Page 32 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2016/17

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HEADQUARTERS 11 INFANTRY BRIGADE AND SOUTH EAST DISTRICT
Capt (MAA) P C Saunders RAPTC
What a difference a weekend makes!! Friday 29th Apr 2016 – 2IC Sword Coy, Monday 2nd May 2016 – 11 Infantry Bde & SE District SO3 PD!!! From having no daily dealings with anything remotely PD related as a Company 2IC to being in the thick of my whole world revolving around PD and a new life as a Staff Of cer in the biggest Brigade in the Army!
After a short but comprehensive HO/TO with the outgoing SO3 (Capt (MAA) Stu Irving) it was down to business getting my head around what’s changed over the last 3 years in the PD arena – and as I suspected, it was almost everything! First job, understand who resides in my AOR and get out and visit them, second job, organise an AAPTI Study Day, third job, fourth job, fth job....... you get the gist! I was quickly learning that the rumours about the pace of life as a SO3 PD were true and that any thoughts of a nice steady easing in to the job were not going to come to fruition!
So here we are a year later and I think I’ve just about got my head around things, the Brigade has undergone an extremely busy training year spent mostly on CAST, CATT or stuck in tents on a training area in preparation for our readiness year which we have just embarked on. Oddly enough it may be the case that the Brigade gets more down time throughout readiness than we did getting ready for it - go gure?
I am fortunate enough to work with a fantastic bunch of RAPTCI’s in the Brigade, they routinely provide the goods in relation to their primary roles as Unit RAPTCI’s and in addition lend a huge amount of support to me from a Brigade and RAPTC perspective. Their professionalism and support is greatly appreciated and duly noted.
So what does this year hold? Without doubt an increase in Assurance across the piste, the new Assurance & Inspection Army Command Standing Order (A&I ACSO) has added to the amount of Units eligible to Audit and provide reports on which will see all SO3’s travelling far and wide to ensure PD policy is being adhered to.
In summary this year has been a case of ‘blink and you will have missed it’, the appointment of SO3 PD has enabled me to immerse myself back in to the PD arena and allowed me to reconnect to the Corps, more importantly to those Sgts’, SSgts’ and WOs’ at the coal face and who are without doubt the horsepower of the RAPTC. By the time this goes to print I expect to be knee deep in MS, possibly still chasing ARMS returns and maybe out on the odd AFT audit - who knows, I may even have an FTRS QMSI in post to lend a hand on the shop oor!
17 PORT AND MARITIME REGIMENT RLC
SSgt (SSI) K Wallace RAPTC
This last year has been another hugely demanding year for 17 Port and Maritime Regiment. They continue to be one of the busiest Units in the British Army, with repeated deployments around the world and at least one Squadron at constant readiness.
However, despite this, with some strong encouragement from myself and an enthusiastic CO and team, sport has endured, increasing morale around the port. This has led to exponential growth in the numbers attending CO’s PT to relish the challenge
17 P & M Festival of Sport
17 P & M Netball