Page 32 - MERCIAN Eagle 2015

OC Major Damian Bailey CSM WO2 Rob Muir CQMS Sergeant Herberts
CQMS(T) Colour Sergeant Geoghegan
30
D (Dragon) Company
OC – Major Damian Bailey
Over the last twelve months,
Dragon Company, 1 MERCIAN has grown from a light role capability of FSGs, to an armoured infantry capability with five distinct platoons: Recce Platoon in CVR(T) Scimitar, ATk Platoon in Warrior, Mortar Platoon, Assault Pioneer Platoon in Bulldog, and Sniper Platoon in CVR(T), Spartan and Quad.
The training necessary to learn to drive, gun and command these vehicles began in August 2014, and continued pretty much until we deployed to BATUS in August 2015. A herculean effort ensured regimental instructors within gunnery, driving and maintenance were drawn from across the battalion, which allowed Dragon to deploy with 174 personnel, 46 armoured vehicles, six quads and ten wheeled vehicles.
January 2015 saw elements of
the Company deployed to Bavaria to take part in Exercise ALLIED SPIRIT; a US led multinational exercise, which saw BGHQ put through its paces under a US Brigade Head Quarters, and alongside Dutch, Hungarian, US and Canadian forces. As
a simulated battle group, we were in the comfort of a heated building whilst our ‘real’ counterparts endured cold and
snow. However, we were tested in our ability to simultaneously plan and conduct operations 24/7 over a ten-day period; a far cry from the 40-man LOCON, which had originally been sold to the battle group. ALLIED SPIRIT allowed
the Company to bed
in with other elements
of the battle group,
including Ajax Squadron
RTR, B Bty 1 RHA, 5
AES and 32 Regt RA.
OC Dragon
prove ourselves as the eyes and ears
of the battle group. One rifle company became annoyed when a combination of Recce Platoon, Ajax Sqn and ATk Platoon supported by Desert Hawk 3 and artillery, managed to defeat the enemy without the rifle company firing a single shot from their defensive position.
Dragon were unable to conduct CT2 training in the UK, but following our arrival in BATUS, we detached mortar platoon to
as well as more technical ranges such as sniper loophole shoots and dismounted building clearance. The final phase of the exercise was TES, to allow us to shoot
it out against a live enemy based upon RDG. This allowed a certain amount of experimentation and we were able to fight the ISTAR Group in support of battle group operations. On one mission supporting the battle group, it defeated the two enemy battle groups which had been sent against it. More on that later!
The BATUS tale wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the outstanding support which our technical team provided throughout the exercise. With a fleet
three times as big as a rifle company, and a Tiffy section with one less person than
a rifle company, Staff Sergeant Geldard and Colour Sergeant Geoghegan and their teams did an exemplary job of both repairing our vehicles, teaching us about preventative maintenance and how to best keep our fleet on the road. I reckon they’ll finally catch up on their sleep deprivation sometime next year!
BATUS offered a unique and challenging training environment into which we deployed for 32 days. Our armoured vehicles became mobile FOBs, providing life support and protection, while allowing us to conduct an exercise which covered the whole spectrum of contemporary operations. It was the culmination of twelve months of hard graft by every member of Dragon that allowed us to prove that we are an Armoured Infantry support weapons company, which is prepared for high readiness in 2016.
In order to be ready
to live fire in BATUS,
Dragon spent early
May in Castlemartin
as part of the battalion gunnery camp, where all of our commanders, gunners and drivers formed as crews to pass their annual crew test. With over three quarters of the Company having never been in an armoured vehicle before, let alone part of a fighting crew, this created a steep learning curve (especially for Recce ‘Reshow’ platoon). By the end of it all the Dragons armoured vehicle crews proved that they were competent enough to deploy to BATUS.
After the gunnery camp, Dragon continued to support rifle Company training before deploying on CSTTX. This involved a two-week exercise in vehicle simulators, which allowed us to further integrate and
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
In order to be ready to live fire in BATUS, Dragon spent early May in Castlemartin as part of the battalion gunnery camp...
the artillery group and assault pioneers to the Royal Engineers, while Company Sergeant Major
Muir took control of the Desert Hawk 3 detachment (soon nicknamed ‘budgie’) in his technical ISTAR Group. After three
weeks of very hard grafting to get the vehicle fleet up to scratch, we drove out of Crowfoot Camp onto the prairie to conduct two days of company level training prior to joining the Commanding Officer’s exercise. At this point, I have to state for the record (and the sweepstake) that the first broken down vehicle belonged to Sergeant Waters, which managed to make it about 500m from Camp Crowfoot. However, I’ll also note that Recce lost the most vehicles on the deployment march!
After the initial phase of self conducted training, we fell under BATUS’ wing and conducted live firing. This went from single vehicle and person movement, all the way to an AI BG in attack, defence and delay,