Page 158 - RSDG Year of 2023

156 EAGLE AND CARBINE
ON ATTACHMENT TO THE IRISH GUARDS
This year saw for the first time the unique opportunity for a SCOTS DG Troop Leader to serve as a Platoon Commander with 1st Battalion the Irish Guards, recently rerolled into a Security Force Assistance (SFA) Battalion.
In typical fashion there was little time for introductions or bedding in on arrival to Number 2 “The Fighting Company” 1IG. Having recently moved to Standby, following completion of their Operate Cycle, a period that saw them deploy all over East Africa delivering Short Term Training Team Missions, the Company were immediately sucked into the all-encompassing vortex of Op INTERFLEX. This ultimately saw one slightly dazed and confused Lt Cavalry Troop Leader, still trying to wrap his head around such alien concepts as “Lance Sergeant” and “trooping”, deploy to the south coast with an IG led tri-service, multi-national subunit. Fortunately, the
inevitable controlled chaos of handing over a complete TDU gave sufficient cover for Lt Hallatt to find his feet and, after overcoming the language and cultural differences, as well as the sparse delights of St Martins Plain, the IG led training team successfully delivered a robust training program to several hundred trainees. Many of whom were immediately deployed to fight on their return home. Though often frustrating, this opportunity to provide a tangible operational output was of immense value to the training team and served as a stark reminder of the realities of the job that we all do.
On completion of their several months on Op INTERFLEX, No. 2 Company finally came together for a period of individual training. This gave Lt Hallatt the opportunity to fully get a handle on the idiosyncrasies that make a Guard’s Battalion such a unique place to serve, and
Lt Hallatt