Page 60 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2015-16

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HQ 42ND INFANTRY BRIGADE AND HQ NORTH WEST
Capt (MAA) AA Clark RAPTC
As I start to re ect in order to
write this last set of MBS
notes my mind is ashing
through the last twenty six years,
fteen of which have been doing
what I have always regarded as the
best job in the Army! Some of you
will now be asking why is he leaving
then!!! The answer is........I’m going
to do the same job but in a place
where the sun shines every day and
I wanted to go before all of my hair
was grey!!!! (Which won’t be very
long!!!)? The last year has seen the
Branch involved in myriad of activities
as many would have noticed by the amount of time I spent away from the desk! The Brigade has transformed from being a sleepy Regional Headquarters to an Infrantry Brigade ready to deploy. This process has involved all of the staff and units going through a number of CAST (Combat and Staff Trainer) exercises to ensure we were fully competent and trained in the combat estimate. Added to this, UK Operations continue to be at the forefront of the capabilities the HQ is expected to perform at any time! The training for this was put to good use at the end of the year when both I and WO2 (QMSI) Halliday played active roles in the support to the civil authorities and local communities during the clear up of Storm Desmond.
On the PD front we have continued to deliver the outputs expected by Regional Command whilst taking our operational orders from
UK North Female Festival of Sport 2015
1 Div, this has seen the workload and tempo in the Headquarters increase tenfold. In order for us to meet these demands we have a new addition to the team ‘Suzanne Curry’ who has settled in well. The units continue to have very little white space in their programme but still mange to drive forward with the new tness concepts and taking part in many sporting events. The RAPTCIs led from the front assisting with the health fair and have been kept extremely busy with many overseas exercises. On the sporting front UK North participation goes from strength to strength with another excellent festival of sport in July which was visited by the ASCB Secretary. Fingers crossed, the connections built with DIO over the 30months are now paying dividends and we are starting to see progress with the facilities, both Cricket strips in Catterick are due to be replaced by the start of the season and the Robertson Road all weather pitch resurfaced!
Ihave just nished my 3rd and nal year with 2 MERCIAN and it has been an excellent posting and one of the
reasons why I transferred to the RAPTC. Working with the soldiers on a daily basis and building friendships with all ranks has been a pleasure and one I will carry with me throughout my Army career & personal life. This year has been a very productive year for 2 MERCIAN with lots of Sporting & Adventurous Training events within the unit and 42 Brigade. 2 MERCIAN have always promoted sport and tried to enter as many events as possible, 2 events we excelled in this year were the Infantry ‘Tug of War Championship’ and the Infantry ‘Football 6 a Side Championship’, with 2 MERCIAN winning both events. The UK North held its annual sports festival which was an excellent day for all 2 MERCIAN soldiers to compete in a range of sporting events such as athletics, indoor rowing, TOW, golf, hockey and mountain biking. Boxing is the main sporting event, which the unit participates and this year we held the Inter Company Championships in September; it was a great success and helped with the selection of the Battalion Boxing Team for the 2016 Army Boxing Team Championships. In October 2015 2 MERCIAN deployed to Kenya for exercise
2 MERCIAN
SSgt (SSI) M Corkhill RAPTC
‘Askari Thunder’, an exercise I have completed twice whilst with 2 MERCIAN. Throughout the 6 weeks I was running the AT programme and managed to send over 750 soldiers on a range of activities such as mountain biking, rock-climbing, kayaking and 2 challenge pursuits in white water rafting and gorge jumping. Probably the most rewarding task I had the privilege to be involved with in Kenya was the community engagement scheme
when we went to a local orphanage and totally regenerated the site in which the children lived. We cleaned and sanitised the whole unit and gave lessons on health & hygiene to the children. Working on the orphanage was a humbling experience and gave me an appreciation of how lucky we all are back home in the UK. 2016 is going to be a busy year for 2 MERCIAN with high readiness & 2 exercises to Spain & Poland on the horizon.
SSgt Corkhill Kenyan Orphanage 2015