Page 66 - Mercian Eagle 2013

OC Major Jerome CSM WO2 Hudson CQMS CSgt Webster
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allowed the Coy to employ the full range of weapon systems. The week went well; the threat of heat injury which had hit 4 Scots the day before was batted off through good admin by the CSM and his team and we emerged with a strong reputation. We
weeks this year. OPTAG tell us the water was in no way deeper than waist height, but I’m 6'2" and I was up to my armpits. Both LCpl Philips, our COIST, who volunteered
to deploy on the OP, then faceplanted into the mud and had to be rescued and Cpls
159 hours in Buses
(61⁄2 full days or 39 working days)
To date, 2013 has been a busy year. The challenge of taking a brand new Company, fresh out of the depot and short on junior leadership for much of the year and delivering an operationally ready Company, able to hold its own for its role against the best that 7 Brigade has to offer has been significant. It has been made possible
by the attitude and determination of the soldiers who have made up for lack of experience with drive, determination,
guts and energy which has been hugely impressive. 25 of C Company will form the BCR platoon for HERRICK 19 and whilst I hope they don’t have to deploy for obvious reasons, I do hope we can get them out on rotation. They have taken it hugely seriously and the impact on those told they weren’t going has been immense. They are not a bottom third; I am genuinely able to say that this is Company without a true bottom third and the decision on who to leave behind was heated and disappointed the platoon commanders across the board. I look forward to HERRICK 19; the Company is
in good heart, has outstanding junior and senior NCO leadership and will do well at whatever HERRICK 19 throws at us.
then embarked on
yet another long bus journey – but a small one by the standards of the summer as it was only 7 hours to Thetford.
105 hours in Buses
CFX was the first real test and for a
young Company lacking operational experience it was a welcome wake up call. Lt Whatling caused the friction on the first day as we attempted to break into a village by standing on no less than 7 IEDs with his platoon, effectively fixing us. However, after that shock to the system we progressed well and got lots of benefit from the event. Indeed, the FOB Defence drills came together fast; the OPTAG team were able to run an advanced FOB attack at night with an infiltration approach, which resulted in the Insurgent Gurkhas getting no further than the wall. We were also delighted to hear that the final Coy operation was able to be run in the swamp for one of the few
Naicobo and Baddeley (about 5' each). It was quite damp.
Again, by the end of the week, we’d learnt a lot and improved a lot. Another bus journey, this time under pressure
We then embarked on yet another long bus journey...
from drivers who were having no truck with leaving late and had to be restrained by WO2 Long’s powers of persuasion and the OC’s language skills, to avoid leaving the last group having a shower behind!
123 hours in Buses
Following a well earned three weeks off, we regrouped in Fallingbostel ready for the FTX, culmination of the training. At this stage, we still didn’t know who we were going to work for, how we were going to be administered or how we would be employed; we had
a Company of 184 rather than the 109 we would deploy with due to the BCRs and the Force Protection Platoon, and we didn’t know which FOB we would deploy to.
Dragon Company
Javelin Platoon Escapades by Sgt C J Williams
It’s been another busy year for the Javelin Platoon which saw us deploy to BATUS once more. The Platoon were split for this with almost half deploying on Prairie Thunder 3 with B Company, Scots Dragoon Guards Battle Group (SDG BG), as two rifle company sections, Cpl Joynes and Cpl Shaw (now Sgt Shaw) took the lead on this tasking. Other members of the Platoon helped provide safety for SDG BG, they deployed on and around the 7th August 2012 and returned to Germany mid November. On completion of Prairie Thunder 3 the remainder of the Platoon in Germany joined us in
BATUS, we reformed and started our battle prep ready for 3 Mercian BG Prairie Thunder 4. The Platoon were made up of two Javelin sections, 31 lead by Sgt Williams and 32 by Sgt Lennon, 31 were
to form part of the Recce group and their role was to help provide
an Anti-Tank capability for the BG recce screen. This worked well with the Recce Pl providing the find function and 31 then taking up the fix allowing the Recce call signs to push on. 31 also provided a case vac option for the Recce group as the Warriors have the space, protection and also the speed cross country. On more than a few
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