Page 54 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019

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As the most deployed troop in 2019, it is no surprise that after a mere four days into the new year, Command Troop departed Catterick for a cold three weeks on Salisbury Plain on the first of multiple exercises this year. Consistently supporting almost every exercise that the Regiment has undertaken, this year has demonstrated the full variety and talent that exists within the Troop.
In April, the RSO, Cpls Watling, Musson and Hutchinson and Tpr Petrie along with the rest of BGHQ flew to Fort Hood, Texas to participate in WARFIGHTER 19.4 (WFX19.4). WARFIGHTER was a US-led exercise that saw the UK’s 3rd Division work in concert with the 1st (US) Infantry Division over a period of five weeks and the Regiment provided the Di- vision’s formation reconnaissance battlegroup. Managing to squeeze in a battlefield study to The Alamo and the Austin Ro- deo as well as spending two weeks in CBRN gear, the exercise was hugely beneficial, allowing the troop to see Warfighting at scale, work in tandem with our American allies and to swap PRI-sourced Mottos for all manner of US patches and gear.
In June, released from their BGHQ duties, and with their own house overlooking a sea loch for two weeks, Ex WOAD LANCER was one of the highlights of the year. Originally providing some limited CIS to support A Sqn’s exercise in the Far North, the Troop gleefully accepted a request to provide OPFOR, festooning themselves with various borrowed AK-47s and RPGs along with a veritable fancy-dress cupboard of enemy uniforms/whatever they could find in the charity shops. Alongside Maj Gen Patrick Mar- riott, without whose efforts the exercise would have not occurred, Sgt Smith led the troop in providing a robust and thinking enemy, ensuring maximum value for A Sqn – which of course may have included the nightly routine exploring the local hostelries.
Alongside this work with A Sqn, Sgt Miles and SSgt Hill took full advantage of the deployed nature of various Sqns to ensure our HF capability was fit for purpose. Despite its key utility as a means of communication in years gone by, HF has fallen out of vogue amongst the Army – often cited as difficult, un- reliable and unnecessary in this age of widely-available SAT- COM and reliable VHF. Yet, future operating environments,
resource challenges and the activities of future adversaries may well require the use of HF so it would be negligent of us not to ensure that we can truly operate at reach with every means at our disposal. So with B Sqn in the midst of a range camp at Castlemartin and the Regimental 2IC keen to shout at the RSO from Catterick, communication was established between the Far North, Catterick and South-West Wales via HF thereby demonstrating the possibility and necessity of revising HF as a Regiment. It should also be noted that in both Scotland and Wales, no mobile reception was available – therefore demon- strating the utility to the wider Regiment.
Castlemartin Ranges again saw the Troop deploy alongside the rest of the squadrons and it is clear that time spent supporting BGHQ has not diminished our fighting spirit. Representing HQ Sqn, Cpl Allen and his gunner LCpl Blondin-Diop dis- played unbeaten skill and accuracy in the final round, deserv- edly taking home the trophies for Best Gunner and Best Crew.
The final quarter of the year has focused on teaching and up- grading the Regiment’s digital communication system; the BCIP 5.6 program has seen our digital battle management sys- tem upgraded to aid user accessibility. The troop have led the teaching of this and it has been no small task to teach the entire Regiment the new system – both BSM, as the technical SME and Sgt Miles as Lead Instructor have excelled and it is no exaggeration to say that without their extra work/liaison with 1X Brigade, we would not have been able to deploy to Germany ‘comms-fit.’
Meanwhile, unsung in the background, the RSWO has been quietly pulling the strings, from overseeing Catterick IT pro- vision to regularly deputizing for the RSO (ED: cleaning up the RSO’s mistakes) within BGHQ – proving that he is truly unflappable and one of the Regiment’s key assets.
The next year will see the Troop deploy to Germany, SPTA and Canada supporting the HQ as we commence our training to take- over the Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup in the Estonia in 2021 on OP CABRIT. Busy, yes – but rewarding always.
RSO.
Command Troop
The work hard/play hard ethos of the REME has seen The Royal Lancers LAD fully exploit all opportunities for fun throughout 2019. The ‘Red Bull Style’ Soap Box race, skiing in Austria, the Craftsman Cup Football competition and trades- men exploring Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Finland, Belize and the Falklands are but a few highlights. There has been some hard work too; of note D Squadron Fitter Section deployed on Exercise ARROW, a multinational exercise in Finland and the full LAD deployed to Castlemartin in support of the regimental gunnery camp. This is in addition to various support to experi- mental training tasks, fleet rehabilitation periods and a consid- erable amount of conceptual development training to shape the equipment support concept for the future.
Conceptual development has been a clear focus throughout the year and has expended much of the brain power within the LAD. Exercise SPECULAR and Exercise WARFIGHTER provided the platform to conceptually test the Division Reconnaissance
Battle Group’s CSS chain and further develop the separation drivers concept. In equipment support terms, there were many lessons learnt to best maximise combat effectiveness whilst iso- lated and often in contested battle space with limited scope for routine second line support. While successful in the construc- tive training environment, the real test for this innovative ap- proach will be in BATUS next year.
Exercise ARROW gave D Squadron Fitter Section the task of providing equipment support for a squadron minus of CVR(T), whilst deployed in Finland and isolated from the logistics chain. SSgt Mays and his team used a combination of charm and en- gineering skill to keep the CVR(T)s fit for mission and keep D Squadron in the fight. The lessons learnt and experience gained in conducting expedient repairs, maximising local re- sources and manufacturing spares will stand D Squadron Fitters in good stead for future STRIKE taskings.
REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
The Light Aid Detachment