Page 51 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2015-16

20TH ARMOURED INFANTRY BRIGADE
WO1 (SMI) M Harrington RAPTC
The British Army’s 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade (20 Armd Inf Bde) (The Iron Fist) is based in Paderborn, Northern Germany, as part of the 3rd (United Kingdom) Division. Soldiers serving with the Brigade wear the insignia of a white mailed st with a blue background - a symbol of the hard punch that this armoured formation gives the enemy.
20 Armd Inf Bde is founded on ne and historic regiments. The composition of the Brigade, currently, is based on one Heavy and one Light Armoured Regiments, supported by three Light Role and one Armoured Infantry Battalion.
The Headquarters of 20 Armd Inf Bde is currently located in Sennelager, on the outskirts of the city of Paderborn. In the future – as part of the Army 2020 restructuring – ‘The Iron Fist’ will move back to the Salisbury Plain area where it will form part of UK’s Reaction Force.
With two OPCOM Units currently in the Catterick area, and 3 Units in Germany (with one Unit moving to Bulford in the summer of 2016) the Brigade are getting ready to deploy to BATUS for the duration of the year. This moves me as the Brigade SMI to co-ordinate the Adventure Training at Trails End Camp (TEC) but for the rst time this year I will be working from HQ BATUS and not from TEC as held by previous Bde SMI’s. This gives me the opportunity to maintain my existing role as Bde SMI for the OPCOM Units and to support the Units left in Germany.
As you can imagine the British Forces Germany Community spirt is always high and there is always something going on for the families and dependents of the serving and retired soldiers in Germany. Just to give something back in support of SSAFA, a series of events across Paderborn Station to include ‘Big Brew
WO1 (SMI) Harrington enjoying the snow
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20 AI Bde SSAFA
20X Warriors - A day out of the of ce
WO1 Harrington and Major (Retd) White discussing life
Ups’, Tombola Events, Aerobics and various sporting activities and as a result raised 6066 Euros.
The Headquarters’ retain a ‘work hard and play hard’ ethos and we were able to arrange a skiing package to Austria. We managed to persuade 2 external instructors to instruct 16 of the HQ’s nest soldiers achieve their Ski Foundation Quali cation. The weather was perfect and the snow was cold, a perfect way to start our training year.