Page 21 - RAPTC Number 102 2018/19

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HEADQUARTERS 3RD (UNITED KINGDOM) DIVISION
‘THE IRON DIVISION’
Maj (MAA) D Boocock RAPTC
‘The mission of Headquarters 3rd (UK) Division Physical Development Branch is, “Support Deployability; to all Regular and Army Reserve units under command on all facets of PD”
Having completed a 4-year stint in the ASPT G1 & 4 dream house, being appointed back to main stream as the SO2 PD 3 (UK) Div was a refreshing change. The pace in what is the “Warfighting” Div of the British Army is diverse and at times frantic. All up, the Div sits at 43 Reg and 17 AR units across various geographical locations. Despite all these units running hot, impressively all areas of PD generally remain healthy – Lots of credit goes to the outstanding unit RAPTCIs across the Div.
SMI Gaz Halliwell, the HQs stalwart is still alive and kicking. He constantly makes a difference across the field with his “Health & Deployabilty” outputs. Coupled with the other 4 cold-facing Bde SMIs they keep me honest and the branch on bearing. This year will see some great opportunities with re-basing, PES outputs and the operational demands that continue to challenge.
HQ 1 STRIKE BDE
WO1 (SMI) A Jessey RAPTC
The SO2 & SMI
Iam at the tail end of my first year at HQ 1 Strike Bde after a 3-year assignment at the Initial Training Establishment for the Royal Engineers at Minley. The contrast between the two posts
are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of job role, but both equally enjoyable.
My first month at the HQ saw me depart to Grafenwohr Germany, on a Joint Warfare Assessment where I left my PD hat behind and replaced it with the Strike Handbook to learn some new skills. The focus of the exercise was to test interoperability with the US and to develop the new strike tactics which are associated with the new Strike Bde. My first role was as the Bde Forward Watchkeeper and later as a Battle Captain, to say I wasn’t in panic stretch mode for the first few days would be quite the understatement. As the typical RAPTCI, I quickly adapted to my new environment and became fairly efficient for the remainder of the 8-week exercise.
The next key event on the horizon was a 1 Mercian Battle Group exercise (1500 troops) that would take part in Ex Saif Sareea 3, a joint exercise in Oman partnering with Omani Army. The target was to get 60% participation of the deployed force on AT, which was achieved over the course of the 12 weeks. 19 Instructors deployed to support the AT which activities consisted of hill/wadi walking and rock climbing. The base location for the AT was Jebel Akhdar, which was chosen purposely for its immediate access to some great walking and climbing features that would fit the aims of AT. Students would spend 3 days at the Jebel when there were exercise pauses, rotating through the various activities each day. To be able to deliver AT in the Jebel for such a high volume of people with a such a quality team was both rewarding and refreshing, it firmly sits within my top 3 in the Army so far.
The Bde Festival of Sport has been a longstanding event in each year’s programme, however, pulling it together this year was a
WO1 (QMSI) A Jessey RAPTC
challenge due to the tempo of the units within the Bde. Thanks to the Unit RAPTCIs who were: SSgt Chudley: 1RRF, SSgt Remmer: RTR, SSgt Burt HCR, SSgt Damon: 1 Mercian and SSgt Shackleton: 3 Rifles, who supported me in making the competition a success. 1 RRF beat the RTR by a whisker, crowning them the winners of the Festival of Sport in 2018.