Page 8 - The KRH Year of 2023 (CREST Sharing)

6 The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars
Foreword by
The Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Colonel PJ Perowne
The year has revolved around three activities. The first, fin- ishing in March, focussed on the Regiment’s involvement in defence’s main effort, deterrence, and support to Ukraine. The second, from May to August, focusing on resetting the Regiment and developing our warfighting skills. Finally, we have focussed on professional development and the lived experience (sport, battlefield studies and adventure train- ing). The additional highlight of the year was the Regiment’s involvement in The Coronation, the sight of crimsons march- ing (in time) up the Mall to Zadock the Priest was a ‘spine tin- gler’ that will last long in the memory for all involved.
The start of the year saw D Squadron on Op ALBA, training Ukrainians in Bovington on Challenger 2, whilst B Squadron prepared the fleet to be gifted to them. Concurrently the remainder of the Regiment was deployed in Estonia on Op CABRIT. That these were significant successes is undoubted. The performance of D Sqn was highly commended by all who participated in the delivery of Op ALBA and their impact on the success of the training cannot be overstated. Concurrently, on Op CABRIT, the KRH battlegroup were preparing to return from their reassurance and deterrence mission which, combined with a veritable festival of visits had proved a sig- nificant success. Many of the plaudits must go to Lt Col Will Hodgkinson, who handed over in February after two and a half years in command, a tour which included Covid, a full training rotation and a battlegroup deployment to Poland and Estonia; his Estonian award of Military Merit in Gold in front of the Chief of the General Staff was a worthy send off.
Due to regimental posting churn increasingly falling in line with Estonian deployment rotations, the return from POTL in early May caused notable change across the regimental landscape as every Field, RHQ and LE officer as well as Warrant Officer and most NCO appointments changed over. In exercise IRON CYCLONE, a 10-week battlegroup exercise to Castlemartin and then onto Salisbury Plain, we had the perfect opportunity to not only bed in the new personalities but also rebind the Regiment after a prolonged period apart. The exercise, as the protype for future training in the 3rd Division, was a resound- ing success. On ranges the sqns, including Recce Tp, achieved the first 100% pass rate at Annual Crew Tests by any Regiment in recent years, whilst despite a huge accumulation of track miles, the battlegroup disproved many of the assumptions regarding the reliability of the increasingly aged and under resourced equipment. Most importantly, as a deployment of the whole Regiment (with B Squadron providing the OPFOR, Observer Mentors and safety staff) the exercise brought some much-needed regimental bonding getting the new team back into a strong position to deliver battlegroup manoeuvre.
The tempo of recent years meant that the return from CABRIT was not without its challenges. The third tour for many, set alongside the long, harsh winter, has meant that the G1 staff are still dealing with the repercussions, mental and physical, of that deployment and the tempo of life that came before it. About 70% of all ranks needed a career course and nearly a fifth were downgraded. With the Regiment back together once more we have, since summer leave, been able to focus on our people, both on professional and personal development as well as the more enjoyable elements of the army offer. It is a testament to
those stalwarts, the Careers Management, Training, Medical and Welfare Officers, supported by the wider regimental fam- ily, that the figures are improving daily.
Importantly, we have also managed to get people onto the oft removed fun elements of army life; sport and adventurous training are ongoing. A titanic battle has been fought by all to gain over 250 adventure training places for the Regiment assisted, in these times of defence frugality, by an increased reliance on the regimental Association who have been oblig- ing in meeting the requests for support that we have sent. We have had skiers in Sweden, France, Norway and Switzerland, sailors in France and on the Solent, hikers in the Dolomites, the football team in Cyprus, Battlefield Studies to Germany as well as Military Skills competitions in Wales (CAMBRIAN PATROL) and France. The highlight was a regimental Boxing night; a truly outstanding evening with hugely talented boxers in a wonderful atmosphere.
As part of its implementation of the last Integrated Review the Regiment will move to a reconnaissance role as an Armoured Cavalry Regiment (ACR). Whilst the detail of this new role will be defined over the next few years, the Regiment’s structure rebalanced in November with the ORBAT changing to 3 sabre squadrons and HQ Sqn. After much deliberation at all levels, it was decided that the affiliations of A Sqn to 20H and C Sqn to 11H were extraordinarily strong and built into the DNA of the Regiment. This led to the solution being to drop D Sqn off the ORBAT. HQ Sqn, as the home of many of the Regiment’s sen- ior soldiers has taken over the mantle of representing the sen- ior antecedent Regiment, an affiliation that they have already strongly developed, and the 10th Hussars’ cap badge now graces HQ Sqn’s flag.
After this short respite 2024 sees us kick on again. Through the training pathway on Exercise STEADFAST DEFENDER the Battlegroup is on the 3rd Division’s main effort as part of a large and well publicised NATO deployment exercise into Europe. We will be training with the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division, a first for the Regiment, and something that should be hugely exciting. The tempo does not seem to slacken and looking slightly further out the road ahead sees the KRH bat- tlegroup take over as the Lead Armoured Battlegroup once again whilst B Squadron prepare to deploy back to Estonia with 1 MERCIAN in Spring 2025.