Page 70 - MERCIAN Eagle 2019

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THE MERCIAN EAGLE
CO Foreword
Lt Col FGB Cuttle MBE
Ensuring that 4 MERCIAN is fit for 21st Century Warfighting whilst continuing to retain and exploit retention-positive activities for our people has driven our output throughout the last 12-months. Aligned with the mantra of striving to be the ‘Elite of the Army Reserves’, always relevant and ready, our activities have been specifically designed to improve and maintain readiness and deployability at all levels. In turn, this has increased our individual and collective competence, enhanced our utility to Defence as a reserve unit and improved retention as we see recruit numbers beginning to increase – well, were doing until the onslaught of COVID-19 during the period in which I write this!
With readiness in mind, our annual Live
Firing Tactical Training (LFTT) camp, Exercise WARHAMMER 19, took place in March and
saw our soldiers complete progressive live firing ranges in Warcop from grenade throwing and pairs fire and manoeuvre, progressing over the 10-day period to a company live dawn attack
on the final day, supported by the Mortar and Machine Gun Platoons who live fired throughout the week. One key trait of being a MERCIAN, is our ability to integrate widely and the fact that we were supported by regular soldiers from 1 and
2 MERCIAN, 1 R IRISH as well as reservists from 5 FUSILIERS, 4 YORKS and 4 LANCS was truly superb. The aspiration is for the LFTT camp to become an annual event for 4 MERCIAN, while being attended by other units too.
It is critical for all personnel to feel that
they are contributing to operations whenever possible and we were fortunate enough to be allocated Ex IRON WOLF 19 in Lithuania, with
the exercise being placed under Op CABRIT
and TRACTABLE for the first time. As a NATO enhanced Force Protection (eFP) validation exercise for the German-led multi-national battlegroup, IRON WOLF took place in November over a 16-day period, seeing 115 reservists
and an 8-man section from 1 MERCIAN deploy under Maj Nigel Bradley (OC HQ Company) following pre-training to meet the Theatre Entry Standards for deployment on Op CABRIT and a detailed internal Readiness Administration Centre (RdAC). Joining a Lithuanian led battlegroup comprising of Lithuanian, Estonian and British infantry companies, the
exercise provided an excellent
opportunity to train primarily
in FIWAF environments in a
multi-national context and
against a peer plus enemy.
Most memorable, was the
Field Service conducted by
our padre, Rev’d Tim Flowers,
attended by all nationalities
on Remembrance Day and
a lesson to our Norwegian colleagues who were opposition forces, that the foliage camouflaging the outside of their Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles was flammable!
Elsewhere, opportunities for Army Reservists
Exercise IRON WOLF
remain plentiful and diverse. In the last 12-months, personnel have deployed on Op CABRIT with 1 MERCIAN, Op TORAL with
4 SCOTS, Op TOSCA with 7 RIFLES and individually on Op CROSSWAYS to the Middle East. We have also seen Capt Simon Black post into the Land Operations Command and at the time of writing, an initial tranche of 130 reservists have mobilised at short notice on Op RESCRIPT,
It is critical for all personnel to feel that they are contributing to operations whenever possible
the MOD’s response in support of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whilst we have concentrated on readiness and deployability, this has not been to the detriment of our representational output, both military and sporting. Congratulations go to Capt Deepe Rawji
and his Cambrian Patrol Team who competed in the prestigious Cambrian Patrol Competition and achieved a very impressive Silver Medal award, before travelling to South Africa to compete in their military skills competition; a
4MERCIAN