Page 119 - QDG 2023

Jerome (Tys) Tyson ends a career that spanned four decades. Joining the Regiment before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1987, he spent time in every squadron and deployed operationally ten times, two of which were at war. Although qualifying as a tank crew commander in the 90s, it was in both the Close and Formation/Light reconnaissance roles where Tys thrived the most. During his 37 year career only 7 years of it was spent away from regimental duty highlighting not only dedication to the Regiment but also to that of his craft. It was this profes- sionalism that thrust him as a SSgt to the position of 1st Troop Leader with C Sqn and 3 Cdo Bde during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Regimental Sergeant Major for Op HERRICK 9 in 2008 and Regimental Second-in-Command from 2018 to 2020, the first Late Entry Officer to hold the appointment. Tys finally bows out of the Army as QM(T) Bovington, which poetically is the place where his career began as a Junior Leader all those years ago in September 1986.
After reaching the dizzy heights of Junior Trooper in the Junior Leaders Regiment he eventually joined B Sqn in October 1987 Wolfenbuttel, Germany. In Support Troop under the watchful eye of John Sharp, Jim Crowley and Wayne Lloyd, a
tough grouping with a reputation for being grumpy and hard to please at the best of times.
Whilst deployed on a Regimental exercise being run in the Moselle Valley, a wine region and very popular tourist spot, which also coincided with Tys’ 19th birthday the troop all dressed in combats and cam cream, took itself on a wine tasting tour followed by a pleasure boat trip down the Moselle River. It ended very messily with a very drunk Tpr Tyson being dragged off a truck by the SSM, birth- days didn’t get much better!
1989 saw his first operational deployment to Northern Ireland and although only lasting two and half months. Not long after returning from Northern Ireland, Tys volunteered for the Boeselager team. Boeselager was a NATO reconnaissance compe- tition hosted by the German Army. It required extremely high levels of fitness, Soviet map marking sills, AFV and Warsaw Pact uniform recognition and navigation to an almost impossible standard. The intense training lasted 6 months and by the end of the competition Tys promoted to LCpl, cementing his status as a reconnaissance soldier of the future. Those in the wider Regiment admired the Pose- a-lager blue hoody tops that seemed to last for decades post the teams cessation.
complexes.
On return from the Gulf Tys went back to B Sqn and joined the
Regiment at its new home in Tidworth. Deploying to Northern Ireland not long after, and also assuming his first command of a Team. This mixed and very hectic deployment started in County Tyrone, moving to West Belfast and finished in South Armagh. Whilst operating out Springfield Road Police Station,
1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards 117
Valetes
Lt Col Jerome Tyson
His second operational deployment was with A Sqn Support Troop during Gulf War 1 – Op GRANBY, as part of the US-led coalition to free Kuwait from Iraqi invasion. Flying to Saudi Arabia in Oct 90, spending months training in the desert with Sp Tp A Sqn which included rehearsals for the entire Sqn to be underslung by CH53 into Kuwait to support US Marine Corps seaborne assault. However, with the Sqn realigned to 1st (UK) Armd Div from Jan 91, Op CERTAIN DEATH never came to fruition. To celebrate Christmas in the field each troop performed a skit during the Sqn review with Tys’ mocking a bumbling troop leader lost in the desert, which by all accounts was very funny and one he would recall when landing his own troop near Um Qasr some years later. The festive period of 1990 also included ‘raft’ races, food fights and a pyrotechnic assault against the rest of the Sqn which included firing the complete stock of 51mm mortar illume. The 100-hour war was fairly uneventful for Sp Tp but they did take a number of POWs and cleared bunker
of a Challenger, 1993 also saw Tys with a serious leg injury that resulted in him marrying his future wife Liz with a full leg plaster cast ‘neatly’ tucked under his Blues trousers.
Now promoted to Cpl, Tys deployed in 1996 to Bosnia with Recce Tp. Initially located in the mostly destroyed town of Sanski Most, the troop later took up position in the enclave of Bihac, which at the time was the most mined area in the world. Leaving Bihac a month early, Tys went on to complete his Challenger 1 crew commander’s course but returned to Recce Tp for another BATUS exercise. A move to C Sqn meant a another deployment to Northern Ireland, one striking memory was the first time he deployed and whilst still sat in the back of his Saxon he could hear and feel the commotion outside as it was physically moving the vehicle from side to side. Inside the Saxon were anxious faces looking back at him, it was the first time he needed to reassure soldiers before going into ‘combat.’ It wouldn’t be the last.
Now with a young daughter Tys promoted to Sgt in 1998
it ended very messily with some very angry tourist and a very drunk Tpr Tyson being dragged off a truck by the SSM. Back
in the day, birthdays didn’t get much better!
Tys’ team was moving through the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hospital when suddenly a contact report came over the radio. A mobile patrol in APVs had been hit be an IED just off the Falls Road. Tys sprang into action, made his rifle ready whilst shouting “Contact.....on me!” He preceded to run at pace through the hospital using its walk ways as a short cut to the Falls Road. On reaching A&E he burst through the spring loaded doors, leapt up the escalator and out onto the street, however it was at this point he realised his team were no longer with him; they couldn’t keep up! Unfortunately, the only way for Tys to find them was to go back the way he came, asking A&E patients if they’d seen any soldiers walking around. The contrast of a very aggressive action only minutes before compared to politely questioning as to the whereabouts of his soldiers didn’t go without ridicule from hospital staff and patients but thankfully the team were found, and the mobile patrol only sustained light damage.
Conversion to Challenger 1 meant the next few years were all about live fire on Hohne ranges and training exercises on Soltau and in BATUS training arears. In early 1993 Tys completed, and came top of his PTI course, a qualification he kept until he was SSM and one that all soldiers in B Sqn really appreciated! Due to having spindly legs in the turret