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1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
1 RHA Ladies Tug of War team – 560Kg Ladies Winners & 520Kg Ladies Runners Up at the Army Championships
for Great Britain in the Netherlands at this year’s international Tug of War World Championship.
In February, O/HQ Battery formed a central part of 1 RHA’s team for the 1 Arty Bde Operational Shooting Competition. Lead by Capt Davis AGC (SPS), the team produced a highly creditable performance after a hard fortnight at Altcar Ranges. O/HQ Bat- tery was over-represented within the regimental team, the Bat- tery again demonstrating its ability to punch above its weight at regimental level and beyond. Despite some very testing weather conditions, they performed well overall finishing 5th against some stiff competition from across the brigade. February also proved to be another busy month for Ramsay’s Troop, notable for Ex FLASH STRIKE 22, on which 1 RHA JTACs facilitated the last ever 3kg practice bomb drops from Hawk jets before their decommissioning. As ever, the breadth and depth of O/HQ Bat- tery’s capabilities were demonstrated by a wide variety of deploy- ments and taskings across a range of environments - reminding us that our MACA responsibilities were still with us, Gnr Watson deployed to Wales as ambulance driver support as part of Op RESCRIPT for two months between January and March.
When the opportunity arose to visit the town of Lourdes in south- ern France on a pilgrimage organised by the padre (Capt Mori- arty) O/HQ Battery’s Gnr Rutter, Gnr Blackler and Gnr Emery eagerly volunteered and joined 10,000 military personnel repre- senting 30 nations. They spent five days visiting various religious sites and socialising with other militaries. The trip concluded with an impressive street party, a local event celebrated each year with various performances, music, and cuisine to enjoy.
In May, military personnel from 14 countries including members of O/HQ Battery converged on the Estonia-Latvian border for Ex HEDGEHOG. The scale and complexity of this exercise was a new experience for some of the more junior members of the Battery - this annual exercise is designed to test the security of NATO’s eastern flanks between Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. A remarkable opportunity for O/HQ Battery soldiers and officers to participate in a large-scale multi-national exercise, and a major contribution to the securing of NATO’s eastern extremities. May also saw Bdr Dainty deployed on Ex DEFENDER in Sennelager, Germany as MT Sergeant demonstrating adaptability and flex- ibility at short notice, in typical O/HQ Battery style.
The month of June was righty dominated by Her Late Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – the Regiment marked the occasion with a medals parade followed by a Family’s Day event. This was
an excellent moment to reward the continued service of many members of the Battery with the award of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal, but also to reflect on the superb contribution being made day in, day out by O/HQ Battery to the Regiment and wider Army. This was also an opportunity to share this experience with loved ones, and to thank them for their continued support to the soldiers and officers of O/HQ Battery and 1 RHA. The subsequent Family’s Day also aimed to celebrate the Foreign and Common- wealth community within the Regiment, and to promote aware- ness and knowledge of the social and cultural diversity contained therein - food and music was provided by many of the regiment’s communities.
Moving into July, O/HQ Battery prepared to deploy on one of the year’s most significant exercises - Ex DYNAMIC FRONT, in Grafenwoehr, Germany. This presented another fine opportunity to work alongside U.S and allied nations, with the additional aim of preparing, collectively, to adopt new software which would enable better integration of fire mission processing. This pro- gram, developed across the nine nations who are all members of the ASCA community, allows the user to share firing data quickly and seamlessly. Simultaneously, Ramsay’s Troop ran a highly successful Ex TERMINAL STRIKE, enabling a comprehensive training package for UK and international JTACs which received superb feedback from Joint Air Land Organisation (JALO) – again O/HQ Battery personnel demonstrated their ability to work outside the regimental framework and build relationships with stakeholders across UK Defence.
Reflecting on another productive year for O/HQ Battery, we have seen the gradual and welcome return of normal working practices and outputs. The familiar headquarters Battery battle rhythm returned, with deployments on over 30 exercises for O/ HQ Battery soldiers and officers. Ramsay’s Troop alone deployed on over 20 exercises over the course of 2021/22, with a total of 103,626km covered as a troop. The Battery’s sporting year was consistently strong, with highlights including victory in the intra- Battery Op TEAMWORK competition and the emergence of an international athlete in Gnr Rutter. The Battery continues to con- tribute heavily to regimental teams, including football and rugby, whilst committed extensively to domestic and overseas exercises. Personnel from across the Battery frequently deploy individually or in small teams, projecting the enthusiasm and professionalism which characterises the ethos of O/HQ.
It is with a resulting sense of excitement and pride in a job well done that the Battery looks forward to another productive year.
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