Page 30 - Rifles 2017 Issue No 3

A Coy - Exercise SHARPE’S REACH
Twice in the year, at the end of our winter and summer calendar, A Coy deployed to Brecon to conduct our ‘in house’ Ri eman competition. Based in the glorious Sennybridge training area, individuals patrolled through a series of stands over 48 hours testing their basic military skills including navigation and vehicle recognition. Then Sections completed a cheeky march and shoot, sword lane and the Fan Dance (route used by the Section Commanders Battle Course), to
test their physical robustness and expose the young Ri emen to the standards expected on promotion courses. Forming back into Platoons for the nal day we came together for a Company social; tired, muddy and satis ed, the winter and summer ‘terms’ couldn’t have ended better. A number of Ri emen distinguished themselves, particularly Rfn (now LCpl) Jiacoumi winning in Dec 16 and Rfn Churnside winning in Jul 17. A Coy’s chosen men are primed and ready to take on the Battalion run Ex CHOSEN MAN (Sep 17) to nd the top Ri eman in 1 RIFLES; the winner is awarded the prestigious Baker ri e and the right to not complete guard duty for the immediate future.
Lt Cullum Welch, OC 1 Platoon
A Coy Ri emen in action on ranges on
Ex SHARPE’S REACH
B Company
It has been another busy year for B Company, with preparation for Op ELGIN. Post-Christmas, B
the Company maintaining its statistic of 50% of the time out of camp on Operations or Exercises. B Company deployed on Op SHADER in summer 16, with Ri emen based in Erbil, Besmaya and Taji all in Iraq. Acting as Training Teams and Force Protection, Ri emen enabled the training of Kurds and Iraqis in their ght against Daesh. In the Kurdish Republic of Iraq (KRI), the UK Training Teams helped a number of Peshmerga units prepare ahead of several Opera- tions against Daesh, training Kurds in a number of locations, from Sulaymaniyah in the south of the KRI, to Mosul Dam in the north. Meanwhile, the Rfn in Bes and Taji maintained a constant through-put of Iraqi Security Forces who were conducting pre-de- ployment training ahead of the Mosul operation, which was inevitably on the way as we handed over to S Coy.
Following some decent POTL, we returned to the inevitable re-orbats and supporting others, putting up, guarding and taking down tents for Ex KABUL DAWN and DUSK, and supporting C Company’s
DESPITE THE RAF’S BEST EFFORTS WE ALL GOT HOME EVENTUALLY
Company took on the lead role for the UK Standby Battalion task, which led to a deployment on Ex TARPORLEY, a rehearsal for a call-out in the event of ooding. The main event in the spring was deliv- ering and supporting the 1 RIFLES JNCO Cadre. The JNCO Cadre not only used a signi cant amount of the chain of command acting as Cadre staff, but also saw most of the Company acting as enemy or enabling forces. It was hugely successful, delivering 63 new LCpls for The Ri es.
Whilst on these other tasks, B Company continued to prepare for arguably the biggest event in the calendar, Ex MAYAN WARRIOR. This saw a Coy-group of 150 Ri emen and attachments deploy to Belize for 6 weeks of Platoon-level training in the jungle. Despite the demanding conditions the Exercise was a huge success, as was the subse- quent R&R, involving 100+ lean, t and alcohol-de- prived Ri emen on the Caribbean island of San Pedro. Despite the RAF’s best efforts we all got home eventually.
With a huge turnover of personnel it is impossible to thank them all. They know who they are, creating big shoes to be lled by those who are already readily taking on the B Company baton.
Maj Colin Oliver,
OC B Coy
28 FIRST BATTALION
THE RIFLES