Page 38 - MERCIAN Eagle 2015

Unit Welfare Officer Padre
Welfare SNCO WISMIS SNCO Welfare F&C SME Driver
Welfare Clerk
Capt Ryan Lavercombe Capt Ben Archibald
Sgt Jon Baker
Sgt Robbie Redpath Pte Tiwuya Faaya
Pte Nathan Crawley Pte Jamie Benjafield
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WELFARE
At the time of writing these notes, the majority of 1 MERCIAN Battlegroup are well into their BATUS deployment on Exercise PRAIRIE STORM 3. The remainder of those left behind to formulate the ROG and to defend the rear line, namely B Coy and a few ‘key’ players are celebrating the first year of the battalion’s formation.
I have been in the chair since April 2014 and since then it has been pretty much a blur. The role of the UWO is extremely busy and certainly different and more diverse than any other job that I have done in my 25 years’ service. In the next few paragraph’s
I will try to sum up my time thus far as the welfare officer. I won’t divulge to much detail because when I retire it is my intent to write a few books about my time as
1 MERCIAN UWO; I am very confident they will be award winning ‘Best Sellers’, if not, they will certainly be an unbelievable read.
Where do I begin... I guess with a massive ‘thank you’ to all members of the battalion for welcoming me into the unit. In particular I would like to thank three people; Capt ‘Daz’ Williams, for a great handover and the much needed LE advice, Padre ‘Ben’ Archibald for keeping me grounded and my moral compass intact, and last but by no means least, Sgt ‘Robbie’ Redpath for his hard work and expert welfare advice.
After a detailed handover and a quick farewell to Daz, Cpl Draper, Pte Richie and Val the Welfare Clerk (most of the team!), I was left with Sgt Robbie Redpath and Pte Tiwuya Faaya who moved early to Bulford to take over The Beeches Community Centre from 1 Royal Anglian. They established a foothold ready to receive all the families
from 1, 2 & 3 MERCIAN’s plus attachments; some 170 families in total. I remained up North to oversee the hand-back.
The move to Bulford was the most complex of all moves in the A2020 restructure (just my luck). My staff however worked around the clock to make it as smooth as
possible for all, only to be hampered by
DIO inefficiencies and poor preparation of some 21 SFA. With the move complete and summer 2014 drawing to a close, the next big event my welfare team had to overcome was the battalion ‘Formation Day’. We were responsible for the planning, setup and execution of the Formation Day’s family’s afternoon which was a great success.
As the soldiers began training on the Warriors and their families settled into their new homes, my team started to plan for the up and coming events: Halloween, followed swiftly by the mandatory children’s Christmas party. I would like to take
this opportunity to thank RHQ for their
kind donation of £250, which was a massive cash injection to spend on the entertainment and presents for the children.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE