Page 9 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2018

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN) 7
Regimental Articles
Firm foundations – 2018
Those who have lived in a land of Deep darkness have had a light shone upon them.
Over the past two years the Army’s understanding of the ex- tent to which its armoured reconnaissance capability has denatured has undoubtedly matured... and the Journey isn’t over. The work of the Armoured Cavalry community in the last 12 months has seen the Warfighting Division re-think, re-shape, and resource its ground mounted recce forces, with the Divi- sional Reconnaissance Battlegroup now enshrined in our Army Readiness Order, our tactical doctrine (The Recce Handbook), the 3rd Division’s operating instructions, and (both) our Gen- eral Officers Commanding’s (GOC) understanding of how we will fight tonight. The Regiment has been lucky enough to be at the forefront of these formative shifts in understanding, work- ing hand in hand with the Light Role Recce community, the doctrine writers in Warminster, the Army’s clever programmers in Army Headquarters, and most importantly our gifted (and patient) Divisional staff. Throughout 2018, the Regiment man- aged to consolidate the collective tactical epiphanies of its 2017 training year, share these across the recce community, and break the discovery loop of formation staff as to the necessity and util- ity of armoured recce at reach. Short of a billet doux from the GOC, we seem to be making progress.
In the final half of 2018 our utility to the formations was proven in spades. The concept of a squadron group acting in front of a brigade has taken root in the firmament of the armoured in- fantry Bdes, with best practice found nowehere other than in C Squadron RL; see C Squadron’s article for the gritty detail of BATUS, ALLIED ACE, etc. At the Divisional level, the Divi- sional Reconnaissance Battlegroup Headquarters (DRBG HQ) deployed under armour in support of the Division’s assurance training of its lead Armoured Infantry Brigade, the first time a recce battlegroup has acted directly to a Divisional Headquar- ters in a generation. The experiences of both the battlegroup and the divisional staff brought tangible reality to the separation drivers discussed at length over the preceding 12 months, and a not insignificant amount of reflection was wrought on both. Teaching ourselves how to fight at genuine reach (80 km spread between squadron and battlegroup headquarters), judging when to fight for information and when to go-to-ground, and making a two-car HQ control a tactical battle and answer a division’s needs was exhaustive and exhilarating in equal measure.
Other efforts in the denouement of 2018 included convincing the Army to allow us to convert to Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicle. A conversion would both enhance our readiness and deployability, enable recce experimentation additional to (and arguably more pressing than) those of sub-warfighting STRIKE efforts, and begin to set our mindset to working with a fleet which offers a higher degree of physical and electronic signature parity. While the Army’s heart said yes, its mind said no due to a series of programmatic and procurement hurdles.
Where to from here? We continue to optimise our training to hone our recce wisdom, increase our battlefield understanding (the threat, rather than a threat), maintain a latent familiarity with armour while embracing surrogate mounted and dismount- ed training, and sharing lessons throughout our ranks. Battle- group Headquarters deploys with the 3rd Division in March 2019 for four weeks on Exercise WARFIGHTER in Texas, where the Division will ‘earn its pay’ under the watchfull eyes of our key ally. Our return from this crucible of warfare devel- opment will see Regimental Headquarters spreading the lessons of fighting in a divisional context across our ranks, looking to normalise at squadron level our role as divisional troops. The rest of the training year will see a reconsolidation of squadron level training with Regimental Headquarters support, hitting the basics of armoured recce; comms, time-in-turret, battlefield awareness, TEWTs, battlefield study, rangework, leadership and enjoying being a Lancer. Throughout the programme, the Regi- ment will strive to involve itself more physically in its recruiting areas, using defence estates and infrastructure in the Midlands as much as feasibly possible. Early 2020 will see the Regiment move across to Germany for the Division’s inaugural six week armoured reconnaissance concentration, before (fingers crossed) a chance to prove our metal in BATUS in summer 2020, in a be- spoke recce package of combined and joint training. Undoubt- edly much will change in the coming months, however I would do the Regiment a dishonour to not highlight that whatever the future brings, the coming years will be ‘busy, busy, busy’.
CSK