Page 36 - QDG Year of 2020

34 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
The Guardroom (Regimental Duty Staff)
2020 has been a barmy year by anyone’s standards, not least because it has seen the Regimental Duty Staff actually do some work! With the ongoing coro- navirus pandemic, the RDS remit has expanded from chastising people for walking on the Queen’s grass to strictly enforcing the government’s social distancing measures.
The year began with Sgt Grey handing over responsibility of RDS Sgt to Sgt “Sonic” Davies, who was immediately joined in his tyrannical reign as ‘trou- ser-twister enforcer’ by Cpl “Wolfy” Thomas and LCpl “Receding” Sims. Being that Sgt Davies is a PTI, there’s no prize for guessing what punishment was adminis- tered for any and all minor indiscretions.
Midway through the year and – as a siren to a sailor - the call of the gym proved too much for Sgt Davies to resist, as he took a posting which enabled him to do what he loves best everyday: wear tight shorts. The proverbial baton was then passed to his 2iC, and natural successor to the throne, Cpl Thomas,
The provost take delivery of their 2m spacing pace sticks
which will provide him with invaluable experience as his QDG career draws to a close, and he embarks upon a career more befitting his age...with the MPGS. September saw LCpl Sims exchange the warm, fatherly embrace of the guard- room for the cold, indifferent step-uncle that is Warminster as he embarked upon his Javelin Det. Commanders’ course, in desperate search of a way back into a
sabre squadron. Adding some diversity to HQ Sqn, LCpl Sims was replaced by LCpl Al-Ameri.
Despite the turnover in personalities, the overarching message of the Duty Staff has been a much-needed beacon of consistency to The Regiment in these uncertain times: “Stay two metres apart, [insert expletive]!”
HA
The Weight of Waiting
How long, Lord God Almighty, ...restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
Psalm 80 Verses 4 & 7
‘How long, Lord?’ – I am pretty sure we have all uttered those words. Whilst stuck in a traffic jam, in a queue or waiting for something. Possibly the Editor of this year’s journal, as he waits for submis- sions of content that are well overdue (I have repented!). I have certainly asked the question, as I am sure have many of you, as we have travelled the turbulent pathways of COVID this year.
‘How long, Lord?’ This is the cry of Psalm 80, a community prayer which depicts extreme national distress. There is a continued cry for restoration throughout this psalm, and
As we began 2020, none of us could have imagined the year that lay ahead of us.
Many of the things that we would have liked to have done this year were cancelled or postponed.
Just before lock-down, in March I welcomed the Bishop of Norwich, The Right Reverend Graham Usher to Robertson Barracks. Bishop Graham had a tour of the Officers’ Mess and was introduced to Lance Corporal Jones by the Farrier Major. Bishop Graham very much enjoyed his visit.
On the 11th November, a small group of us were able to gather at the War memorial at All Saints Church in Swanton Morley to hold an Act of Remembrance and lay wreaths. We then held another
LCpl Jones takes communion
off and I think that there is an element in all of us who feel this way. As the world around us gears up for new strains of COVID and new constraints on our lives, it is easy to forget that there is hope.
There is no shame in asking God ‘how long?’ Whether that is the cry of loneli- ness, of unfulfilled dreams, of grief, or of despair, but we must remember that lament – our sense of loss and hope go together. Without one the other makes little sense.
2021 promises to be another busy year for 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards and those who are deployed are very much in my prayers, as are those who are preparing to deploy. May this be a year of hope, of healing and of restoration. Every Blessing to you all.
The Reverend Stephen Wilson CF Chaplain
particularly in the repeated refrain of ‘Restore us, God Almighty’. These words from Psalm 80 seem to resonate in our world today.
Advent, the four week period leading up to Christmas is traditionally a time of waiting. It is a time both to reflect on the year that we are leaving behind and to anticipate what is coming and what lies ahead.
These words from Psalm
80 seem to resonate in our world today
short Act of Remembrance and laid Wreaths at the Memorial in Swanton Morley village to Soldiers from the Light Dragoons and attached LAD, who lost their lives in the service of their country in Afghanistan.
We find ourselves at the end of this year back in lockdown, as cases of COVID rise once again, with second strain. It may be tempting to write 2020