Page 28 - Bugle Spring 2025

4 RANGER
OFFICERS
MESS MATTERS
Officers’ Mess formal dinner
28 RIFLES The Bugle
Even with a company persistently deployed to the Middle
East, the Officers’ Mess has maintained a steady drumbeat
of events and activities that has brought everyone
together. We’ve hosted high-level overseas visitors
including the Commander of the Jordanian Quick Reaction
Force and Comd 1st US Special Forces Command, both key
allies and partners and the visits were fundamental in forging
closer relations with those we work with on operations.
In the final weeks of his tenure as the Chief of the General Staff,
General Sir Patrick Sanders KCB CBE DSO ADC GEN, expressed a
heartfelt desire to visit 4 RANGER, which was previously 4 RIFLES
when he served with them, one last time. This visit was more than
a formal farewell - it was a chance to reconnect, reflect on shared
experiences, and honour the bond that had been built over years of
service together. It was a fitting send-off and reminded everyone of
the deep camaraderie and respect that defines life in the battalion.
In August, the Mess transformed into the Paris Olympics for
our annual Summer Ball with over 100 guests attending and
some very memorable moments provided by the subalterns.
These included a video montage of footage of 4 RANGER Officers
transporting the Olympic Torch ‘By All Means’ from Paris to
Aldershot, culminating with Capt Cousins abseiling from the
Officers’ Mess roof and lighting the Opening Ceremony.
In the Autumn we ran a series of talks to both the Officers’
and WOs and Sjts’ Mess. The first was our inaugural Delhi Day
evening. This delved into accounts of the Indian Mutiny and
the Siege of Delhi, where the shared history of the antecedent
regiments of The Rifles and the RGR begins. The second saw a
visit by the author Damien Lewis who delivered detailed accounts
of unconventional warfare, and a precis of his book; ‘The Ministry
of Ungentlemanly Warfare’.