Page 18 - MERCIAN Eagle 2017

C (Kohima) Company
2017 is best characterised through the sheer diversity of tasks allocated to C (Kohima) Company. The year began with the consolidation of the lessons and skills learned in Ukraine, before refining our core skills on Salisbury Plain, a stint on Public Duties, and time spent on SPTA supporting Field Army training activity. All the while, the Company remained at the forefront
of UK Defence Resilience in its repeated provision of a Lead Company group as part of the UK Standby Battalion. It was a varied year, requiring a fair amount of cerebral gymnastics, but one that was packed full of discrete opportunities.
In early 2017, with the experience of providing Infantry Training in Ukraine
fresh in our memory, C Company was tasked to deliver a Lessons Exploitation day to the remainder of the Field Army. Following a lot of hard work in creating the biggest and most detailed model-pit ever seen, the event provided an outstanding platform for the C Company WOs, Senior and Junior NCOs to spread their hard won lessons in addition to welcoming a Ukrainian veteran of Donetsk Airport to the UK to talk on his experiences in battle. The remainder of the Brigade praised the members of C Company who had worked so hard to pass on their knowledge of the commitment.
In pursuit of warfighting excellence,
C Company deployed onto Salisbury
Plain on a series of increasingly ambitious exercises. The high-watermark of these was the conduct of an Armd Inf Coy ‘blacklight’ clearance of a complex objective 2km in length. The exercises served to develop our warfighting capability and demonstrate the possibilities of what can
be achieved in a relatively short amount of time with a well-resourced and dynamically managed training programme. The exercises also supported the preparation of a number of members of the Company who
later went on to achieve fantastic results in their career courses throughout the year.
Possessing a black-belt in conventional and resilience operations as a result of our exercises and time spent at Extremely High Readiness, it felt right that the Company should switch focus onto a different challenge. Luckily, the opportunity to provide a Public Duties Company to support a frenetic summer season in London was offered, and was ultimately directed to
the Company. April and May vanished amongst a whirlwind of bulling parades, parade ground drill and preparatory trips to London. Before we knew it, the Company Group (bolstered by A Company troops) was being inspected by the London District Ceremonial team on one of the hottest and most pollen filled days of the year. After passing off the square with no major issues (no small feat given the close attention of the Garrison Sergeant Major and Brigade Major), we were ‘fully qualified’ to take
post as the Queen’s Guard. The Company mounted duty as the Queen’s Guard in London a total of 17 times, and in Windsor 8 times. The Household Division welcomed our support during the busiest time of
the year, and the Officers and Soldiers of the Company took full advantage of being
in the capital during the summer. As background activity to the constant drill, we had the freedom and space to conduct a number of urban TEWTs (Tactical Exercise Without Troops), run ‘a day in the life’ with the Kings’ Troop Royal Horse Artillery, conduct Chinook Helicopter training over central London as well as a myriad of
other visits and trips. In my eyes, the most striking benefit was the manner in which the JNCOs developed over the course of the deployment. Slightly quiet at first, they soon became masters of the forecourt and their attention to detail, preparedness and ability to exert grip improved exponentially. The
task was an invaluable learning experience for all.
After another successful Gunnery Camp in Castlemartin, where the Company once again showed its teeth on the ranges, we began a four month period in support of Field Army exercises. From the outside, this may appear to have been an unwelcome task, but it provided the platoons with
a perfect opportunity to conduct their
own Battle Craft Syllabus training, at no cost to them and using training areas
and resource that someone else had planned and delivered. It enabled junior commanders and their teams to practice the basics over and over again, without the pressure normally placed on them when they themselves were the training audience. To a man, they felt that it was a timely and useful period to hone their low-level skills
in advance of the demanding training year ahead.
It is entirely appropriate to mention the staggering efforts of those key figures
who have departed the Coy to move onto different pastures: WO2 (CSM) McNulty moved to the ITC after leading the efforts
to prepare us for Public Duties; Lt Mead moved to ATR Winchester; Sgt Massey was one of the top instructors on the RMAS Cadre and went straight into Old College; Sgt Collins moved to help coordinate the RST; Cpl Grimmer promoted and moved
to the NATO HQ in Brussels; and LCpl Stainton departed the Army to work in
the automobile industry. Finally, Lt Johl, Sgt Massey and Pte Wharton were all recognised for their efforts on Op ORBITAL with high level commendations. Looking back, it was another brilliant year.
OC 2IC CSM
WSM CQMS (M) CQMS (T)
Major Andy Ryan Capt Andy Cole WO2 McNulty / WO2 Clements WO2 Foster CSgt Miller
CSgt Kolodynski
16
Pl Comd Pl Sgt Warrior Sgt
Lt Johl
Sgt Collins / Sgt Strong Sgt Fellows
8 Platoon
2017 has been an incredibly rewarding and varied year for the soldiers of the mighty
8 platoon and I couldn’t be happier with
both the effort and competency shown by all. Activities and training have ranged from AT and ceremonial drill to field exercises
and range packages. Professionally, 2017 has also seen many individuals impress on various career courses. Some have, or will, promote as a direct result. Well done to Cpl Barton who achieved a very high pass on the Platoon Sergeant’s Battle Course, LCpl (now Cpl) Toth who performed well and passed Section Commanders Battle Course and Pte Lancashire who passed the JNCO Cadre
despite having been in Battalion for less than 12 months. Brilliant effort all round.
The year began with an AT trip to the Harz Mountains in Germany where myself, LCpl Plackett, Pte Mackenzie, Pte Terry, Pte Binks and Pte Shaw completed Ski Foundation Level 1. This was a great start to 2017 and despite a few epic bails worthy of a ‘you’ve been framed’ show reel, all soldiers managed to achieve the qualification. February and March saw the Platoon deploy on two exercises testing soldiers on their Mounted and Dismounted skills and drills. This saw the platoon build up to a ‘final attack’ which culminated in an integrated night ‘blacklight’ FIWAF (Fighting in Woods and Forrest)
clearance. The exercise was tough, however, the mighty 8 Platoon again showed what they are capable of when challenged. March also saw us say Auf Wiedersehen to Pte
Butt and Pte Terry who went to represent the Platoon in BATUS for six months as Warrior Drivers on the temporary staff, supporting the testing of exercising units out on the prairie. My sources tell me that they did a fantastic job and gained an immense amount of experience whilst there.
From April, the main focus of the platoon diverted towards a very different role: to
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