Page 95 - MERCIAN Eagle 2021

wet Sunday afternoon to Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire as the River Teme had burst its banks. The drive down was difficult, and I quickly became aware of how severe the flooding was with the majority of access roads being completely submerged.
Once on scene we deployed to
the centre of town, assisting with the evacuation of stranded people and ensuring the safety of those that wished to remain in their properties. The last extraction was at 2300hrs when we had to carry an elderly lady from the top of her stairs as the entire ground floor was under water and in the
flow of the river. After 15 hours, I was stood down when a new team arrived on scene and by 1400hrs I was back in the office ready to catch up on the day’s work at
4 MERCIAN.
From my own experiences as the
first member of the team from a military background, I realised how easy it was for Armed Forces personnel to transition across to a SAR Team. As a result, over recent years I have helped to target our recruitment of veterans and serving personnel and I’m proud to say that they currently make up approximately 20% of the team strength.
This includes serving personnel like myself, veterans and Cadet Force Adult Volunteers.
In 2017, I signed the Armed Forces Covenant on behalf of the team and in 2020 we received the Bronze Award before receiving the Silver Award in 2021 in recognition of the team’s support to the Armed Forces Community. On 4 Nov 21, I was invited to a ceremony at the National Memorial Arboretum, hosted by West Midlands RFCA, where I was presented with the award by Brigadier Graeme Fraser MBE ADC RM. Hopefully next year we’ll be going for Gold!
Cambrian Patrol
Pte Jack Eckersley
“Cambrian Patrol: the hardest, most challenging patrol competition in the world” said one of the 4 MERCIAN Cambrian Team as we drove into the gates of Warcop Training Camp in Cumbria, one week prior to the patrol starting. “This sounds pretty nails!”
If you were looking for soldiers
to partake in this arduous patrol competition, you might say you’d want, fit, robust, thinking soldiers. ‘Oblivious’ might not be an adjective you’d use, but ‘oblivious’ I think would describe how all team members were as they underwent this year’s competition. Even the ‘old hands’, who had completed the patrol in previous years were surprised at just how arduous the route was this year and just how far into the depths of their mental reserves they were going to have to reach, just to get around.
Despite how tiring the team found it, morale was high throughout and
was commented on at every stand; having one of the team receive a rectal thermometer after the water crossing (checking for hypothermia they said) definitely perked up the team’s spirits and remarkably, it seemed to perk the unfortunate recipient’s spirits too.
Throughout the duration of the patrol, the 4 MERCIAN team were commended at each stand on how good their performances were, and therefore
a well-deserved Silver Medal was awarded at the end to a team who had
only five days prior training.
Special praise should be given to Pte
John Hardy of D Coy, who only qualified as a trained soldier two weeks prior to deployment, and to Pte Danny Harrison of B Coy, who woke up looking like an ice mummy on the first morning and with Capt Rich Peacock about to call
in a medevac, picked himself up and cracked on. Each member of the team is now looking forward to returning next year with sights firmly fixed on achieving a Gold Medal!
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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