Page 115 - QDG Year of 2022 CREST

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards 113
IDF position seen through the rocket screen during firefight IDF armoured patrol driving past the camp
his head. The Merkava had its main armament pointing at one of the Ferrets and the three Centurion tanks accom- panying it had their guns trained on the other Ferrets. All four Ferrets had their .30 Brownings trained rather optimisti- cally on the tanks! It transpired that the Merkava had been indulging in the sport of driving over all the parked cars on the side of the road – parked legally, I would add. This had so incensed Sergeant Pritchard that he stopped his Ferret in front of the Merkava and climbed up on to the front plate and the rest was history. Clearly intimidated by eight Ferrets and their high tech equipment, all four tanks backed off, but not until they had driven over a few more cars.
As previously mentioned, we were not the only contingent to have run ins with the IDF. On one occasion, a USMC M60 tank confronted an IDF Centurion tank in a narrow lane and neither would back off. The USMC tank commander indicated to the Israeli to calm down in sign language, placing his first finger on his thumb – to the Israeli this apparently equated to the V sign so the tension increased; it was eased when some children started to play football between the tanks, diffusing the situation and eventually they both reversed away.
In addition to the USMC Liaison Sergeants, we had three Lebanese Army Captains attached as Liaison Officers. It was not clear exactly what their role was as they seldom came out on patrol. However, they were professional, and we enjoyed their company. One of them, Bassam, was particularly hospitable and a Maronite Christian. He kept promoting the virtues of Lebanon, the food and particularly the Lebanese girls. One day he confided in me that it was customary to receive a dowry if you married a Lebanese - sufficient to set you up for life. He proudly told me that he had been given L6m or the equivalent at the time of £1m!
“I bet that set you up well,” I commented.
“Yes,” he replied, “I bought the most magnificent carpet.”
Each to his own, I suppose. But he was excellent company and when he invited me to dinner in his house, I accepted. It was an elegant building on the coast road, and it looked pretty much untouched by the war. He opened the gates and I was confronted by a magnif- icently manicured garden with a large fountain in the middle. He ushered me in and asked me what I would like to drink.
“Forget the drink, Bassam, I would like to see your carpet.”
“Ah,” he replied, “unfortunately when the Syrians invaded, their soldiers took it away with them. And sadly, they never returned it.”
I’m sure there is a moral behind this story.
As part of our contingent of nine- ty-seven, we had some attached personnel. These included three Liaison Officers from various regiments whose role it was to...well, it was never made clear exactly what their role was! We got on very well with them all bar a captain in the Argylls. He complained bitterly when Lt Vestey and I organised a ‘thank you’ drinks party for various Lebanese and ex-pats we had met, all of whom had entertained all ranks at their homes. He
objected to the fact that the Officers and Sergeants were drinking at a party whilst the other ranks continued with their night-time duties. Major Stewart cleverly diffused the situation by organising a party for all ranks except the Officers, who took over guard duty for the night. Despite this, the foresaid Argyll was still very disruptive and lodged an official complaint.
I mentioned the Royal Signals attach- ment previously. In addition, there was a detachment from the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) under Major Southworth. Their role was to provide whatever was required to sustain the force - like an old-fashioned Commis- sariat. Talking in the Mess one day, we were discussing the intricacies of trying to bug out of a Ferret in a flak jacket and at the same time manoeuvring our SLRs out of the turret. Invariably, the magazine fell off and we had to try retrieve it which demanded a headfirst entry back into the turret. Not great if you were under fire, which fortunately we never directly were. We decided that what we needed was a smaller weapon with a longer range than an SMG. A week later, six MP5s appeared which the RAOC contingent
Offending invitation