Page 61 - Mercian Eagle 2013

A Company
Maj NA Kelly, OC HERRICK 19 AI Coy
2013 dawned with A Coy, 3 MERCIAN, having completed their Foundation Training (FT) year with a very successful deployment to BATUS and entered their period of Mission Specific Training which would see them qualified and competent to deploy as the lead element of 7th Armoured Brigade on HERRICK 19. The first challenge faced by the Coy was to integrate the new team as 50 soldiers from other elements of the Bn arrived to push the ORBAT over 150 personnel. After a short team building break to Berlin, seeing the sights of the Capital of Germany and also an international
model show, it was
down to work to qualify
as many Warrior Infantry
Armoured Fighting
Vehicle drivers, gunners
and commanders as
could be done within
resources. The Coy
spent a total of six
weeks, in amongst OPTAG All ranks Briefs and 7 Bde Study Weeks, on Warrior ranges qualifying crews whilst the remainder of the Coy were on a plethora of individual courses and light role ranges, to qualify in the many UOR weapon systems now available to the Coy in Afghanistan.
By now it appeared likely, in the ever changing shape of the deployment, that
A Coy would still be part of the Manoeuvre Battle Group under command of 4 SCOTS. The Coy were therefore training for a COIN environment but conceptually developing our manoeuvre TTPs as it is as likely we will
need to conduct a Relief in Place in contact or an in-extremis intervention offensive action. As it is we will be conducting population centric COIN.
Easter leave passed in a blink and the Coy were soon on Senneleger ranges on Ex PASHTUN HAWK honing their skills
on their personal and support weapons. This was followed by a period of cascade training on Bergan-Hohne Training area where the soldiers of A Coy began to adapt their FT skills to operating in a COIN environment in Afghanistan, with Warrior.
Casualty Evacuation Drills
Concurrent to this
the OC and CQMS found themselves in Afghanistan for their third week of recce and decided that taking
IDF even before your tour had started was distinctly boring. The Coy HQ deployed on
PASHTUN LION (D-CSTTX) and found the instruction to be pro active, the exercise to be extremely well resourced and the whole event to be of real benefit in developing the command team. The 0600hrs PT sessions with CO 4 SCOTS were also a treat.
And before we knew it we were on
our first Coy collective training event; Ex PASHTUN TEMPEST (CALFEX), organised and executed by Live Fire Group. I was slightly surprised that after 18 previous HERRICK training cycles I found the culmination of training on the exercise
to be the Coy ordered to conduct a war
The first challenge faced by the Coy was to integrate the new team...
HMG Ranges
Lt Teasdale falls asleep mid way through sending a radio mesage
20A as part of a Cordon operation to build an ANSF Check Point
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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