Page 56 - QDG Volume 9 No. 2 2021

54 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
St David’s Day ‘a dewi sant’
As much as we try to retain our regi- mental traditions in celebrating St David’s Day, this year it was almost cancelled. But with so much already turned off it was increasingly important that we cele- brated our national day! The very reason we celebrate it in the first place is to exemplify everything that is good not only about being a Welsh person in a Welsh Regiment, but also being a Dragoon. We now have soldiers from many back- grounds and communities, ranging from: Treco Bay to Montego Bay in Jamaica. The important take away from this is that no matter where you are from, when you join “The Welsh Cavalry” you identify as a Dragoon and are part of a unique team. Whilst we capitalise on all things Welsh, the day is a cultural one that brings us all together to work collectively towards completing the Commanding Officer’s challenges which are distributed on first parade.
This year St David’s Day was completed within the parameters of Covid 19 and was therefore unconven-
tional. Due to Force Health
stop them, and they still found time to participate despite this busy period of pre-deployment training. With B Sqn largely deployed to Poland and Kenya,
frames and clocked in a solid 7 miles each!
By 1000hrs the mileage was increasing and so were the donations. We had raised £1,000 before starting
Protection measures, we were unable to complete the usual challenges, such as: Capturing the most senior officer, acting out skits of Twin Town and the normal chariot race with the over- sized Welsh Dragon. Whilst this year was different, the spirit of the day was not. This resulted in members of both the regiment at RBSM and F Sqn taking part in various challenges.
when you join “The Welsh Cavalry” you identify as a Dragoon and are part of a unique team
On St David’s Day C Sqn
were hot on the heels of a 7-month deployment to Op NEWCOMBE 2 (Mali) and most were attending the All Ranks Briefs. However, this didn’t
Tiffy Wright set off at 0630 and there were a lot of Dragoons running around the local area. The Les even managed to bust themselves out of their Zimmer
the day was never going to
organise. From the off I felt
it very important for the
Regiment to work towards
a shared purpose, by raising
funds for the Dreams and
Wishes charity back in
Wales. Subsequently, it was
decided that by utilising
Strava, individuals could accumulate the mileage
of 589 miles virtually and
add it to their independent
Sub-Unit groups. This chal-
lenge spread over several
countries, from America,
Poland, Kenya and Wales to
name but a few. An impor-
tant point to note on this challenge is that 589AD was the year our Patron Saint passed away. In total, the mileage split
down between: HQ, A, B, C,EandFSqnwas3,534 miles!
The day started at 0400hrs with the Regimental Mascot and Farrier Major leading the way. They were rapidly followed by C Sqn, who set off early to complete the mileage before heading to Thetford for their All-Ranks Briefs. The collective effort from C Sqn to achieve the mileage was outstanding! With C Sqn now on the run everyone else was close on their tails. Both myself and
be easy to
We had raised £1,000 before starting the event, but by 1000hrs we were already at £4,000
the event, but by 1000hrs we were already at £4,000. With the money coming in we reviewed the soldiers clocking up the mileage and it wasn’t long before it was recognised that SSM HQ Sqn, Mr Walker had run 31 miles – MADNESS! Other members of the Regiment also made some heavy contributions with both Tiffy Wright and Davidson completing Marathon distance.
With most of the running now complete the attention switched focus towards the tasks the Commanding Officer had set. First on the agenda was to get a supportive message for The Welsh Cavalry from somebody famous. For this, Wynne Evans gave C Sqn a shoutout on the radio, with A Sqn receiving a video message from Johnathan Davies. After this, the Sqns then presented three Welsh Cakes and whilst I could lie and suggest it was diffi- cult to decide, I won’t. The RQ(T), Mr Davies presented his cakes on a silver platter with fresh coffee – a clear winner! The next task was to present the largest daffodil to the Commanding Officer which A Sqn won. With the scores now in, the only thing left to do was to pray that the internet would support a live broadcast to everyone. Luckily, the G6 gods were on our side this time and we prevailed! Utilising Microsoft Teams the Commanding Officer introduced St David’s Day and spoke to the wider regi- mental family and after this we then went
2022 Bismarck Challenge
Wednesday 20th October 2021 was the day of the 1 UK Division’s now famous Bismarck Challenge which is a 4 mile relay race with 15kg. The build up to the event was a busy time for the Regiment but we were lucky to find the right personnel for the job. Build up training was headed up by myself, with SSgt Ellis overseeing the admin. The training involved interval sessions, long boot runs and Bergen training. We also had to make sure we were in date with our MATT 2 fitness tests and MATT 3 Battle- field Casualty Drills, luckily LCpl Higgins was available to run the training in the gym for those that needed it.
The Bismarck Challenge Team