Page 9 - MERCIAN Eagle 2019

A (Grenadier) Company
Company Overview:
OC: Maj Mal Wheeler
CSM: WO2 Barrington Brown WSM: WO2 Rob Brookes
It has been another marathon year for the soldiers of A ‘Grenadier’ Company. 2019 has been dominated by the preparation for, and deployment to, Operation CABRIT in Estonia. The build-up to deployment saw the Company further integrate with the Kings Royal Hussars Battlegroup conducting conceptual training to build upon deployment to BATUS alongside the cavalry in 2018.
Op CABRIT still carries many rumours amongst those who have not experienced it, and it was fair to say that many of the
A “Grenadier” Company soldiers had also heard that living in Estonia was a grim experience. When deployment did arrive in late February, the soldiers had a pleasant surprise, accommodated in a nearly new block, complete with Wi-Fi, a gym and a sauna! The Estonian weather proved the biggest early challenge as the remnants of the Baltic winter lingered at temperatures below -10°C. Cold weather drills defined the early days and the challenge of acclimatising to the Estonian cold weather was best highlighted by the twenty-minute walk/wade through snow and ice to move 150m to the cookhouse!
The defining feature of Estonia is dense forest. In my experience, the British Army has paid lip-service to training in this type of complex terrain; in the age of prioritisation of resources FIWAF has rarely been towards the front of the training requirement. FIWAF doctrine, whilst being re-vamped right now, is drawn largely from (German) doctrine written during the Second World War. Much of this doctrine is surprisingly current in its application; forests have changed very little since those times and the methods (and natural constraints) of manoeuvring armour in this type of terrain remains largely extant.
For A ‘Grenadier’ Company, the early stages of Op CABRIT gave us ample opportunity to understand how to operate in the Warrior, alongside Challenger 2.
For the uninitiated, the Estonian forest is vast and bogged. Covering much of the country, woods and forests are a mixture of coniferous
Victory for the Grenadiers in the Tapa to Tidworth charity cycle race.
a very rare opportunity for the Company
to train as it would fight, manoeuvre was not restricted to a training area and, as
Lt Moore can testify, crashing a Warrior down main roads or through farmer’s fields was (mostly) acceptable.
The combination of readily available training resources, a battle-group context (where combined-arms, multinational training was only a phone call away) and
a Company that were able to be largely kept
soldiering and leadership abilities across the ranks within the Company. This manifested through increasingly complex training serials such as dismounted LFTT Company attacks within a FIWAF environment (lots of safety required!), complex urban clearances by night against a mobile enemy force
and mounted FIWAF asymmetric and conventional delay and defence operations.
As we now reflect on the tour, I can say (although admittedly with some bias) that the progress the soldiers made was outstanding. Allowing junior commanders to identify the training deficiencies and then tailoring our training around that
paid dividends. If the sub-unit is the contemporary unit of currency of fighting power in the modern British Army, then Op CABRIT is an excellent deployment
to fully optimise the sub-unit for combat operations.
Field training aside, Op CABRIT gave the Company time to develop other skills as well. Cpl Browning designed and implemented a JNCO leadership programme (for which he has deservedly been awarded a Commander CABRIT’s commendation), allowing our JNCOS to
and deciduous trees, interspersed with each other, very soft underfoot (slow-
I can say (although admittedly with some bias) that the progress the soldiers made was outstanding
together enabled us to push forward and train ourselves in areas we felt were important. For the Company, training focus was on FIWAF. Urban operations, live- firing and Equipment Care. In practice, empowered JNCO and SNCOs would identify training gaps or TTPs
no go for armour).
Population centres
are linked by MSRs
that carve through
the forest and rolling
countryside is minimal.
So not ideal Armoured
Infantry country! Fortunately for us training opportunities were ample and several early exercises culminated with SPRING STORM, a large-scale exercise that incorporated the Estonian Brigade and reserve forces. It was
worthy of experimentation and then make training recommendations that would be designed into an exercise scenario by Platoon Commanders or the Company 2IC. The output was a significant elevation in the
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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