Page 56 - Mercian Eagle 2013

Buxton Military Tattoo
Once a year a beautiful Derbyshire town nestled in the rolling hills
of The Peaks comes to life. This town is Buxton and the event in question is the Buxton Military Tattoo. This event sees bands from across the military come to Buxton where large crowds assemble in the great Dome to watch their musical prowess.
Dome. Sgt Umney had brought his British Bulldog, Chester, along to act as the roll of search dog, which he fulfilled admirably, getting plenty of attention from the crowd with his DPM jacket adding to the overall effect.
However the last two years have seen a special performance, not in line with the normal array of Bands.
Derbyshire is a recruiting ground of
2 MERCIAN and of course the 95th Derbyshire Regiment is part of our lineage. So it was befitting that 2 MERCIAN took to the stage and who else but B (Champion) Company was elected to fulfil the task.
The most rewarding part of this event was the interest the public showed in coming forward
The most rewarding part of this event was the interest the public showed in coming forward during the interval to talk to the soldiers, try on their kit and adopting a fire position down behind the GPMG. The members of the patrol were asked lots of questions and responded with well thought out and professional answers. It was incredible to hear how many members of the public just wanted to come up and thank the members of the patrol for what they had done
Any person in the Infantry will testify that it is very hard for civilians to understand what we as the infantry do out on the ground in places like Afghanistan, they just don’t “get it”. So B Company
put on a display to the members of the public of how we work in Afghanistan as a multiple on patrol.
The lads who were in the patrol all carried kit of the same weight and type as they would on operations including the same weapons, the role of each man being described as they patrolled through the
on operations in Afghanistan many of whom had friends, sons and brothers serving as well.
The soldiers who attended this event did an incredible job of representing the Regiment and showed professionalism throughout. I would like to thank them for giving up their own weekend to
show off the capabilities of the Infantry to members of the public, particularly in an area at the heart of 2 MERCIAN’s recruiting ground.
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coming runners up and the “B” side putting in a number of credible performances against more experienced sides. Next our attention turned to the
Battalion was able to bring back silverware after winning at both Islay and Oban. In both locations 2 MERCIAN were the only
MERCIAN. The players went back to their respective companies to go on Summer leave and then to prepare for deployment
to Kenya, after which rugby training could begin again in earnest. However an Army Rugby coach happened to be watching Pte Dulukobau of B Company play in a friendly game whilst the Battalion was on leave. Such was the strength of his performance that Pte Dulukobau found himself catapulted at very short notice into the Army 7s squad playing at the World Club Sevens tournament at Twickenham. So now we are also proud to boast a fully fledged Army 7s member within our squad too.
west coast of Scotland where we entered a team into both the Islay Beach 7s and the Oban 7s. In spite of
Crowds were wonderfully vocal during the games and equally hospitable at the bar afterwards.
military team entered and it was a pleasure
to witness the immense support that the
Armed Forces currently enjoy. Crowds were wonderfully vocal during the games and equally hospitable at the bar afterwards.
a very talented field at
both tournaments, the
dedication to training,
coaching and the
experience gained from
previous run outs showed through and the
And that should have been the end to the 7s season for 2
The Imperial Meeting 2013 By Pte Bennett – B (Champion) Coy
I joined the army 3 years ago as a REME Craftsman, however I quickly saw the light and decided to transfer to do some real soldiering in the 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment.
I have been shooting since I was 9 years old, and that is the main reason why I joined the Army. In my junior years I competed
in many national competitions with a high degree of success and this formed my ambition of shooting in an international match before I turned 20.
When I arrived in Belfast to join Bn, I made it clear that I would like to carry on my shooting. However, a packed training programme confronted me and a significant amount of persuasion was required before
I finally received the ‘thumbs up.’ So with a clear statement of intent from the OC – ‘not to return without silver,’ I was granted 2 weeks away from daily routine to compete in the competition of the year, pitting the
top shooters from around the world against each other.
The start of the Competition did not
go exactly to plan as my rifle sights had been knocked whilst in the armoury and this resulted in me missing a couple of preliminary shoots. Luckily the problem
was fixed after two days and I was back
on the range competing. My first win came on day four at the RAF invitation. The RAF had backed themselves to win this event and been kind enough to lay on a free bar,
I believe to tip the odds in their favour. As you can appreciate they were less than impressed as we claimed the silverware and a free drink(s).
At the mid point of the competition
it was time for team selection and after shooting very consistently I was delighted to make the Combined Services Team, I also managed to impress the team GB selectors and secured a place in the Great Britain under 25’s team.
All was going well until disaster struck, unfortunately, when shooting the National match we were beaten by our close rivals, Ireland. The loss was a huge disappointment, especially as the team had been performing so well, but the competition was not over. Trying hard to banish the ‘luck of the Irish,’ to memory, team GB quickly rallied together beating both the South African and Canadian Rifle teams and in doing so produced a new all time points record.
I thoroughly enjoyed the competition and thank the chain of command for allowing me the opportunity to partake in it. Overall, in the Grand Aggregate I placed 99th this equates to the 2nd highest placing of any serving member of the Army, further to this I was lucky enough to be awarded a place on the Great Britain Under 25’s tour to camp Peri, USA in 2015 to compete in the World Long Range Championships.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE