Page 45 - QDG Volume 9 No. 5

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards 43
Not again
DIAMONDBACK: C Sqn in the desert
Getting a Squadron’s worth of Jackals,
Coyotes and supporting vehicles out to
the National Training Centre in California
by road, rail and sea was always going to
be an enormous endeavour. So it was safe
to say that there were some pleasantly
surprised faces when the main body of
C Squadron arrived into Fort Irwin at the
start of summer to see an almost working
Squadron fleet sitting there. After so
much hard work and planning there was
an immense sense of frustration amongst
the Squadron when we were told that
the risk of using Jackals in such difficult
terrain might to be too high. However,
through grit and determination we were
able to deliver a driver training package
that mitigated the risk and allowed us to
fully deploy into the field. This package
also provided vehicle recovery training
as well a one of the tour highlights when
the Sqn 2IC Cpt Wills managed to get
his civilian 4x4 stuck in the sand during
a training assurance check.
After some more time spent getting
used to the searing heat of the Mojave
Desert as well as the nutritionally lacking
food offered by our American counter-
parts, it was time for the Squadron to
deploy into the field.
The first 36 hours saw the Squadron
advance through the aptly named ‘Valley
of Death’, conducting a counter recon-
naissance battle before the rest of the
Division rolled through. The rather tame
evening came to an abrupt halt when the
Squadron was attacked by several more
heavily armed enemy vehicles. The swift
assault by an adversary who had worked
in that environment for a number of years
left 3rd Troop scrambling to get cam-nets
of their vehicles whilst being engaged by
a number of armoured fighting vehicles
from pretty much point-blank range. The
most memorable moment during this
skirmish however was watching 2nd
Troop Alpha call-sign go round in circles
with an enemy vehicle until the observ-
er-mentors put a stop to the madness by
declaring that their American colleagues
had won this firefight.
After regrouping and heading back
out the Squadron demonstrated the
lessons learnt in the previous encounter
when they were attacked from the rear
by three enemy armoured vehicles. This
successful battle set the conditions for
a great exercise in which the Squadron
provided vital eyes for our friendly
forces, and a threat to enemy ground
and aviation forces throughout. During
the entirety of the exercise, C Squadron
demonstrated the QDG’s superior abil-
ities in reconnaissance and fighting a
larger enemy force on their home turf.
The exercise culminated in an excel-
lent range package which sought not to
replicate the frequency of ‘blue on blue’
contacts demonstrated by our US friendly
forces (they pretty much wiped out most
of the Squadron in under an hour). The
short period following the exercise
closedown provided a rare opportunity
for the public of LA to witness some
incredibly smart mess dress when the
Officers and Seniors attended an event
at the United Services Club celebrating
the anniversary of D Day. The final act
of the Ex DIAMONDBACK saw most of
the Squadron trade their body armour for
wetsuits and their rifles for surfboards as
they hit the waves on Venice Beach in LA
before heading back to the slightly more
temperate climates of Norfolk.
Pocket map
A potato is a vegetable C Squadron on ‘exercise’