Page 7 - QDG Volume 9 No. 5

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards 5
Commanding Officer’s Foreword
During his inspirational address at our
medals’ parade in December 2024, Brig-
adier Dave Glendenning remarked that
1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards had
become the ‘most committed Regiment
in the Field Army’. Amidst our Brigade
Commander’s barrage of tributes, these
words stood out. They were seized upon
by dragoons, echoing across the vehicle
park, over the sports’ fields and through
the messes. Having the intensity of our
operational commitments acknowledged
at this level, came as welcome recog-
nition of a truism we had long-since
understood, but of which others, we
assumed, were either ignorant or disin-
terested.
The Brigadier went on to highlight that
our retention statistics do not correlate
with the relentless deployments, nor
does the palpable and infectious level
of morale around camp. The ostensible
mismatch can be explained, I informed
the Brigadier proudly, by the character of
the men and women who fill our ranks.
Though our numbers make up less than
0.5.% of the Field Army, we account for
over 6% of internal transferees. Far from
being a threat to retention, our reputation
as perennially deployed, is having quite
the opposite effect. It appears, indeed,
that it is precisely what attracts young
men and women to our fold.
Our three Sabre Squadrons deployed
in succession to Poland on Opera-
tion CABRIT over the course of 2024,
steadfastly supported by HQ Sqn
throughout. At the start of the year, A
Sqn held the reigns under Major James
Brockless before handing over to Major
Arthur Purbrick’s B Sqn in the spring.
In neat alphabetic sequence, Major
Tim Graham’s C Sqn assumed the final
rotation and approached their mid-tour
point at the year’s end. Their recovery
will mark the end of eighteen months’
unbroken QDG service in Poland as part
of NATO’s forward land forces.
Deploying a fleet of Jackals across
the Atlantic provided each squadron
with first class pre-deployment exer-
cises in California. Our ability to project
our vehicles with relative ease, puts us
in a dwindling cohort of units who have
trained recently as part of an ‘actual
formation’– albeit an American one. The
Regiment also provided a Headquar-
ters that delivered basic training to over
2,000 Ukrainian recruits over six months
as part of Operation INTERFLEX.
Amongst the operational drumbeat,
the Regiment achieved several sporting
successes. These included our squash
team, who delivered victory at the RAC
championships. The nascent QDG
boxing team were also notably hailed
as RAC champions at an electrically
charged evening in the Bovington Tank
Museum in December. We also lay claim
to having provided our soldiers with
more days of adventurous training and
sports than any other combat unit in
the Field Army – testament to a genuine
“work hard - play hard” ethos.
It was my utmost privilege to take
over as Commanding Officer On 1
September. I pass on sincere thanks to
my predecessor, Lt Col Chris Kierstead,
for an excellent handover and for his
diligent and steadfast leadership over
his tenure. I was struck on arrival by the
same phenomenon as that observed
by our Brigade Commander – the zeal
and enthusiasm from an organisation
that has been so relentlessly deployed
for so long. That our soldiers are drawn
by the prospect of adventure through
deployed operations, accounts for their
calibre and boundless positivity. This
speaks volumes, not just of the quality of
our people, but of the enduring spirt and
ethos of the Regiment.
DGAL