Page 9 - Mercian Eagle 2014

A (Grenadier) Company
OC
2IC
CSM WSM CQMS(M) CQMS(T) 1 Pl Comd 1 Pl Sgt
2 Pl Comd 2 Pl Sgt Warrior Sgt 3 Pl Comd 3 Pl Sgt Warrior Sgt
Maj C Somers Capt S Broadhurst WO2 E Vezza
WO2 A Hill
CSgt J Timperley CSgt M Dugmore 2Lt T Skelding
Sgt D Street
Lt M Ellison
Sgt G Hill
Sgt M Keaveny
Lt C Parry
Sgt N Buckley
Sgt R Hughes
The summer of 2013 saw a significant changeover in the command structure of
A Company. Maj Darren Hughes departed for Afghanistan in July with Maj Chris Somers taking over as OC. The swing door that is A Company Second in Command swung open again, with the departure of Capt James Trehane and the arrival of
Lt Alex Kersey for a re-show as 2IC! Platoon Sgts were Buckley and McCabe with Lt Phil Anderson as the sole Pl Commander. CSM WO2 Vezza and CSgt Dickinson provided the continuity and backbone for the Mountain Goats. LCpl Chilinda continued to provide the sole admin support.
Almost immediately A Company provided 1 Platoon to support 2 MERCIAN on
Ex ASKARI STORM from Sep – Nov 13. This provided 1 Platoon with a superb opportunity to participate in a light role battlegroup exercise and the troops the increasingly scarce chance to conduct a resourced overseas exercise. 1 Platoon were seconded to A (Grenadier) Company 2 MERCIAN and as ever did not let
the Company or the 1st Battalion down
in their performance. All men returned in one piece, some earlier than others due to infractions with the local population!
Simultaneously to support and strengthen a weakened B (Malta) Company, A (Grenadier) Company provided 3 Platoon under the command of Sgt Buckley to
Ex GAULISH EAGLE.
Hideously outgunned, with rifles against
main battle tanks, 3 Platoon contributed
to a grossly unfair battle between B Coy and the French BG. The men had the opportunity to regale the female population of Paris with their war stories and witty English repartee, the majority returned to the UK having comprehensively failing to
advance relations with the fairer sex of Paris.
Lt C Parry and Lt Matt Ellison arrived in the autumn of 2013 taking over three and two Platoon respectively. Lt Chris Parry was thrown immediately into the mix, leading an A Company contingent in support of C Coy on Ex LIONS SUN in Cyprus. A Company under the auspices of other units/sub units exercises had in the back end of 2013 ran out all the platoons in dismounted close combat, more than achieving the mandated start state for Op FIRIC in 2014. You might ask what was Coy HQ doing whilst the blokes were grafting? Good question! The preparation for the independent deployment of the A Company Gp on Op FIRIC was their job, and a good
job they did! This
entailed a 19 hour flight,
each way, for what
turned out to be a three
day recce, gathering an
understanding of the
almost Byzantium RAF
rules at Mount Pleasant
Airfield, finding extra people for the ORBAT and most importantly finding loads of extra ammo for the deployment.
Jan 2014 saw the A Company 2IC
door swing again, Lt Kersey moved
to A Company planning officer for the Falklands and Capt Steve Broadhurst came over from C Coy to take over A Coy 2IC. The remaining weeks of Jan and early Feb 14 saw the final preparation for Op FIRIC, a cheeky ECI/LSI and then deployment on 10 Feb 14 to the Falklands.
A Company’s takeover from
Queen’s Company 1 WG was complete on 22 Feb 14. The tasks: contribute to the defence of the Falkland Islands, re-assure
the population, achieve CT2 and most importantly, survive the tour without having committed too heinous a drink related crime
The Falklands proved to be, as ever, a superb training opportunity.
in Stanley or Mount Pleasant Airport. The Falklands proved to
be, as ever, a superb training opportunity. The men were constantly busy on patrols or field firing, whilst the platoon commanders were
equally busy running around planning for battlefield tours. The behaviour of the men was impeccable throughout the deployment earning praise from Comd BFSAI and his RAF dominated staff. This is not easy to achieve as one might imagine...the vices and temptations of the Falklands Islands are well known, the path has been trodden by many, and many have succumbed to
the traps that alcohol related ill discipline exposes. Thankfully, either they were superbly well behaved or superb at hiding their crimes...only the soldiers of A Coy Gp know the truth!
A Coy Group was back in the UK by the end of April and all went on well earned leave before coming back to a Bn on the cusp of reorganisation in May 14. Some expertly planned and led AT by Lt Ellison, assisted by Sgt McCabe and Cpl Chambers to Mojave Desert in the US occupied the month of Jun for a small group of A Coy men. To walk the Old Historical Spanish trail, through the Valley of Death, had attracted much interest and quite a lot of scepticism from the chattering classes amongst the unit. Amazingly, it was completed with
only one injury, Pte Whitely got a blister, poor admin led to infection, even more
poor admin led to MRSA, and even more poor admin led to him missing Vegas! A staggeringly ambitious and successful AT Exped which has set the bar for all future
A Coy AT events...we will be hitting the slopes of France on mass in Jan 15 for what is hoped will be a more sedate week.
The arrival of the A Coy inbound
2 MERCIAN personnel in Jun 14 and
then the 3 MERCIAN lads in Aug 14; alongside the departure of many old faces
A Coy Armd Inf Conceptual Development at Carwent Training Area Oct 14
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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