Page 70 - QDG 2023

68 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
The tree just fell over sir
Op CABRIT (P) 14
October 2023 saw A Squadron deploy on Operation CABRIT (P) 14, the Light Cavalry’s contribution to NATO’s Forward Land Forces on the Eastern Front. Led by Major James Brockless, the squadron enjoyed multiple exercises, from boot- necks teaching us how to survive in the wild with nothing more than 50 perfectly cut logs, 20 live chickens in a box and a lighter to start a fire; to joint nation recon- naissance exercises, where surviving the arctic conditions was hard enough, let alone actually finding the enemy. Outside of proving our pure military prowess, the squadron partook in multinational events such as the Norwegian Foot March, a 30km weighted TAB across the Polish savannah. Individuals such as Cpl Rees and Capt Spicer performed very well in their respective categories, whilst Lt
Maddison did superbly well to just get interoperability through the medium of around the course. Lt Gamman organised ping-pong and competitive popcorn
a gruelling 24-hour charity work out and using her powers of persuasion (not rank) encouraged a good number of the squadron to complete the full 24 hours. The event raised over £3000 for the Poppy Appeal and was a huge success, despite significantly reducing A Squadron’s combat effec- tiveness for a two-day stint following the final workout.
LCpl’s Firth and Williams enjoyed becoming at one with their Polish steeds
eating. So impressive was the British commitment to the USO, that we had to restrict interoperating to outside of working hours. The Polish winter proved to be a diffi- cult environment to operate in on Jackals and Coyotes, so the junior soldiers within the squadron decided to leave the vehicles behind and prove their metal in a gruelling dismounted PNCO cadre. At the time of writing, this is yet to be completed and we look forward to seeing how the
A Squadron and attached
arms have made fantastic use
of the American Army’s United
Service Organisation (USO), a space to craft international alliances and improve
next generation of QDG potential JNCOs get on.
Capability demo
Everyone wants to carry the GPMG, until its time to carry the GPMG