Page 47 - KRH Year of 2021 CREST

a team wonderfully adept at planning, but largely untested in the art of execution – a chime that would soon ring from every corner of the field.
The CRTC (BATUS in old money) Training Machine shifted gears in September 2021, and the KRH Battlegroup relaxing in the rear was stirred from its summer slumber as it hurtled towards IRON STORM 2. The Exercise, the biggest of its kind for a decade would span multiple time zones and field the larg- est deployment (all) of the UK’s Armour on Atropian soil. An opening salvo in Pembrokeshire saw combined-arms live fire on such scale that had never been witnessed along the Irish Channel! Misfire after Misfire the Crimson Clad Battlegroup advanced, driving figure 11 after figure 11 back into the sea. Battlegroup Headquarters (BGHQ) requestioned a quaint farmstead off the local training estate, where they could conduct this orchestra of tracks. The spluttering of diesel and the grumblings of infan- try continued day and night. After several weeks and with the Figure 11s now firmly on the backfoot, BG Main took the brave decision to deploy forward; leaving the Adjt and RSO in charge of the farmstead. After a few more days of fighting, the Colonel flanked by his staff declared a most unanimous victory. Raddy, Commandant of Tower 4 and his legion of targetry, some of it Australian, were soundly beaten and sued for peace on any terms. The Battlegroup magnanimous as ever in victory, scorned them and publicly ordered dominoes.
Following success in Pembrokeshire, the Battlegroup projected to the Salisbury Plain, where it was hoped Arianan forces would finally concentrate. Days passed and still there were issues putting up the DRASH. Finally, orders came – the crescendo approached. D Day. Ultimately the Salisbury Front closed as quickly as it had opened, with a second front, this time in the CATT threat- ening to outflank the KRH BG. A few days later and coaches laden with Hussars hurtled towards Warminster. Field Kitchens were promptly erected and the desert DRASH stood proud, all the markings of a well drilled outfit. It was universally acknowl- edged that this would be the ground the greatest battles of IRON STRUMPET would be fought. The sub-units delivered a master- class in combined-arms manoeuvre whilst the COS and the gang moved from under armour, into the building, into a simulator and under armour again, without adding any value whatsoever. The Triumvirate2 mobilised all they could, but after several days of strife and new beginnings for the BG Staff, Comd 12 ABCT was finally forced to admit certification. The Battlegroup had won; sausage, ale and TACOP’s Spotify Playlist were all that lay ahead of them.
Embalmed with success, the Battlegroup recovered and then dis- persed. BGHQ put on the RHQ vest and set about the business
of servicing the Regiment in the only way it knew how; taking refuge in Piccadilly bathrooms, directing trawls, moving house, planning solo AT and undertaking flying lessons. Having done such a marvellous job of all of this, it came as some surprise when chatter once again turned to the business of warfighting – this time in the guise of Ex DEFENDER 22. Ultimately, the staff in RHQ decided to kick all critical evaluation of this into the New Year. Into December and spirits were high; the IO still hadn’t returned to work and all was well on the top corridor. However, the National outlook on Covid 19 was once again beginning to turn. An Army of Vaccinators was the word on the street; 3(UK) Div, still not gainfully employed, would provide the largest slice. And so it is – that the KRH enter this Christmas leave in much the same way they left the previous one; held at readiness, poised to do our (renewed) core business of swabbing.
AHW
The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars 45
2 12 ABCT, CRTC & the Blackshirts.