Page 18 - QDG Vol. 9 No. 2 CREST

16 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
C Squadron
At the start of 2021, the Officer Commanding C Squadron, Major Bryn Williams, stood in front of the Squadron and mentioned that the year would be a journey throughout the entire oper- ational cycle. We would begin at the very start of a pre-deployment cycle, conduct the required ranges, individual and collective courses and finish mission specific training with a Mission Rehearsal Exercise. Depending on the success of these courses, 91 personnel from the Squadron would then
deploy to Mali and conduct
a handover with the Light
Dragoon Task Force. Once
complete, C Squadron would
then conduct a six-month
operational tour of Operation NEWCOMBE in Mali before
returning to the UK before
Christmas. At the time of this
talk, this seemed a daunting
prospect with a significant
workload ahead for all those
involved. However, at the
time of writing, as the author
sits back in Norfolk having successfully completed the
been an incredible journey. A journey which has seen highs and lows, some excellent operational outputs, some diffi- cult welfare decisions but, above all and beyond, an excellent year. All of those in the Squadron must be very proud of their efforts.
C Squadron started the year with a conceptual training package where we were all introduced to the different capabilities of the Task Force. This week was followed by the All Ranks Brief,
It was a long, cold and windy week... perfect training for the 50-degree heat of the Sahel
Dear Diary, today was all about butts
skills, the Sqn started to learn about the skills and drills required to succeed in Mali. The training continued for a second week for all the commanders within the Squadron who had to complete a Tactical Commanders’ Cadre. This week provided tactical considerations as well as practical scenarios to give an insight into the highly complex environment of Mali and this cadre gave the Squadron the foundations to build on during training. It again proved to be exception- ally cold!
Following the initial series of briefs, the Squadron then conducted a range package phase. This included dismounted live fire training in Brecon and Thetford, followed by a mounted range week in Lulworth, Dorset. There
tour it has
which was held in a barn in Thetford on Wretham camp. In classic Army logic, the weeklong course took place in a building where all the windows and doors were
open in order to maintain COVID-19 guidelines. This therefore meant that everyone was more concerned to not catch hypothermia than to listen to the content of the lectures. It was a long, cold and windy week... perfect training for the 50-degree heat of the Sahel. The All Ranks Brief was a 5-day programme that consisted of a combination of practical lessons and classroom briefs that gave the Sqn a comprehensive insight into what Op NEWCOMBE 2 would involve. From Counter-IED lessons to negotiation