Page 134 - QDG Volume 9 No. 5

132 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
Major George Jackson
George ‘Jacko’ Jackson entered Sand-
hurst from one of the Regiment’s feeder
universities (at the time) Newcastle,
in 2014. He began training for his
commission safe in the knowledge that
his ultimate destination was 1st The
Queen’s Dragoon Guards having been
offered a confirmed cadetship while
still studying. No one quite knew how
the young man secured such a luxury
and all the freedom that the pressure
free life at RMAS would afford him. A
crucial witness does report overhearing
Jacko calling the then Colonel of the
Regiment, Lt Gen Mayall to thank him
personally after a PO visit. My source
acknowledges that the following is a
cantankerous misquote but he remem-
bers the phone call going somewhat
like this: “Oh good afternooooooon
General. How are you? – Yes, mummy
and daddy are fine, I just wanted to say
that I just enjoyed a fabulous visit to your
regiment.” The rest of course is history,
and it will be my job to distil the marvel-
lous career that followed that phone call
into a few amusing anecdotes and a
heartfelt goodbye, buckle in.
George arrived at Regimental Duty on
a sleepy Sunday evening when most of the Mess were enjoying
a few late afternoon drinks in the garden in Dempsey Bks. Tired
from the drive and eager to join his new brother officers for a
drink himself, George settled into a chair just slightly too close to
the Senior Subaltern Duncan Wiggins. Upon observing George’s
fashionably ripped jeans and no doubt very cool t-shirt Duncan
ordered him immediately to go and get changed. In an act of
terrifying sang-froid I watched in admiration as Jacko finished
his ciggy before sloping off.
Assigned to B Sqn under Dom Staveley most of his early days
were spent preparing for the final ball in Germany and looking
forward to a deployment as COEFOR to Kenya later in the year.
One of the preparatory exercises for that trip to Kenya saw the
Squadron shake out on STANTA at the same time as A Sqn.
Bored of an evening, George was one of the intrepid troop
leaders that decided that the adjacent squadron could do with
a bit of extra “reaction to enemy fire” training. Unbeknown to
George and his giggling colleagues the woodblock they had just
assaulted also contained a detachment of RAF regiment. They,
nor A Sqn, were particularly impressed, sentiments echoed by
Dom Staveley the morning after during a now infamous hairdry-
er-esq dressing down. Once the dust settled the guilty foursome
were quickly giggling again and now, in the light of day, a true
Jacko trademark, the wobbly shoulder, was on full view. When
ever George breaks into a laugh or is in anyway delighted, which
is often, his right shoulder will bounce uncontrollably along with
his laughter.
George quickly gained a standing as a great Troop Leader
and his military prowess was confirmed when he passed the
arduous jungle warfare instructors’ course. He enjoyed a great
reputation with everyone he worked
with and backed up his charming
nature with real grit. His reputation was
further solidified on the rugby pitch
following a nasty tackle by Sgt Welfoot
that left George’s tibia and fibula
snapped clean in two. During the long
wait for an ambulance to arrive, George
steadfastly ignored the obvious pain he
was in to continue chatting, smoking
ciggies and only occasionally taking
deep lungful’s of oxygen to “take the
edge off.” We were all having too much
of a good time being regaled by the
invalid to question the proximity of a lit
cigarette to an oxygen tank.
George’s foray into Extra Regimental
Employment saw him first head to
the Field Training Unit of Salisbury
plain where he bent his experience to
training Battle Groups toward valida-
tion for operations. QDG went through
the FTU a couple of times on his watch,
and it was always a delight and occa-
sionally a relief to have a friend in the
butts.
After FTU George was employed
on an OCE tour on Op SHADER on
the Syria desk as an SO2. The period
of 2021-22 can be described by an observer to have offered a
period of relative calm in the region, it is not too much to venture
that Jacko’s unflappable character contributed in some way to
that fragile peace. Nor should it be believed that the subsequent
return to violence and eventual coup we’re anything more than
the direct result of the removal from the region of his calming
presence.
That calm resolve would be in high demand in George’s next
appointment in the LOC in the triple hatted roles of Training
Plans, Operational Commitments and Campaign Plans. During
a frenetic period, George’s hand can be found in the staff work
for Op PITTING, the invasion of Ukraine, the Jubilee, The late
Queen’s funeral and the King’s coronation.
By now George has garnered a reputation as an utterly safe
pair of hands and so it was that he was invited to command D
Sqn of the King’s Royal Hussars. I’m told, by the same source
that let slip the post PO visit phone call to General Mayall, that
George accepted this offer for no grander reason than the
opportunity to have a smart pair of trews made up. Of course
this couldn’t be further from the truth. George spent the last
few years of his career leading soldiers, an endeavour that this
pen picture demonstrates was a real calling and one that he will
undoubtedly miss as he moves on to pastures new.
On behalf of the regimental family, I wish George and Lucinda
all the best on their next adventure wherever it may take them.
George will be missed by all that worked with him but Lucinda,
his eminently better half in all regards, will continue to earn him
frequent invitations back.
JPC