Page 52 - QDG Year of 2020

50 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
Ex MULLENS CUP
Riding into the sunset
After a fair amount
of head scratching and more planning conferences than General Montgomery had
The direction from the Regi-
mental Second-in-Command
for Ex MULLENS CUP 2020
was to achieve what no compe-
tition in recent memory had
achieved before – to integrate
vehicles into a patrol format.
After a fair amount of head scratching and more planning conferences than General Montgomery had ahead of Operation OVERLORD (thank
God he didn’t have JAMES
and BAMS to contend with!),
the Intelligence Officer, Captain
Chaplin and Sergeant Welfoot
had devised a competition which saw teams use both Jackals and their ‘black- taxis’ over an arduous 60-hour patrol.
The patrol started in the early hours with Troops arriving at Exercise Control and receiving a vehicle fleet which was to carry them over Salisbury Plain for the next 24-hours. Whilst Troop Sergeants were dealing with the bin bags, torque wrenches and hoovers, Troop Leaders got on with the tactics and manoeuvre. Following orders, the first task was to complete a Route Recce, assessing a
15 km route for follow on forces. At the 10 km point, the Troops were faced with their first ‘command task’: recovery. It was here that the REME took charge, and under the careful eyes of Corporal Brown and Corporal Kirby, Troops were tasked to recover a stricken Jackal with the emphasis on speed and safety. Following successful vehicle recovery, the Troops’ next task was to
conduct a mounted advance in which they had both mounted and dismounted enemy contacts; a scenario made ever more complex by the numerous other units conducting training on the area. The first evening of the patrol consisted of an Observation Post, assessing the ability to select and occupy a Hide/OP, observe the target and recover back to Exercise Control. The final mounted challenge was to prepare and deliver a handover of their fleet to the next callsign, under the watchful eye of the QM(T) and his
department. This scrutiny was by far the hardest for some!
Once vehicles had been dispatched the Troops had nothing but their bergans and boots to take them the remaining 30 km. In addition to the physical chal- lenge, the dismounted patrol put Troops through their paces conceptually with more ‘command tasks’. First up was the RSWO’s communications stand, in which Troops had to erect a 12m mast and establish comms. Following this was C-IED, in which Sergeant Hazelwood put everyone through their paces in a route