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103 Regiment Royal Artillery
move at haste to the alternate position (once some of the Gun DCs had found out the correct course of action to be taken on the shout of “Incoming!” everybody started sparking, whether a bit sweaty or not).
On completion of the dry phase all attention was then focused onto the live firing phase with preparations commencing in a rigorous manner. The next 48 hours consisted of post exercise G4, a Saluting Gun course, safety CPX, mission CPX and once on position ammo bashing the Regiments allocation of 105mm.
Day one of live firing saw
the FSTs occupied a static
OP (Artillery Tower) and
with very favourable weather
conditions the Guns met their
“Time to be Ready” but were
delayed in firing by Range
Control with the shepherd still
clearing off the impact area! Once “Range Clear” was ordered the live firing phase commenced as per the shooting plan with helpful advice and safety assistance being offered by GTT and 221 Battery in the form
of Instructor in Gunnery Major Andy McMahon and WO2 (SMIG) Cooper without whom the training would not have been so comprehensive. For the Gun Line it was a far more sedate affair during the morning, with the live firing serials being
completed at a reduced pace; due to the FSTs fighting with a vastly reduced Safe Target Area Point Detonating (STAPD), fortunately this was not to last and once the observers established their reference point on the ground the tempo increased just in time for the Royal Artillery Colonel and Royal Artillery Sergeant Majors visit to the Gun Position.
Numerous awards were presented over the weekend with special recogni- tion going to the BC and Sgt Kitajewski (210 Bty) who received the RA Colonels coin in recognition for excellence, the Commanding Officer also gave recog- nition to the Gun Line with the overall winning detachment being Bdr Rainey’s (208 Bty) for operating to a very high standard throughout the exercise.
Overall, the Regiments exercise to STANTA was demanding, rewarding and above all fun. We fired over 396 rounds on target and on time and had the satisfac- tion of knowing that we had been praised by the RA Colonel and had brought back the smell of cordite and the thunder of artillery to Norfolk after a lengthy absence.
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“Range Clear” was ordered the live firing phase commenced