Page 125 - QDG 2023

Later in the year B Squadron and Howard would complete Prairie Thunder in BATUS, the Regiment’s final run out on tracks. From there, it was Afghanistan as part of the Brigade Advisory Team on HERRICK 20. Another final foray not just for the regiment but for the Army as QDG closed the door behind them after 20 years of campaigning.
Upon the regiment’s return to Dempsey Barracks and the move to the UK, Howard was employed first at Pirbright, training the next generation of young soldiers. On promotion to Captain, he returned to QDG as Second in Command of B Squadron. The highlight of this period of his career was a deploy- ment to Kenya as the OPFOR. The photo
above captures Howard’s attitude to that exercise perfectly. Hoarding rations and sleeping more than most. Of equal note, during his tenure as 2iC, was Exercise GUMA SUN alongside the Sierra Leone Reconnaissance Regiment.
Much of this Valete has been written to mimic the jovial approach that Howard adopted for much of his career. Doing this fails to highlight what a phenom- enal man Howard is. He was a friend to all and a mentor to anyone that asked. It is truly testament to his character that to this day his name is still alive amongst those that served with him. When those small, largely B Squadron, groups come together, Howard is always at the centre of what ever dit is being spun.
Howard’s final appointment in the Army was a return to Pirbright, but it would be a mere interlude on his inev- itable path to the world of business that he was ultimately destined for. Despite this valete being nearly six years overdue, the Regiment still has a tubs- shaped hole missing from it. The world of accounting software (or something) is much richer for our loss. He is now growing old with dignity somewhere nice in the loving company of his wife, Pippa, and daughter, Polly. I’m told he even makes his bed these days. JPC
Alex started at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in September 2018, but due to being 90% glass, rugby matches were too much for him and due to this he commissioned into 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards in April 2020, immediately deploying with A Sqn on Op RESCRIPT (COVID response) testing tasks with 4th Troop.
In the Summer, he began the Light Cavalry Troop Leaders’ Phase 2 course in Bovington. Managing to keep injury free for that phase, it was then to Warminster for tactics. On this course the members of his Troop quickly came to admire his northern skill of digging, one that Alex was taught as a young boy ‘down pit’ in Sunderland. True to form, Alex was injured in a Jackal flop on the final exercise but was still able to pass.
Following that he went on to normal Sqn activity, COVID testing from ‘FOB Pontins,’ Cyprus Live Fire Range Package, all before going onto the Sniper Platoon Commanders’ Course in Warminster. Now it wouldn’t be a course if Alex did not get injured, and true to form on the area, with a phenomenally large bergen on, he wrapped his bangers in hard. A point of jest now but at the time this cast a large shadow on his time as a Troop Leader, him deploying on Op NEWCOMBE 3, and his career. Fear not though dear listeners, for ‘our Alex’ (as he is know up North) is just as good at recovering from injury as he is at getting injured!
In November 2021, after completing the PDT for Op NEWCOMBE 3, in which he learnt a lot about the mechanics of a Jackal and the operations of the A Echelon, he and A Sqn deployed to Mali, ahead of a 6-month UN Tour. On this tour Alex was a key figure in on-camp cohesion, creating numerous inter Tp/Pl sports competitions and quizzes. On patrol, 4th Tp were a formidable force for guiding A1, where no lorry was safely stuck in a wadi for long! All alongside this, 4th Tp also managed to
commandeer a cherry picker for the Welsh Flag on St David’s Day, and purchase a large battle axe! Alongside other Human Intelligence and reconnaissance taskings.
Following the return parades and AT, Alex decided to move on from the Army and take up life in the North living with his darling wife, Eleanor, and working for the Nissan Corporation of Japan, where his skills as a reconnaissance officer are best put to use! His last great task with 1st the Queen’s Dragoon Guards was on parade in London at the head of the Squadron in which his name is synonymous with care, quality, and camaraderie.
ZAK
1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
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Captain Alex Allington QDG