Page 34 - 1RHA 2021

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
1 RHA Training Wing
Training Year Oct 2020-Sep 2021 SSgt Martyn Hemingfield, Regimental Training Wing
This year has been an extremely busy year for the 1 RHA Training Wing and has been particularly challenging due to the global pandemic. We have seen Captain Armstrong move on to 1 Arty Bde SO3 G7 with Captain Philip assuming the position of RTO after 3 years as BK of A Battery (The Chestnut Troop). We also have had a changeover of Military Transport War- rant Officers (MTWO) where WO2 Henry retired from the Army after 22 years service. His position was initially filled by SSgt McSkelly until the arrival of WO2 McDonnell as MTWO. Over the past year, the Training Wing has conducted various courses to assist the Regiment in remaining at high readiness for deploy- ment on various operations and exercises. The RTO and his team maintain all the training for the Regiment and put together all the regimental training plans, ranging from regimental exercises, driving courses, career courses and all things training related.
There are currently four members of the training team, Capt Philip (RTO), WO2 McDonnell (MTWO), SSgt Hemingfield (RTWO) and LBdr Foster (TRG WING JNCO). There are however, many more personnel throughout the Regiment who have facilitated or instructed on various courses to deliver training and qualifica- tions. This includes the different vehicle platform DMIs and other regimental instructors we currently hold alongside the individual Battery Training Officers.
Captain Philip has had to hit the ground running in his new role as RTO. He joined the team during the early phases of Exercise CYPHER SHARPEN where he had to take over the planning and execution of the training and see the Regiment successfully deploy in order to set ourselves up for success for Exercise ARIES STORM 21.
WO2 McDonnell has been busy in his new role as the MTWO after only joining us in April. He has reinvigorated the driving courses and is a major player in booking various armoured driv- ing courses and booking tests with the Delta office. This was started prior to the latest lockdown by SSgt McSkelly and contin- ued throughout the past few months with everyone working from home at the beginning of the year. WO2 McDonnell also stepped in to support the transition for the new RFM as this was his previ- ous job role in 19 Regt RA.
SSgt Hemingfield has yet again been instrumental in oversee- ing much of the training and running of courses. The past 12 months he has convened DTTT courses, saluting gun, safety courses, guns, FSTs and junior career courses to name a few. As the primary assistant to the RTO, he has assisted in the smooth transition between the outgoing Capt Armstrong and the new RTO, Captain Philip. In his own time, he has completed NVQ L3 in Telecommunications and raised around £700 by running 100 miles in a month for SANDS, which is a charity supporting those affected by infant death.
LBdr Foster has delivered various training on several courses to assist with regimental readiness. He has been the regimental lead in B and C license acquisition, as well as HAZMAT. He has also represented the Regiment by teaching externally for other
units, a testament to his instructional ability and qualifications. He is the Regiment’s only Defence Licence Acquisition Instructor which sees his services constantly in demand with him delivering quality results, often unsupervised.
Other activities have seen one of our Warrior DMIs, Bdr Mclaugh- lin, tasked to the Royal Welsh to enable 3 Div to complete H licence acquisition. He has been assisted throughout by other Warrior DMIs from the Regiment. With the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the Regiment were scattered around the country work- ing from home during the nationwide lockdown, however the team were still working hard to ensure training continued. This included the delivery of DTTT via TEAMS and support to online civilian training such as maths, English and ICT. Personnel devel- opment has also thrived throughout the pandemic with over 100 junior soldiers either enrolled on or completing the RACPD apprenticeship scheme.
Once lock down was lifted the Regimental Training Wing was tasked with putting together the “Back to Work” briefs. This included setting up the Gym and Auditorium in accordance with COVID-19 rules of social distancing, moving real estate and put- ting together relevant presentations.
During this year the training team have enabled both at home, in camp and on OP CABRIT a total of 28 courses, all run within 1 RHA either in camp over teams or on Operations. They have overseen the training of over 200 service personnel across a vari- ety of different vehicle platforms as well as other career courses from all units of the Royal Artillery encompassing the Command- ing Officer’s direction, “Beyond First, Leadership & Warrior Sprit.”
The next 12 months look to be just as busy as the last 12. The train- ing wing under the watchful eye of the MTWO has put together a driver training period which includes driver and commander courses for every armoured platform in the Regiment. The new year will also see the initial planning of Exercise CYPHER DAG- GER 22 which will culminate in the Regiment deploying in May for live firing.
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Postings out
Captain Armstrong RHA WO2 Henry
Postings in
Captain Philip RHA WO2 McDonnell