Page 85 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2017

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN) 83
The entirity of the ‘Junior’ Captain Anani-Isaac continues to Captain Anani-Isaac holds his first rifle Officer Group at SHAPE show that ‘medals are overrated’ since he finished Troop Leaders
As one would expect, working in a General’s outer office is fairly busy and DSACEUR’s office is no different. DSACEUR wears quite a few hats in his position: he is first and foremost, the dep- uty to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR); he is also the lead Force Generator (FOG) for NATO; the Operation Commander for Operation ALTHEA (the EU Mission to Bosnia Herzegovina), the NATO/EU Strategic Co-ordinator and finally the Senior British Officer (SBO) at SHAPE.
As well as regular meetings at SHAPE, NATO Headquarters and the European Council in Brussels, DSACEUR is invited to attend a constant stream of receptions, dinners and parades, both on his own merit and on SACEUR’s behalf. The final ele- ment of his job is the frequent travelling in support of all the activities mentioned above.
This year I managed to visit 16 different countries with DSA- CEUR, racking up some serious air miles along the way. Part of the burden of these country visits is that one is always hosted exceptionally well and some of my highlights from this year in- clude seeing the “Palazzo” variety show in Hamburg with the German Chief of Defence, a flight from Bosnia to Montenegro in an Austrian PC-6 (a World War Two era eight-seater plane) followed by a wine tasting session in an underground hangar designed to hide planes from NATO bombing in 1999 and be- ing regaled by the Estonian Chief of Defence about his time in the Soviet Navy over late night vodkas. What larks. As well as the more diplomatic visits, some visits were more operationally focussed such as DSACEUR’s quarterly visits to Bosnia and his six-monthly visits to the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan.
While most reading this will have had their fill of ‘Ganners’, for a young subaltern who commissioned just after Herrick 19, it was a fascinating place to visit. The second visit allowed us to visit Train Advise Assist- North (TAAC-N) and –South (TAAC-S) in Mazar-i-Sharif and Kandahar respectively, areas well known to the British Army. Despite my entreaties the general didn’t fancy extending the visit to 30 days (apparently he “already has that medal”...).
In between all that bag-carrying around the world, there was still a small amount of time to have a social life. An attempt to in- troduce ‘Vodka Barman’ to the Junior Officers Group (JOG) at a dinner went terribly wrong, a bold decision to leave the table at a Trafalgar Dinner was (unsurprisingly) punished and an (over) confident appearance for the British team vs the Rest of the World cemented the preconceptions that officers in general can’t play football and that cavalry officers in particular shouldn’t. Outside of SHAPE, with Brussels just 30 minutes away, you are ideally placed to discover the joys of Belgium (beer, mussels and linguistic confusion) and to visit the rest of continental Europe. Key local events include the Doudou, an epic carnival-esque cel- ebration of St George’s Day and SHAPE Fest, when all the 29 nations in NATO and some of the partner nations set up stalls and showcase their country’s finest food and alcohol. A year well-spent and a job that I would recommend to any young sub- altern keen to break out of the Regimental Duty bubble for a short time.
JA-I
Spotted in Latvia - One Scimitar NOT Red on JAMES!