks from Lt Col to 2* as A/COS MNC-NE in an EXCON Response Cell. Witnessing NATO exercise at four levels of command was enlightening and was the manifestation of ‘Red Storm Rising’. MNC-NE has a pivotal role as the gatekeepers to the Baltics and as one of the only NATO Corps Headquarters to be assigned a geographical area of operations and with per- manently assigned forces under command. It challenges on a daily basis, and if you have to work in a Corps headquarters, this is one of the best.
Major Harry Wallace (joined KRH Dec 03; last served in A Sqn as a subbie on Op TELIC 6 in Al Amarah in 2005, flanked either side with a BATUS exercise; he left RD in 2007 for a tour with the King’s Troop RHA and subsequently transferred to the Gunners). He is currently in his third year as SO2 Info Ops (PSYOPS) at HQ ARRC in Gloucester, within the Joint Fires and Influence Branch (JFIB) and looking to move sideways to become the Chief of the Public Affairs Office (PAO) in acting Lt Col rank as the ARRC prepares to assume the NATO Reaction Force (NRF) task, in early 2024. He daily commutes from his farm in the Cotswolds, so an extension will suit on all fronts, and enable him to continue to juggle family life, horses, sheep and NATO. On the exercise in Norway, he also found himself in EXCON working in the Land Component Command ele- ment and supporting the Combat Ready Evaluation (CREVAL) for the ARRCs forthcoming NRF tasking. The remainder of the HQ was deployed in field conditions in Bucharest, Romania, so the bunker/hotel option in Stavanger was a great package!
JC
The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars 75
ERE
Hawks in NATO’s Northern Flank or The Cav in Stav!
The Cav in Stav. Lt Col Cullinan, Maj Wallace and Lt Col Hay in the land of the midnight sun