Page 21 - QDG Year of 2022 CREST

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
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The SQMS points towards the last known locations of Sgt Warners pistol
Major Curry briefs the troops
(mostly on purpose), and a lot of ques- tionable karaoke performances, everyone came away from Slovenia with either a new qualification, or heightened confi- dence in tree-dodging when speeding down a hill.
The budding sailors of the Squadron participated in Ex TRIDENT EAGLE, a two-week Offshore Sailing expedition on the “balmy” South Coast of England, led by Lieutenant Zöe Spicer. Kindly utilising the RAC Yacht, White Knight VII, and borrowing skippers from B Sqn and RWxY, the crews fought thunderstorms, towering waves and ripped main sails to achieve their Competent Crew Qual- ification. Corporal Couch demonstrated his natural nautical ability by achieving his Day Skipper Practical Qualification. Fish were fed and comfort zones were pushed, but all-in-all, both skippers and crew would call it an enjoyable adventure.
With the majority of the new A Squadron back in camp in October we were ready to tackle the next mission. This came in the form of being formally tasked with deploying on Op INTER- FLEX in the New Year. This would see most the Squadron’s personnel deployed to a location in the Southwest to train Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) soldiers in a variety of battlefield skills including field craft, shooting and first aid. To prepare for this task, which was designed for an infantry company we were required to send many of our JNCOs on courses, often at very short notice and with little preparation time. I am pleased to say that these soldiers performed extremely well, despite the disruption and at times confusion, and I would like to thank all of them (and their families) for their patience and performance over this tricky period. Alongside generating the skills and qualifications required for Op INTERFLEX, we continued, with those junior officers and NCOs that were left to run a squadron training programme focussed on low level basic soldiering. This was designed put us in a good place for the beginning of pre-deployment training for Op CABRIT (Poland) in 2023.
Preparation for Op INTERFLEX continued through November, with many of our JNCOs away. Despite this the Squadron was still able to deploy on a low-level military skills exercise, Ex ABLE EAGLE which was educational, interesting and hopefully enjoyable for attendees. Concurrently C Squadron ran a Potential NCO cadre which was well attended by the Squadron’s budding leaders and we had a pleasing high pass rate on this tough but vitally important course. Given the level of activity in the Regiment, particularly in support of C and HQ Squadron’s upcoming deploy- ment to the United States it was excellent to see the Training Wing organise and run a first-rate Mullens Cup inter-troop competition. The Squadron
generated a scratch team skilfully led by Sergeant Howells with Corporal Platt as his 2IC. Setting off into the early morning darkness for the first event, a 12km loaded march the team looked relaxed, confident, and determined. I am happy to say that after a series of events aimed a testing military skill, shooting and fitness Sergeant Howells and the A Squadron team were victorious – congratula- tions to all involved. In other good news, Corporal Jones 128 was awarded the golden binoculars as top student on his Crew Commanders course.
As we neared the end of term we received instructions to stand down from Op INTERFLEX, a hugely frustrating decision, firstly because of the worthwhile nature of such a task, directly supporting our allies in their time of need, and secondly because of the work, disrup- tion and effort that had gone into getting the Squadron ready to deploy. The silver lining to this disappointment was that we had gained access to a series of courses and qualifications that we wouldn’t
normally attain, putting the Squadron in an excellent place, particularly when it comes to ranges. Regimental Christmas week topped off the year. There was much fun had, particularly on Christmas Day itself, as we gathered to sing carols, throw Brussels sprouts and look forward to the prospect of some Christmas Leave.
It’s difficult to sum up a year such as 2022. Once again, A Squadron has proved itself on operations, in austere, testing, and at times dangerous condi- tions. In a fascinating and troubled country such as Mali, peace is someway off, but all members of the Squadron should feel proud of their contribution towards security there, even if localised and temporary, and should wear their
UN medals with pride. After the return from Mali as so often happens the Squadron has morphed, changed and been remod- elled for the next task. The new team has taken all that the back end of the year has thrown at it in its stride, from adventures in kayaks and boats, exercises, frantic preparation and sudden disappointment over Op INTERFLEX and Mullens Cup. We’ve had some new members added to the Regi- mental family with Corporal Lunness, Lance Corporal King and Major Wiggins welcoming Logan, Hudson and Rex respectively and we’ve seen friends and
colleagues depart for pastures new and civilian – and we wish them all the very best of luck and success in all they do.
2023 will see A Squadron once again deployed abroad on Operations, to the Polish forests in the Winter, rather than African deserts in Summer, such is the variety of life in the Regiment and we all look forward to building a capable, effec- tive and close-knit Squadron over the coming months.
DMW
It was sad
to see such
an effective, resilient and successful team dispersed but as we all know it’s easy come, easy go in the QDG