Page 25 - MERCIAN Eagle 2015

4 Platoon
The pace of life over the last year for
4 Platoon has been very busy, and even more so for those junior commanders and soldiers who had never set foot in a Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle nine months ago.
In January, as part of the B Company Live Fire package at Castlemartin, 4 Platoon succeeded in gaining the highest vehicle score on the ACTs, despite lacking a number of experienced Warrior gunners. Corporal Lovobalavu and Private Nash managed to achieve a Level 6 (the highest possible), which was made all the more impressive as Private Nash had only recently qualified, and Corporal Lovobalavu had last commanded Warrior in Iraq.
4 Platoon then deployed on Exercise PRAIRIE STORM 1 in BATUS, with the Royal Tank Regiment Battle Group – the focus of all their hard work through 2014 and 2015 – and put in a solid performance. The inexperienced junior commanders displayed great confidence in commanding their vehicles on the prairie, and the dismounts quickly got used to armoured operations.
4 Platoon now have a year at readiness with the Royal Tank Regiment Battle Group to look forward too, with the potential deployments and overseas exercises that may bring.
5 Platoon
July 2014 marked a new start for both
B (Malta) Company and 5 Platoon. The unit move to Bulford, Wiltshire was near completion with a newly amalgamated platoon of soldiers from all three battalions of the Mercian Regiment.
With only a minority of the platoon having any experience with Warrior, a lot of time was spent in the lead up to Christmas 2014 qualifying new commanders, gunners and drivers. Concurrently, the remainder of the platoon were able to conduct a light role exercise on Salisbury Plain. Although the exercise was intended to be strenuous, the platoon did lose some vital members early on. Unfortunately, Corporal Knowles had to return to camp due to breaking his brace on a caramel cereal bar, and in turn missed 85% of the exercise. Other than this we had a good exercise, gaining some great training by performing a number of recce’s on 6 Platoon, and in turn conducting a successful platoon raid on their harbour location.
The New Year saw the platoon moving
to Castlemartin in Wales, to conduct a light role and armoured live firing package. The weather was as expected, with little to no shelter from the wind on any of the light role ranges! Private Keenan was awarded ‘top gunner’ for his exceptional drills on the light machine gun throughout the exercise. We returned from Castlemartin to begin our first
armoured exercises on Salisbury Plain. This was going to be a test for the new crews
to see if they could operate tactically, whilst also combining with their dismounts. It was a slow start, but by the end of the exercise the platoon started to look like a well-drilled unit.
platoon to get together before being stood down for leave.
The platoon then began heading out to Canada. By the time the main body had arrived, Lance Corporal Hughes and his fellow members of the advance party had our vehicles signed out and in a good state. We were now ready to deploy on to the prairie. There were plenty of good moments whilst we were deployed with the platoon,
often being called upon to get the job done with minimal fuss. We also excelled in the more relaxed parts of the exercise, cruising to a win in a rounder’s match against 4 Platoon. Corporal Sinclair was crowned as 5 Platoon
shot put champion, after narrowly beating Sergeant Mason to this accolade.
With our return from Canada, it is now time for me to move on to my next posting. 5 Platoon have proved themselves to
be every bit capable to operate in the armoured environment, and I leave full
of confidence that they will perform with excellence on their next task.
OC
4 Platoon Sergeant
4 Platoon WR Sergeant
Lieutenant Rich Peacock / 2nd Lieutenant Jake Berridge Sergeant Steve Bircumshaw
Sergeant ‘Mel’ Mellor
OC
5 Platoon Sergeant
5 Platoon WR Sergeant
Lieutenant Sean Randall Sergeant Luke Mason Corporal Eddie Sinclair
It was now a busy time for both
the platoon and company. With our deployment to BATUS fast approaching,
we needed to deploy
to CATT, whilst also
completing a two-
week CT2 exercise on
Salisbury Plain. CATT
allowed us to play ‘real
life video games’ for
a month straight, and
also gave a perfect
opportunity for Private
Smith to prove his worth by finishing first in the company eating competition. Before deployment on CT2, the platoon saw a new signaller join our ranks, Private Cresswell. He settled well during the exercise, showing his worth and working well as a signaller. At the end of the exercise, a company smoker was arranged with a BBQ, which was a good opportunity for all members of the
This was going to be a test for the new crews to see if they could operate tactically...
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