Page 25 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2018

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN) 23
using the logic that the most ridiculous answer is probably cor- rect in the UN.
Event Six: Navigation and Opposing Force Recognition (OpFor Rec). This was something that the team had worked particularly hard on under the gurus of AFV Rec, Corporals Atherley and Allen. With the navigation, what could possibly go wrong? The MFR lived on the United Nations Protected Area (UNPA), as such this was a NavEx of the back garden. Corporal Kennett [a qualified British Army Navigation instructor] clearly was spend- ing too much time in the Buffer Zone, as he had managed to drive off the edge of the map. Despite this, the team which had split into two to get ‘eyes on’ various pieces of equipment, ve- hicles and weapons did well here. Special mention must go to Lance Corporal Glass who made up for his lack of speed on the endurance march with an in-depth knowledge of the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot forces.
Command tasks were next: a bizarre memory game combined with catapults, buckets and ropes met us. After a very confusing brief in a thick Argentinian accent, the team made a start. To this day we are not sure we knew what we were doing but ap- parently scored highly here. Only the assault course and driving left to go.
The team was well drilled on the assault course and had been over the 12-foot wall upwards of 20 times before the competi- tion. Spurred on by the Commanding Officer running around with the team, MFR A put an impressive five minutes 45 sec- onds on the board. Here Lance Corporals Imber and Fissasegola made their money as PTIs practically throwing their teammates over the obstacles. Despite the impressive time, this was only enough to come fifth. All would hang on the driving, which held double points.
We met Lance Corporal Bartram (REME) at the beginning of the driving and got a brief. Two vehicles conducted a techni- cal driving course on a resupply scenario whilst another vehi-
cle conducted reverse bay parking with a blindfolded driver, a commander who could only state what the vehicle guide was instructing with hand signals. Trooper Hercock won this for the team, guiding with remarkable precision.
Getting to the prize giving, all teams were in the dark as to how they had got on – the results guarded from the prying eyes of Commanding Officers by Lance Corporal Langton (AGC (SPS)) and Company Sergeant Major Weaver from the MFR. As the pa- rade formed up, the Argentinians had drums, drinks and medals ready to celebrate. However, much to the surprise of everyone, it was the MFR A team that was awarded the trophy [A Squadron QRL were awarded the same trophy in 1985] on the day with Sector 2 teams coming in second and fourth and MFR B team in sixth.
GP