Page 122 - QDG 2023

120 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
Major Alexander Dumont
Alexander “Monty” Dumont came to the regiment as a trailblazer on the now well-trodden path of having prior service in the yeomanry. By virtue of this ‘soft launch,’ by the time of his ‘general release’ onto the regimental population, he had already accrued many of the tradi- tional subaltern experiences. Free of the angst and growing pains experienced by most young officers in the early days of regimental duty, Monty felt comfortable adopting the airs and graces of one beyond his seniority. This phenomenon manifested in many ways but perhaps most amusingly in the form of a near-instant duty rumour that this cock-sure new officer was, in fact, Lord Dumont, a not-too-distant relative of the royal family. The picture Monty has selected to accompany these words is, of itself, a manifestation of this aspect of his persona.
Monty spent his time as a troop leader in A Squadron under the tutelage of Ed O’Brien; without doubt, this was a hugely formative relationship for Monty, who remains in close contact with Ed and his family to this day. It would be a busy period for A Sqn with first, Bavarian Charger, the regiment’s first real run out on wheels, followed by Build-up and deployment on Herrick 20. Indeed, training the Afghan National Army during that tour sits centrally among Monty’s favoured memories of his time with the Regiment.
We can perhaps look to this period in Afghanistan to explain another Monty-ism. Those who know him well will comment on his affection for Americana. One could be forgiven for attaching a Freudian link
between being exposed by Max McKechnie to an American colleague as ‘not a real Captain’ and a career-long endeavour to impress our American cousins.
After Herrick 20, Monty returned to Sennelager and began preparations for the unit move back to Swanton Morley. Never was an RHQ role more suited to a man than RSO was to Monty. An unabashed technophile (this man built his own gaming computer in his mess room), he was most professionally fulfilled when fiddling with radio dials. Never one to stand still for too long, he was soon off to Kenya as Adjutant BATUK before being recalled to regimental duty as Operations Officer.
Soon after, Monty was selected for substan- tive promotion to Major and ICSC. Little did he know that his year of professional devel- opment and ‘being invested in’ instead see him surged to the NHS to unclog logistical problems during the COVID pandemic. The reward for this undoubted stashing would be the prize he has always sought: an assign- ment to the United States. At the National Training Center, he would progress from Recon coach to brigade trainer. He would finish up as the XO for Live Fire, an unprece- dented appointment for a foreign officer.
With his departure from the Army, the Regiment is deprived of a true regimental character, the endless parade of female companions and the guy that still pays
for the sky sports subscription in the Mess. Colonialist Thomas Morton wrote of the Americas, where Monty chooses to retire: “He that desires to thrive in the new world must either turn soldier or turn merchant... in these new countries, both these states are most honourable and profitable.” We wish this soldier luck in his new life as a merchant in the New World. JPC
I’m told a man’s Valette should make some
reference to his legacy; well, very few of us
leave the regiment having endowed it with a two-ton oak edifice. Monty marked his appointment as OpsO by purchasing the most offensively enormous clerk’s desk, which made it impossible for more than a couple of people to occupy what had once been the largest office in the building. The Commanding Officer, with the help of a telescope, was very impressed with what he saw on the business end of that desk. He promoted Monty to acting Major and put him in command of HQ Squadron.
Very few of
us leave the regiment having endowed it with a two-ton oak edifice