Page 23 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2017

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN) 21 A Squadron
‘Aman dhis din golosirmathkian men yirepsis din gufin. When you see its tail don’t seek the snake.’
Cypriot Proverb
An annus dissimilis and certainly not the training year jour- ney we set out upon back in January. Whilst Presidents were being inaugurated, so too were a new Second in Command, Squadron Sergeant Major, SQMS and two troop leaders into their respective terms in A Squadron – to fewer protests and marginally larger crowds.
The year started out unassumingly-predictable enough. Due to deploy to BATUS on Exercise PRAIRIE STORM 3 along with the KRH Battle Group, the pattern was all mapped-out and all too-familiar: we’d be sipping ice-cold Kokanee and regaling daring-do tales atop our post-exercise laurels before we knew it. Another year, another uninspiring approach to sub-optimal training of an awkward capability. Fate would intervene on a several occasions, though the first was MOD penny-pinching, exercise reprogramming (cancelling) and thus A Squadron (and the rest of the Regiment on the so-called PRAIRIE STORM 4) were unceremoniously kicked-off our flights, with all the up- lomb of so many United Airlines’ passengers in 2017.
Despite these programme challenges, our focus – on core ‘war- fighting’ skills – was unwavering. Ranges dominated the early part of the year, both dismounted and mounted – conveniently for the Squadron, two of the new troop leaders had come fresh from Brecon with sparkling new range qualifications which they were eager to use on the wind-swept moors of Warcop Ranges. Almost immediately afterwards was the annual Castlemartin Range Camp, complete with cultural visits to Tenby and the inevitable SQMS burger challenge.1 Top Shot went to Sergeant Kilburn’s crew of Lance Corporal Thompson and Trooper Blon- din-Diop, with honourable mentions to Sergeant Freeman’s crew of Lance Corporal Kirkby and Troop Atkinson who came a close second. More importantly, these two crews picked up 2nd and 3rd place in the Regimental Standings so a beer may have been had in celebration. Of note was also the look on the Squad- ron Artificer’s face when he entered the tank hanger to find two troop leaders suspended from the gantry crane by a third who remarked that it was “safe, because he had been ‘fammed’ on it.”
With a now primed Squadron of armoured snipers, we moved from Castlemartin to Salisbury Plain via Cavalry Memorial Sun- day. A week’s dismounted training always cheers up mounted soldiers and it saw the Squadron conduct Observation Posts (OP), dismounted attacks, long-range patrolling and actions on contact drills through Salisbury Plain West. Cpl Marsden had to be particularly covert with his OP when 90 cadets from Som- erset moved in on top of him and switched their PRR settings to his (inevitably A1). Despite this, he managed to stay hidden from curious 14 year olds. With sighs of relief and mutterings of ‘death before dismount’, we returned to our vehicles, ditched bergans and roared out of Westdown Camp for our mounted training. With the glorious English summer emerging, we spent ten days roving the Plain, and spent particular time working on Sabre and Anti-tank troop co-operation and co-ordination. Oth- er highlights included: the Officer Commanding’s wife usurp- ing the SQMS as the provider of ‘Stickies’ to SHQ; absolutely no swearing on the net; getting lots of sleep; and, a very brief
1 “The Gaunt Burger” – ingredients include: a loaf of bread, a packet of burg- ers, a packet of bacon, a packet of cheese and a ‘technical’ ban on sale from the Regimental Medical Officer along with the inevitable lifetime of heart problems. Current Title Holder: LCpl Peabody
"Sergeant Mann, where was that lone tree?"
Exercise NORTHERN LANCER
Turret down – whatever