Page 37 - Mercian Eagle 2013

they adopted a less aggressive stance in order to provide assistance and support to the RSOI package. Those deploying to the Falkland Islands would bring back a number of highly useful
2 Platoon is an excellent example of the Mercian Regiment in its new form at its best. We have Grenadiers from throughout a wide and varied recruiting ground from
with our progression in training we have been joined by LCpl Uluikabara fresh from passing Junior Brecon and LCpl Bray who successfully passed the Divisional JNCO Cadre.
As much as we have been intensely focusing on our training, inevitably we have managed to enjoy a couple of Company socials which have enabled us to let our hair down and realise none of us can dance as well as we would like to think. There was certainly much joy amongst the Platoon when my girlfriend and I were clinically destroyed at beer pong by the CSM and CQMS, it would seem youth certainly
didn’t overcome experience. Fourth lesson learned (The Hard Way!)
As we now stand 2 Platoon A (Grenadier) Company are ready to deploy to Kenya and continue to move forward, develop and progress. The training is almost complete
lessons as they adopted a far more conventional role. Lessons learned here would be hugely beneficial to future Platoon training, crucially developing each private soldier’s knowledge of his role in conventional warfare.
You can take the man from section command but not the section commander from the man...
Dudley to Nottingham, Derby to Ellesmere Port, all of whom can provide excellent knowledge
of where to go out for a good time as well as where to avoid!
2 Platoon now looks to develop for the future challenges that Kenya will throw
The second of the main lessons that
I have learned may seem a cliché, yet “Expect the unexpected”. I would class
this as the best advice when meeting a new Platoon of soldiers. 2 Platoon have
a number of characters all of whom add something a little different to create what I consider to be the most enjoyable, taxing and rewarding working environment. No question at times could be considered too stupid and no problem cannot be shared amongst the whole Platoon. Third lesson would seem to be sharing a problem with your Platoon Commander may halve it, shared with the whole Platoon it just seems to disappear.
at us. We have undertaken a full range of package and dry exercises, which have proven to identify to each and every one
of us where we can raise our game. A number of the soldiers much like me have each experienced their own lessons learned moment, whether it be
and now it just remains a case of crossing the t’s dotting the i’s then picking up our weapon systems and doing what we do best.
remembering there is no movement without fire, or how much of a joy the GPMG is
to carry (Pte Chance certainly realised this has its benefits when seeing its effect on the Ranges). Along
“Expect the unexpected”. I would class this as the best advice when meeting a new Platoon of soldiers.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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