Page 14 - RSDG Year of 2013

12 EAGLE AND CARBINE
B SQUADRON
The Regiment moved into its structure for Op HERRICK 19 in January. This saw A and C Squadrons preparing to deploy with a small ele- ment of HQ Squadron. B Squadron took on all the soldiers who would be leaving the Army during the course of the year and a large number of soldiers who were in the wrong place when the music stopped and would therefore be unable to deploy to Afghanistan. B Squadron would then merge with the larger element of HQ Squadron to form a Rear Operations Group of just over two hundred soldiers for the deployment.
Much of the early part of the year involved ensuring the correct people were in the correct places and all soldiers were properly trained for the Rear Operations Group structure. MT and Welfare in particular required more soldiers, casualty notifying officers were trained and storemen had to be correctly placed in order to ensure all the accounts were properly admin- istered. There was some chopping and changing in the early days but the soldiers took this in their stride.
The first major event of the year saw B Squadron organising and running Exercise PASHTUN HAWK. This was the Regiment’s small arms live firing exer- cise and marked the end of their individual training before moving on to the combined exercises. This was a particularly successful week where most of the Squadron deployed to either take part in the exercise or assist with the running of the ranges. The ranges were run impeccably allowing A and C Squadrons to get the best possible training. Staff Sergeant McAleese
and his team ably supported the exercising troops with his delivery of food and sales of cans of juice and ice cream.
In May the Rear Operations Group was formed up as HQ Squadron (Forward) were increasingly away on exercise. The merging of B Squadron and HQ Squadron (Rear) was smoothly achieved. ROG HQ then spent a large amount of time at study days and recces as they learnt how the casualty notification and processing system works; this was an eye-opening experience for Captain Ian Lamb the Welfare Officer and Major Stephen Walters the Squadron Leader. The set up is now incredible: from the support given at Brize Norton airfield and Birmingham Airport to the fantastic medi- cal and welfare support on offer at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham to the rehabilitation support at Headley Court – the system is now first class. In order to assist us with our support to casualties Staff Sergeant Aitken, Lance Corporal O’Neill and Trooper McGinlay were sent to be part of the UK Support Detachment. This organisation was charged with looking after any 7 Armoured Brigade casualties; fortunately they were not needed for SCOTS DG. In September the team was joined by Staff Sergeant Stewart who would act as the SQMS for the Detachment. The UK Support Detachment was a critical supporting element during the deployment. Although they had very few casual- ties to deal with, and none from SCOTS DG, they were invaluable when dealing with travel issues for compas- sionate leave and soldiers returning from their Rest and Recuperation leave.