Page 43 - Mercian Eagle 2013

grand opening speech of your career, it never happened. With the support of a seasoned veteran, known as ‘H’ all the highlights of platoon command became apparent. The word administration has never been so prevalent in the smooth running of the platoon. Late nights and hard graft to sort all manner of issues, with the focus on going away.
From the formation of the new 7 Platoon to Op HERRICK 17/18 the turn around of individuals was a total surprise, in complete contrast to the set numbers and full manning during training. Education and driving etc contributed to a reduced number of soldiers during the working day, thus having a knock on effect with the exercises.
8 Platoon by Lt Sam Vause Having just reported for Regimental Duty
from Sandhurst and the Infantry Battle School, I believed I had a fairly solid conceptual and practical understanding of what it was to be busy. My tenure so far as 8 Platoon Commander has somewhat
After losing the Platoon Sgt to Harrogate during Op HERRICK 17/18
to return to a fresh Sgt keen and ready for deployment to Dartmoor was great news.
Over the year the
platoon has bonded
in a number of
different theatres and
environments. The
movement of young soldiers is inevitable in any platoon, but the characters always remain and contribute to the morale. Adventure training in Newquay saw the rise of individuals such as Pte Sampford
shattered this naïve misconception! This last year has seen 8 Platoon return to
the basics of soldiering. and it has been rewarding and challenging to return to the bread and butter of Infantry Soldiering.
In the build-up to Christmas, Magilligan
and Pte Beardsley
who are renowned
for their humour and awful tattoos of the characters from Winnie the Pooh. RMAS and PCBC teach you and equip an individual
with the tools to succeed. As a platoon commander you put these tools to good use
and are tested throughout, but the benefit for the platoon becomes very apparent with the cohesion and brotherhood that no other career can deliver.
Training Centre became somewhat of a second home; and provided the perfect opportunity to hone those skills which we all hold dear to our hearts: marksmanship, fieldcraft, and fire and manoeuvre.
The movement of young soldiers is inevitable in any platoon, but the characters always remain and contribute to the morale.
The task proved to be hugely rewarding and beneficial to
the Company in terms of the individual training we were able to achieve whilst in theatre and knowing that we had played a part in training the soldiers of 1st Mechanized Brigade to the best standard possible for their six month tour. All opportunities were maximised including getting personnel trained to make home made explosives, operate the latest C-IED equipment, and use the latest UOR kit in
theatre. Of particular note the PRT were able to provide a number of range packages for the Company Group which consisted of the firing of all heavy and specialist weapons. In my whole career I have never had such a pool of resources in terms of the availability of ammunition for training to draw upon. The Company fired its fair share and is now looking forward to putting the experience gained and training achieved into practice on the next operational deployment.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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