Page 20 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

18 EAGLE AND CARBINE
Thrifty. However, transportation dramas continued with the coach timings being moved without the OIC’s knowledge to two hours earlier so on arrival there wasn’t enough coaches to get everyone out. Much to Capt MacLeod’s relief there were also 60 other people who didn’t get the message, which made a very sad sight at 0500 on the Bulford parade square with half of 7X and all of 16X unable to leave the country. Staff Grieve did note a couple of points 24 hours later when they eventually left; “One, SCOTS DG aren’t the only ones that have problems with coaches. Two, in the cold light of day the Army occasionally squares you away and puts you up in a nice hotel next to Stonehenge and give you steak for dinner.” The next day wasn’t much better than the previous, the coach was late, and the ferry was missed meaning that the total transit time from Leuchars to Sennelager was 56 hours. Once settled into their humble abode (a 12-person room with 16 people in it) and they relaxed into a 12-on-12-off shift pattern. Staff Grieve ended up on the nightshift which turned out to be basically 12 hours of rebalancing ammo, requesting replens, and battlefield casualty replacements – essentially sweeping up the devastation of the previous day’s shift. To this day Capt MacLeod is still not sure which caused more damage to his BG; Cpls MacLeod and McCubbin foaming at the mouths
to cross the line of departure and assault all enemy in sight or the brigade committing the BG to almost certain death at every opportunity with the morale boosting line: “I’m willing to spend the regiment”. All ranks on the exercise dug out blind operating at least one level above where they normally would, with some working two and three ranks up, whilst gaining some excellent experience and always challenging themselves, even when off duty in Paderborn...
2022 ended with C Squadron acting as a holding sub-unit for newly arrived soldiers, since the bulk of the regiment are either returning from or going out to Mali. It also brought another OC, Maj D Lee-Mikus, who took over in December, and the loss of SSM Mitchell, who has headed to the Training Wing. We don’t yet know what 2023 will bring for us, however, whatever it is, the Squadron will grasp the opportunity with energy and enthusiasm.
Massed Piped and Drums on parade