Page 148 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

156 EAGLE AND CARBINE
would have set up his own Speaker’s Corner in the A Sqn 2IC’s office: never one to shy away from speaking his mind, one Senior Officer described him as “unhinged”; a true celebration of his powers of articulation.
in his It seems almost fitting that Jim’s last notable act in the Regiment was to represent the SCOTS DG at Her late Majesty’s funeral: could there be a finer man, or jawline, to have occupied such an important role?
Brigadier Allfrey once summed up the ideal Cavalry Officer as having two major tenets: the ability to lead soldiers in robust mounted and dismounted action, weathering the worst that tactical command has to offer without complaint: and the capacity to move seamlessly from that scenario, into hosting a cocktail party in the mess for a bevy of VIPs. You could find no better embodiment of this model cavalryman, than Jim Maclachlan.
Alex Dzwig
Al Dzwig replaced the blue beret of RMAS for the coveted grey in May 2018, turning up in Leuchars bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for whatever the British Army could throw at him. With a hard choice between Salisbury Plain in November or the UAE, his moral courage prevailed and he stowed his wet and warm kit in his new
room – donning the fashionable issued sunglasses. On Ex DESERT FALCON, Al filled the role of Charlie callsign under the experienced tutelage of Robbie Houstoun, a partnership that epitomised the eyes and ears of a recce unit.
With a solid tan and a troop to lead, Al prepared for Op CABRIT with A Sqn, travelling the country on a tour of range complexes, all under the watchful eye of Sgt “Big Mac” Macawai.
Pre-requisites met, Al jumped on a plane to the forests of Bemowo Piskie Training Area. He was greeted by not only the deployed Sqn, but also by the locals. With a historically Polish name, Al Dzwig was informed by an interested member of the laundry facility that “Dzwig” was “not a name, it is just a word?!?”, translating to lift or elevator. Signs perhaps of his career’s upward trajectory? Some may argue not.
Al proved himself an asset to the squadron, supporting not only Pepps in his work with ranges, but also
Jim will be sorely missed by the Regiment. Always ready to meet adversity with a side smirk, or his charac- teristic cackle, the outward lessez-faire approach belied his quiet competence, which he would be embarrassed to acknowledge. Well-liked by all ranks, there will be many within the SCOTS DG that are sad to see him go – not to mention the odd Sqn Leader who will miss a late night “you up?” whatsapp from him. Those that know Jim well, will be fully aware of that fact that he is destined to succeed at whatever he applies himself to in the future: at the time of writing, this consists of galivanting around Kenya, which at the very least gives the remainder of the single subalterns a chance now he is in a different hemisphere. We wish him all the very best in his future endeavours and hope he doesn’t stray too far away from his Brother Officers that will miss him dearly.
ensuring that the Medical Centre remained current and competent through a steady stream of troopers from across the nations, products of his rigorous Potential Non-Commissioned Officer cadre.
With six months in his ancestors’ country completed, Al turned his attention to the demands of the slopes, leading the Regimental Alpine team to numerous items of silverware out in Serre Chevalier, France, after beasting the team in Alpbach, Austria.
On return to the UK, Al was ready to head down to the sunny south coast for a stint down at the Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment as a Troop Leader. Not only enjoying a change of pace from Regimental Duty, Al was ensuring the cream of the crop was handpicked for a future with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
Al came back to Leuchars in the summer of 2021 to take over as Second-in-Command C Squadron to steer the ship with WO2 “Eddie” Mitchell and quickly went of in search of the desert again, deploying as part of the OPFOR for B Sqn’s Ex KHANJAR OMAN. (Tom anything you have here?).
Back on British soil, Al began his run-in to his life as a civilian. Handing over the reins to Jim Maclachlan, he completed his time with the Regiment to move down the road and into a job in Edinburgh.
A man large in both stature and personality, Alexander “did someone order 100kg of cynicism” Dzwig will always remain a close friend to his fellow officers.