Page 10 - MERCIAN Eagle 2021

A (Grenadier) Company
The word ‘unprecedented’ can no longer be used in good conscience, which is primarily due to the number of new precedents over the chaotic last couple of years. With that
in mind, 2021 has been a ‘very interesting’ year for Grenadier Company. With the rest of 1 MERCIAN spending most of this year deployed on Op CABRIT at short notice, Grenadier Company have been faced with the often unglamourous task of forming the Rear Operations Group (ROG) in Picton Barracks. This has meant assuming all the guards and duties that would normally be covered by the whole Battalion, as well as maintaining the unit’s punishing output of trawls and taskings. The Grenadiers have managed all of this in style, but the most impressive thing has been the attitude
of the Company and the willingness of Grenadiers to volunteer. Whatever the task, wherever the location and however short the notice, members of this Company
will volunteer to help their mates, and the unit. I am confident that if the Brigade Headquarters asked for volunteers to take off their trousers and crawl through barbed wire, there would be at least a couple.
As well as maintaining this, at times relentless, commitment and tempo, Grenadier Company has also exploited every opportunity to generate meaningful training and maintain their soldiering standards. In the coming pages you will
read about a variety of different Company exercises all over the UK. Each one was the product of a tenacious commitment to developing the ability of our Grenadiers and our Company, often in spite of our circumstances. That the Grenadiers
have accomplished all of this is genuinely impressive and has almost always been the result of hard work and initiative taken by relatively junior commanders.
This positive attitude is a result of the
very special ethos that Grenadier Company soldiers have created for themselves. When I arrived in July, the handover notes that I received from my predecessor were almost entirely concerned with the Grenadier ethos, Grenadier flash and Ex CHAOS GRENADIER. Apparently, Maj Mal Wheeler thought that I could work everything else out for myself. A few months into my time as OC Grenadier Company, I can really see the value of what has been built here and why Maj Wheeler was so keen to make sure that I understood it. The Grenadier ethos
is a code of standards that the Grenadiers have written for themselves and that
guides the way we all work. It’s because
of this shared identity that every member
of the company has the confidence and
skill to step forward and take the initiative, always working hard for each other. The atmosphere that this creates became particularly apparent for me on my own
participation in CHAOS GRENADIER. The exercise is comprised of the ‘Fan Dance’ over Pen-y-Fan and a challenging bayonet lane, all of which was conducted in some
of the most hostile weather I’ve seen in Wales. I honestly couldn’t have been more impressed by the soldiers that completed the exercise. Whether it was Pte Robinson completing the whole march with a GPMG to set an example, or Pte Filmore genuinely using his body to shield 2Lt Camp from the gale force wind and hail so he could check his map without losing it, everyone showed resilience, determination and real leadership.
As 2021 draws to a close,
Grenadier Company has been tasked with going to Germany in January 22 to provide ‘Task Force Hannibal’, OPFOR to the Royal Welsh Battlegroup on Exercise TALLINN DAWN. This is a fantastic opportunity to conduct some good Armoured Infantry training as a full, deployed Company
and I am confident that we will represent
1 MERCIAN in the finest fashion. This deployment is a big task and came at short notice, but the Grenadiers will approach
it in the same manner that they have everything else over the last year. They will be motivated, determined and resilient; they will take it all in their stride, and in good humour too.
OC Maj Chris Beaumont 2IC Lt Dan Rhodes
CSM WO2 James Massey WSM WO2 Robert Brookes
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Pl Cmd 2Lt Matt Camp
Pl Sgt Sgt Craig Fowkes
1 Platoon
At the start of 2021 the forecast was bleak for the country. We were a nation riddled with an invisible enemy, the Government were threatening another national lockdown and the future contained no real certainty. The challenges did not stop there for
1 Platoon. With A Company being on ROG, this left the platoon having to cover guards and duties on camp alongside deploying on multiple exercises. Despite the odds being heavily stacked against 1 Platoon, we lived up to our nickname, ‘The Dogs’, as we tackled each problem with determination and in good spirit.
In the summer A Company deployed to Longmoor on Exercise Themis Grenadier. The week prior to this deployment
the Company had spent a week in Tregantle Fort, Cornwall focussing on urban and close quarter fighting. This had left the platoon in a fantastic position to take what they had
1 Platoon visiting Edinburgh Castle
THE MERCIAN EAGLE