Page 42 - 4RA Regimental Journal 2019-2020

4th Regiment Royal Artillery
EX SUNDERLAND DAGGER / IRON STORM
On 2 March 20, the Workshop deployed to Otterburn Training Area for a Regimental exercise
which was then going to lead onto the Bri- gade exercise, Iron Storm.
We were lucky to have missed the snow- storms that had happened around a week before we deployed and left camp in high spirits for the task ahead. Whilst the Bat- tery Fitter Section teams deployed onto the area, the rest of the Workshop worked out of the central maintenance facility (CMF) which provided high morale in the form of weather protection and hot fresh food for every meal!! With the equipment fleet proving to be particularly reliable, competition for supremacy amongst the CMF contingent heated up with some hotly contested card games!! As and when a job did come in, our new class 2’s, Cfn Slater (Vehicle Mechanic) and Cfn Davies (Armourer) were on hand to jump on it with real enthusiasm and vigor.
Cpl Jasinski
OutsideoftheCMF,thebatteryfittersec- tions deployed to the relevant gun lines, awaitingtobetaskedoffforanyESrequire- ments. 88 BFS was led by Sgt Spencer and 3/29 BFS by Sgt Simonton. In some par- ticularly challenging weather, the fitter sec- tions battled on and conducted any work that could be done out on the ground. The Regiment was even so kind as to throw in a CBRN serial to keep them warm!
The exercise was a great way to test our abilities, not just in the field but in a dif- ferent location to our normal working envi- ronment. Unfortunately, the A2 Echelon didn’t get to test their abilities in the field apart from a few minor call-outs - the Bri- gade Exercise was cancelled in line with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, the exercise was a great experi- ence, allowing us a few weeks outside of the normality of camp life and for a few, their first taste of reality as a ‘soldier first, tradesman always.’
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