Page 24 - MERCIAN Eagle 2020

Quartermaster’s Department
QM: QM(T): RQMS: RQMS(T): EE SNCO: USA:
1LO Team:
Ammo: MSA: Barrack Mgr: Stores Team:
Maj Rob Mears
Capt George Long WOII Ben Davies
WOII James Timperley CSgt Tomlinson
Sgt Lambert
SSgt Ampadu
Cpl Gurung
LCpl Tavutonivalu
Pte Thiga
Cpl Murray
Cpl Freeman
Cpl Palmer
Pte Littler
Pte Henaghan
arrived from 20 Brigade to deploy
to Estonia on Op CABRIT 8. The Quartermaster’s department set to work to hand back the protected mobility fleet and re-focus on the armoured Infantry platforms.
The department supported a full Battalion deployment to Castlemartin Ranges during early summer to execute a gunnery camp and conducted a handover of our protracted United Kingdom stand by commitment that the Battalion held for 6 months.
A frantic period of handovers within the department took place during July, where the team said farewell to Maj Martyn Chatterley on his departure to ICSC(L), WO2 James Cook on LE commissioning into the AGC, WO2 Bartlett to MTWO, and SSgt Lines on promotion to WO2 and appointment as WO ES MAT
4 Brigade. We welcomed Capt George Long as QM(T), WO2 James Timperley
as RQMS(T), SSgt Henry Ampadu as
1LO UAA and CSgt Tomlinson as EE SNCO. Prior to summer stand down, and to formalise the change of Commanding Officer, a two-week assurance muster was conducted by the new QM.
1 MERCIAN received orders to deploy to Sennelager in Germany in
October to conduct the training pathway requirements ahead of Op CABRIT
8 in 2021. The QM led a small team early on to set the conditions for the
1 MERCIAN BG deployment shortly after. An armoured fleet was taken over from Land Training Fleet (Sennelager), freight moved and the Battalion were received into Normandy Bks. The department established in Athlone Barracks and supported a five-week period of live firing for both Warrior crews and dismounts. The 1 MERCIAN Battle Group will redeploy to Germany in the new year for mission readiness training prior to Op CABRIT 8.
Business as usual continues in the
firm base of Bulford, where a planned 8-month life cycle and refurbishment of the Quartermaster’s department will begin in Feb 21. It has been an outstanding year for the QM’s department, successfully providing support to operations, overseas deployments, training and infrastructure changes. All of which has been conducted in a COVID- safe environment, requiring a small
team to remain focused, motivated and extremely flexible. The team is looking forward to the challenges of Op CABRIT and what 2021 has in store for us all.
This year started with preparations
for deployment to BATUS in Summer 2020 ahead of an operational tour to Afghanistan on Op TORAL 12. The Battalion took receipt of a fleet of Foxhound and Ridgeback protected mobility vehicles and began the process of driver and commander qualifying courses in preparation for the deployment.
Due to COVID-19 the deployment to BATUS in Canada was unfortunately cancelled and soon after that announcement 1 MERCIAN were stood down from Op TORAL. New orders
22
Company Overview:
OC: Major Roberts CSM: WO2 Watts
HQ (Eagle) Company
The Company Headquarters has gone through a complete change over the
last twelve months. The CSM, WO2
Dave Buckley, moved over to C Coy
in September, being replaced by WO2 Nick Watts. The OC, Maj Mick Whillock, transferred to civi street in February. The gap was then filled by A/Maj Jack England for a few months before I then had the privilege of taking over in July.
As always, Headquarter Company has been the backbone of
all the activity being
conducted by the
Battalion over the last twelve months. This was demonstrated while supporting the Battalion during its time preparing to deploy
to Afghanistan on Op
TORAL, simultaneously
on call as UK Standby
Battalion, Regional Police Support
and during a Battalion Gun Camp at Castlemartin Ranges. Never compromising on our core armoured infantry skills,
the Company produced to the highest standard throughout. It was the moment the Battalion was informed that we were no longer deploying on Op TORAL, but were now deploying to Estonia on Op CABRIT
8 that the true quality of the troops shone through; every member of the Company took it in their stride and switched focus to the next mission, eager to get to grips with the new task.
The switch from Op TORAL to CABRIT saw the Battalion
Maj Roberts coaches a member of the SPS Det on ranges in Sennelager, Germany
which meant for a hectic few weeks! Key individuals were working day and night
to keep the Battalion functioning and supporting the fighting companies. All the while, this hard work wasn’t just happening over in Germany, those back in the UK were also grafting to provide essential functions for the troops forward in Germany, as well as supporting A (Grenadier) Company.
With a well-deserved Christmas leave on the horizon we look forward to and plan for an interesting 2021, where we will deploy back to Germany in January to conduct Mission Requirement Training in preparation for our deployment to Op CABRIT (Estonia) in March.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
Never compromising on our core armoured infantry skills, the Company produced to the highest standard throughout
deploy from Bulford to Sennelager, Germany, with only a few weeks’ notice; a daunting
task that everyone
rose to with complete determination, with elements of the Quartermaster’s department and Training Wing flying out on a
recce within days. As well as providing vital support to the rest of the Battalion, we still needed to prepare our own troops and departments to deploy to Estonia,