Page 5 - QDG Vol. 9 No. 2 CREST

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards 3
Colonel of the Regiment’s Foreword
for the serving members of the Queen’s Dragoon Guards, 2021 has seen
no let-up in tempo and opportunity
For many the pandemic has had a detri- mental effect on outputs and resulted in much more time stuck at home, but, as you will read in this Journal, for the serving members of the Queen’s Dragoon Guards, 2021 has seen no let-up in tempo and opportunity. It has been a year dominated by operational deploy- ments as it commenced with elements of B Squadron led by Major Ben Matthews, deployed on Operation CABRIT, the UK contribution to a US-led battlegroup in Poland – part of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence. In May/June C Squadron, led by Major Bryn Williams, deployed to Mali as the reconnaissance
force for the 2nd Battalion
Royal Anglian Regiment-led
Task Force on Opera-
tion NEWCOMBE 2, the
UK contribution to the UN
MINUSMA peacekeeping
mission. Then at the end of
the year, Regimental Head-
quarters, A Squadron and
elements of HQ Squadron
deployed to Mali and the Commanding Officer, Hugo
Lloyd, is now commanding
Range Reconnaissance Group with A Company from 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish, as the second manoeuvre sub-unit.
B Squadron’s deploy- ment to Poland was significant, as it formed an integrated Regular and Reserve squadron with our paired Regiment, the Royal Yeomanry. The Regular-Re- serve integration worked exceedingly well and the experience has helped strengthen the relationship between the two regiments,
which will greatly assist further integra- tion as required by the Integrated Review, whereby the Yeomanry will provide QDG with a full Squadron as our warfighting
the Long-