Page 25 - MERCIAN Eagle 2020

AGC (SPS) Detachment
Company Overview:
RAO: Maj K Wilson Det Comd: Capt M Walton
The AGC (SPS) Detachment has seen a significant churn in its command structure since June 2020: a new Regimental Admin Officer (Major Kelly Wilson) assigned in from Sandhurst; a new Detachment Commander (Capt Michelle Walton) assigned in from 4 AAC; and a new RAWO (WO2 Slucock) assigned in from 4 Battalion REME. This has been magnified by the
had developed a deep understanding of the Battalion after fulfilling numerous roles but was tempted away by a much more glamorous posting to Cyprus! We have a further three personnel assigned in early 2021, the detachment is now fully manned and ready to sustain the upcoming operational commitments.
Notwithstanding the mass of personality changes, there was little time for the new team to settle in before the Battalion was informed its commitment on Op TORAL was to shift to Op CABRIT
8. One result of this change was the significant uplift in the number of personnel due to deploy
and their almost immediate movement to Germany to
begin training on
Ex TALLINN DAWN. This meant the
Detachment had to enact some fast footwork to provide its usual first-class standard of personnel support.
Those deployed on Ex TALLINN DAWN have immersed themselves in the training and made the most of the opportunities on offer. Pte Magar has thoroughly enjoyed being fully embedded within
B Company, with Pte’s O’Neill and Subba
hitting the ground running on their first overseas deployment, only four weeks after finishing their Phase 2 training. Concurrent to Ex TALLINN DAWN, the Detachment continues to make itself indispensable to the Battalion, with several members completed the Bulldog and Panther driver and commander courses; Cpl Brown relished the chance to put his newly found qualifications to the test as he drove around the North- German Plain at medium speed in a Bulldog.
Back in the UK, both the RAWO and Cpl Devlin competed in a 24-hour cycling challenge (account told separately), Pte Greenman created fiendishly difficult monthly fitness challenges and Sgt
Mills fully embraced his new role by overhauling a variety of G1 processes to make them ‘best-in-show’.
Throughout the tough times, the AGC (SPS) detachment has managed to
enjoy some team bonding and socially distanced get-togethers, which has been a great way for all of us to get to know one another better with the significant changes in personalities. After all that,
the Detachment is now ready for some Christmas leave, prior to returning for what will no doubt be another challenging year!
parallel churn of the
functional subject
matter experts: SSgt
Imray as FSA, Sgt
Gurung as the Regt
Acct and Sgt Mills as
the Sys-Coord. The
only consistency the
Detachment has
maintained within the
SME fields is Sgt Mtonga as the SSA.
The Detachment has seen several well-deserved promotions this year. We are lucky to have retained the newly promoted Cpls Sheldon and Uddin, but will sadly lose Cpl Devlin on his promotion to Sergeant. Alongside the promotions, we have had several assignments out: a significant loss was Cpl Simmons, who
The detachment is now
fully manned and ready to sustain the upcoming operational commitments
Training Wing
Throughout 2020 the Training Wing has found itself front and centre of the Battalion’s efforts, consistently enabling success despite the most challenging of circumstances. Perhaps epitomising the phrase ‘small bands of determined men’, the small team that makes up the Training Wing have repeatedly risen to the challenges posed by changes to the Bn’s FOE, all conducted within the ever-present context of COVID-19. This year has also seen change within the team itself, Capt Dyson has taken over as BGO, with CSgt Keaveny taking over as DMI SNCO and Sgt Mardell coming in as Trg Wing SNCO.
The year began with 1 MERCIAN focussed on preparation for Op TORAL, an important part of this was converting the Battalion onto the Protected Mobility vehicles we would be using on that operation. The Training Wing was front and centre here, organising and delivering
courses to the Battalion to ensure there were sufficient soldiers trained on these platforms. This was crucial operational training and had to continue despite the challenges of COVID-19. The Training Wing were at the sharp end of ensuring training could be conducted safely, rising to the challenge to pave the way for the rest of the Battalion. The summer saw the Battalion conduct a gunnery
and convene courses to enable the Bn to qualify the crews it needed. A momentous effort led by WO2 Smith and CSgt Keavney saw the Battalion obtain over 150 Armoured Infantry qualifications over a period of 6 weeks, thereby set up for success on MRT in Germany.
The Training Wing played a key role in enabling training in Germany whilst
Company Overview:
BGO: Capt Pete Dyson BGWO: WO2 Smith
D&M SNCO: CSgt Keaveny Trg Wing Sgt: Sgt Mardell
camp at Castlemartin Ranges; key elements of the Training Wing deployed forwards to enable this.
The Battalion received the news that it would deploy on Op CABRIT in Estonia. This was a fantastic opportunity; however, a mighty
A momentous effort led
by WO2 Smith and CSgt Keavney saw the Battalion obtain over 150 Armoured Infantry qualifications over a period of 6 weeks
simultaneously supporting A Company training in the UK. Overall, the year has seen non-stop (and at times frenetic) activity across the whole Battalion, however,
this has always been conducted with the utmost professionalism and the Training Wing has been in the thick of it throughout. The
effort was needed to
ensure the Battalion
had the right number of armoured crew qualifications in the right places, all at relatively short notice. Never one to shirk
a challenge and quite frankly finding it all
too easy at this point, the Training Wing stepped forward, working all-out to organise
year closes with us saying goodbye to WO2 Smith after over 4 years of service with the Training Wing; he moves onto pastures new in Bovington. With decades of experience, he has been an absolute lynchpin and will be sorely missed.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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