Page 5 - The Wish Stream Year of 2022 CREST

Welcome to this year’s Wish Stream maga- zine. It is my pleasure to write this fore- word, my first since assuming the role of Commandant in August 2022. I wish to open with my warmest thanks and best wishes to my predecessor, Major General Duncan Capps CBE, for all his hard work and support to the Sandhurst Trust throughout his three years.
I would like to start on behalf of all the Sand- hurst family, to pay tribute to the sad passing of Her Late Majesty The Queen. She was the exemplar of Sandhurst’s motto ‘Serve to Lead’, and an inspiration to us all. It was Sandhurst’s honour to be able to support the funeral through the provision of vigils and representation on the day. Looking forward, we will be actively involved in His Majesty The King’s coronation on 6 May 2023 with 30 OCdts marching alongside repre- sentatives from Cranwell and Dartmouth.
In keeping with the renewed focus on the Acad- emy, this edition begins with initial impressions of Sandhurst from Junior Term OCdts with no pre- vious military experience, an international OCdt speaking of the welcoming and respectful pla- toon staff and first-hand accounts of exercises from across all 3 terms. All detail the challenges of British weather and the increase in the exercise complexity during the course. Additionally, a pla- toon Colour Sergeant offers his thoughts on his pride seeing his platoon passing off the square and the culture Sandhurst aims to instil in pro- viding the psychological safety for the OCdts to fail and then learn from these setbacks, thereby growing into resilient and authentic leaders.
November saw the Academy back in Germany for Ex DYNAMIC VICTORY, working alongside our American allies and a Slovenian contingent for the first time; within there are two brilliant articles that highlight the complexity and focus this demanding exercise requires. December followed and we welcomed HRH The Duke of Gloucester for the Commissioning Course 221 Sovereign’s Parade, notably the first cohort to commission into His Majesty’s Army.
The Sandhurst Trust continues to support Luc- know Platoon’s crucial team building events,
Major General Z R Stenning OBE
such as their visit to the National Memorial Arbo- retum, which is covered as are pieces on visits to the International Forum on Peace, Security and Prosperity and the Singapore International Cadet Conference. The international theme con- tinues with thoughts from our exchange officers describing their Sandhurst experience as ‘truly remarkable’ and a column from our Short Term Training Team deployment to Iraq.
To close before you read this wonderful edition, I thought it useful to update you on the Sand- hurst journey and what we looking to achieve. Sandhurst is at the beginning of its largest trans- formation programme in the last decade. This is targeted at; modernising the Commissioning Course; re-imagining how we work and teach; enhancing the infrastructure to improve the lived experience and teaching environment; attracting and retaining the best staff and developing Army Leadership as a capability. This is all to deliver leaders for the Army and the Nation who can fight and win wars on land.
Work so far has seen a full review of Sandhurst as well as benchmarking visits to sister acad- emies, at home and overseas. We must incor- porate wider best practice in order to remain a world-class institution. Trials in new equipment usage, joint Field Army exercises and restructur- ing of the commissioning course are all in the pipeline over the next year alongside many other structural and cultural enhancements.
Finally, and to finish with a flourish, the Sand- hurst Trust has distributed £125,000 in charita- ble grants in over 2,100 individual grants – it’s best year ever and a remarkable achievement! I would like to express on all your behalf, a sin- cere well done and thank you to Vaughan Kent- Payne, Sue Hatton and the Sandhurst Trust team for their dedication and leadership. I very much hope you enjoy this edition of the Wish Stream.
Commandant’s Foreword
SANDHURST 3