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4th Regiment Royal Artillery
was available for this exercise (Ex SUN- DERLAND DAGGER 22.1) and over the two weeks the three guns fired over 4,000 rounds of all natures. This enabled all Tac Gps to achieve key currency and com- petency training objectives – a success founded on the professionalism and deter- mination of the Redneck Gun Line. Even at the time of writing, four months later, the scale of the executive orders imposed (in order to fire more, not less) and the size of the methods fired are still talked about fondly.
After this success, a period of rehabilita- tion set the conditions for a Regimental re-shuffle of personnel in order to gener- ate a Gun Gp for 6/36 (Arcot 1751) Bat- tery and to integrate soldiers transferred to the Regiment from 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, that regiment hav- ing re-equipped from light gun to MLRS. Regrettably, this meant that the Battery lost many Rednecks to the other batteries, but also gained many high-quality people and fresh faces from the wider Regiment and 3RHA. At the same time, the Battery Commander, Battery Sergeant Major and Battery Captain all changed over within weeks of each other, in the days just after Easter. Our new members quickly and easily integrated with the Battery, however, and within weeks it was impossible to tell the old and new Rednecks apart.
Ex SUNDERLAND DAGGER 23 took place just a few weeks later in May on the Salisbury Plain. The exercise was aimed primarily at the Regiment’s ‘seams and sinews’: the vital connective tissue that is rarely exercised tactically, particularly the echelons and the FDC. This was in order to prepare the full Regiment for the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (Land) (VJTF(L)) commitment in 2024. After a
week of Battery training under the Bat- tery Captain, the Gun Gp then came under Regimental control as the FDC honed its procedures. Meanwhile, Anzio Troop, hav- ing conducted a week of low-level train- ing during the dry phase of the exercise, re-deployed to a different task, Ex STEEL DRAGON. The exercise is designed to test the JFC in the execution of the Joint Fires battle through four fully-simulated tactical actions. Below full strength and incorpo- rating several junior and as-yet untrained Gunners, Anzio Troop were nonetheless described as the best Tac Gp to con- duct Ex STEEL DRAGON since the Chief Instructor had been in role – a real testa- ment to the hard work of the soldiers and dedication of their commanders in devel- oping them over the previous 18 months.
88 (Arracan) Battery has truly lived up to its reputation over the past eighteen months, showing the true grit and indomi- table spirit for which we are known. War in Europe and the possibility (however remote) of the Battery’s involvement in it caused understandable anxiety at home and pressures which soldiers who had not deployed before were unfamiliar with, all exacerbated by months of uncertainty. But when the call came, the Battery reported ready. Excellence on operations has been matched by excellence at home in train- ing. The officers and soldiers of the Bat- tery will continue to be ambassadors for 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, bringing the Rednecks’ spirit to the ‘Fighting Fourth.’
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