Page 10 - Bugle Issue 18 Auntumn 2021

The weather played its part too with snow- storms and
black ice requiring teams to pull on borough support to clear car parks
Oldham Chronicle website:
Corporal Andrew Hedges preparing
to deliver testing in Oldham
• Jan – Feb - Op RESCRIPT – Manchester Community Testing - BHQ, A,C and S Coy.
• Apr – May - Ex MAPLE RESOLVE - B Coy in Canada attached to a Canadian Mech Inf BG.
• Jun - Ex WESSEX STORM – A Coy attached to the SCOTS DG BG.
• H Jones Competition and Salamanca Day – Jul.
• Op TOSCA 35 – BHQ, C and S Coy in Cyprus.
• Coy focused training – A and B Coy.
Beachley Bks receives a visit from the
The children seemed to really enjoy seeing the Easter Bunny
Easter Bunny, Rfn ‘Billy’ Blundell
1 RIFLES
Manchester Community Testing
Through January and February 2021 1 RIFLES was committed to Op RESCRIPT, military support to the national COVID effort, in the Greater Manchester boroughs of Rochdale, Oldham and Thameside. The force consisted of A and C Coys, with support from S Coy.
The Battalion was also initially joined by
A Sqn from the Queens Dragoon Guards, before they handed over responsibilities to 110 Provost Company from the 1 Royal Military
Significant Events
Police. The Coys were tasked to support the local authorities in delivering mass community COVID testing by setting up testing sites before handing them over to civilian staff after their training and assurance. The task itself was simple in principle – recce testing sites alongside borough staff, ensure logistical pathways to maintain them, test patients and provide redundancy should a team require isolation. Initial efforts were led by QM(T)
and RQMS(T), Capt Owen Mitchell and WO2 Andre Zwijnen, who effectively took over the Britannia Hotel Stockport as one of their own and welcomed a fleet of unusually luxurious cars entrusted to the Riflemen into its car park. Recce parties from the companies followed, who formed close working relationships with borough teams and supported them in getting the operation off the ground. The execution proved somewhat more challenging due to COVID – proving the old adage ‘that the enemy gets a vote.’ Despite testing all Riflemen prior to deployment and a strict social-distancing protocol, a reserve was called on at 12hrs notice to take over a site whose team entered isolation 24hrs before H-hour. The weather played its part too with snowstorms and black ice requiring teams to pull on borough support to clear car parks so that the population
could get to the test centres. At the same
time conspiracy theorists also started to
rear their heads, with individuals provoking civilian staff at testing sites and distributing leaflets attempting to disprove COVID testing, vaccinations, and deaths. Fortunately, these did not directly impact our work but added an interesting dynamic to the task and instead the Battalion received heartfelt praise for their conduct. Local social media and reporting
Welfare and Families
The welfare team have had a busy and productive period, which has seen us re-open some activities for the community. This has been no easy task, as we, like everyone else, had to negotiate around the complex pandemic guidelines. I’m pleased to say that this has been enhanced by the arrival of two new members of staff, who both joined the team in February 2021 and are already adding value to the 1 RIFLES family.
Events are slowly being re-introduced. The two main events over the past few months have been the Easter Egg giveaway and re-opening of the coffee mornings. CSjt Newport was the driving force behind decorating the community centre for the Armed Forces Day coffee morning – it looked
through community forums showed locals valued the efficiency and organisation of the testing sites and how comfortable and relaxed they were made to feel. Other stand out perfor- mances included WO2 Lucas Farrell and Rfn Lee Pettinger, who valiantly battled to outrun each other – narrowly won by the former after a combined week’s total of near 200 miles. Similarly, Capt Cullum Welch diligently cohered all reporting through the ops desk and up to the JMC, and Capt Rob Oatts commanded C Company’s contribution whilst his OC was deployed away in Gambia. Towards the end of the task we were joined by a mixed Platoon
of Army Reservist from 4 LANCS, The Queen’s Own Yeomanry and some fine Riflemen from 8 RIFLES. In total the Battalion handed over twelve operational testing sites to civilian testers and spent near two months as guests in the Greater Manchester Area. The Riflemen administered 19,000 + tests at 10 static sites and two mobile testing teams and trained and assured hundreds of civilian testers. Another successful task for 1 RIFLES supporting the COVID effort supporting local authorities and the population.
amazing and everyone enjoyed the cake! The Easter Egg giveaway took the form of an activity bag, with of course an Easter Egg, given away by our local Easter Bunny. The event was low key, but the children still seemed to really enjoy seeing the Easter Bunny, and receiving their fun activity pack – thanks Rfn Blundell, job well done!
The welfare team feel they have had a very busy but rewarding period, providing a great amount of support to our Riflemen and their families, over what has been a full packed forecast of events for the battalion. We would like to thank everyone within the 1 RIFLES community no matter where you are in the country for their continued support. We now look forward to supporting you over the next chapter, Operation TOSCA 35.
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