Page 50 - RADC 2023

Disbandment of
3 Medical Regiment
and Exercise SERPENT
FLAG ULTRA
Lt Col Gareth Hattersley
Whatever it was that I had planned to do before assuming command of 3 Medical Regiment, it soon became immaterial
as Defence transformation was about to rationalise another medical unit.
Having personally been involved in some of the early planning for Future Soldier, I knew that some pretty radical changes were expected, but the choice to considerably reduce the size of the two medical task squadrons and resubordinate them to the Field Hospitals to create Multi-role Medical
Starting runners and ambassadors
the unit flag to the Commanding Officer in the only way that is fitting for a light role medical regiment – by taking it there on foot. A quick map recce confirmed that it was a reasonable(ish) distance to do in a day, so Exercise SERPENT FLAG ULTRA was born.
After much work and preparation, which involved several remedial drill practice sessions for me, the Regimental Sergeant Major finally declared that we were good to go for the parade; the promised all night session to get it right was thankfully never needed. The day itself went remarkably
to plan as all the right people turned up
at the right time, happy to be shepherded and corralled as the event progressed.
The final salute from the Regiment was taken by Major General Bateman the General Officer Commanding of 1st (United Kingdom) Division, in front of the losing and gaining Brigade Commanders, the Mayors of Preston and Chorley, and the former Commanding Officers and Regimental Sergeant Majors of the unit. The unit flag was lowered and presented to me, prior to our march off the square. From there we held a short award ceremony where more than several well-deserved operational awards and commendations were presented before a buffet lunch. Quickly getting some food down, my final part of the events taking
Regiments came as a surprise. From the announcements in November 2021, our principal focus thereafter became to transfer command of the sub-units and disband both Support Squadron and my own Regimental Headquarters in good order. Though ultimately for me it became about leaving a legacy for those that had served in the unit, including the soldiers who had made the ultimate sacrifice whilst part of it. What could we leave behind that would endure, and could we do something that we could look back on with a sense of achievement?
Disbandment and resubordination was always going to involve marching up and down a square, formally handing over the task squadrons to their new Commanding Officers and then taking down the unit flag to march off the disbanding elements for the last time. Though in this final part there was an element of Future Soldier that offered an opportunity to do something a bit different. With 3 Medical Regiment gone, we would have been left with 1, 4, 5 and 16 Medical Regiments. Instead, a choice was made to simplify things by renumbering some of these, including resurrecting the number 3. Based in Catterick, 5 Medical Regiment were selected for the honour of being renumbered as 3 Medical Regiment, so what better
way to mark this than to personally hand
48 RADC BULLETIN 2023
ENGAGEMENT