Page 37 - KRH Regimental Journal 2022

The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars 35
Cpl Chris Wilson asks why army camping is such hard work? – EX DEFENDER 2022
arrived with gusto. As the department prepared the cold weather clothing packs for the Regiment’s forthcoming winter tour to Estonia, the weather turned scorchio, the heat unbearable at times, and the limited grass within camp burnt to a rather hay like yellow. With stellar work from the team, namely Pte ‘Tripey’ Tripe (the resident clothing guru) the team put together the best packs that they could in terms of winter clothing and set about plugging the gaps, don’t mention the QR code (it’s a bit like fight club), as the Regiment headed out of the door for Estonia. Most nobly all kit shortfalls were packed into a van and Sgt ‘TJ’ Twanje hit the road and headed for the continent, in a journey fondly named ‘the cannonball run’. If once wasn’t enough TJ made the run twice and on one occasion was saved by some quick thinking, diplomatic paperwork and cavalry charm as the rather unfriendly European (french) police offered to take the contents of his laden van from him. Undeterred he managed to wrangle his way out of a pickle and managed to dig the forward troops out of a hole with his self-proclaimed speedy delivery timelines – watch out Bezos! If that wasn’t enough, back in sleepy Wiltshire the RQMS was ‘loaning’, much to his disgust, some brand-new mountain bikes to the Officers’ mess for bicycle polo! To make mat-
ters slightly more topical the QM was one of the players and who would have known it, but quite the competi- tor! We will not mention the bike overhauls after the event – semantics!
With Capt Chris Pople now firmly at the helm the department’s go to excuse of ‘when Squeaky was here’ was starting to wear thin and the once popular narra- tive subsequently banned as the QM set about unpick- ing a few of the barnacle like processes. Sadly, as the year sped up, soldiers’ accommodation became the QM’s new battlefield as single occupancy rooms within
the Garrison were fast becoming rarer than Frank’s toothbrush! However, it was not all doom and gloom in the department as we undertook one of our favourite pastimes
- watching Cpl ‘Frenchie’ Lemott open safes, and much to everyone’s surprise (not!) he is not about to be cast in Oceans 13!
September was soon upon us, the ROG assembled and most of the Regiment headed across the con- tinent to the snow crested land- scape of Estonia. Concurrently, the department welcomed Tpr ‘Danny’ Dawson , and it is fair
to say he was keen to get started – think hyperactive puppy,
The Dept safe cracker, Cpl “Frenchy” Lemott attempts to open the wrong safe (again)
albeit with slightly more initiative. With the weeks passing by it was soon November and the crew decided that it would embrace the ‘Movember’ challenge; to everyone’s surprise the win- ner was Tpr ‘Danny Bum Fluff ’ Dawson... although we were all convinced it was stuck on (or, as we found out in late December, the realty that he had started
the challenge on his arrival in September).
As Santa’s sleigh shot over Sidbury Hill 2022 was drawing to a close and it was time for the depart- ment to take a few weeks of well-deserved leave. We, as a close-knit team, are proud of the shift that
the team has put in, all it has embraced and that we have overcome every challenge. There was even some positive messaging whispered amongst the young troop leaders that ‘G4 doesn’t just happen’. From a QM’s perspective, after his first year behind the old wooden desk, he says he is quite the proud Dad as he reflected on the team’s accomplishments. In short, we look forward to next year, and we know the team will bring their ‘A’ game (yet again!) and our fine Regiment will go from
strength to strength!
CJP
Tpr Danny Dawsons ground-breaking Movember entry surprised us all