Page 7 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019
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                                 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
 Commanding Officer’s Foreword
The last year has been a significant one for your Regiment, bringing certainty, op- portunity, and purpose. The Army has taken decisions to: reinvest in mounted close combat training for Armoured Cav- alry Regiments; maintain our CVR(T) fleet until 2023 when we are due to convert to AJAX; and to delay our move south to not before 2024.
These decisions, collectively, have allowed us the freedom to plan and deliver train- ing that will put your Regiment back at the centre of the Army’s warfighting capability. They pave the way for a challenging and enjoyable 2020 conducting novel overseas training exercises, and they will culminate with the Regiment’s next two operational deployments.
I am very grateful for all the work done by
my predecessor, Lt Col Henry Searby, in
setting us up for success following the Regiment’s successful de- ployment to Cyprus in 2018. What you will read about in this edition of the Chapka are our initial steps along that pathway. For some of our more junior soldiers and officers 2019 has pro- vided the opportunity to get to grips with their core role in our core vehicles.
Our vehicle fleet is broadly older than the soldiers driving it but, properly maintained and sustained it allows us to train, under-armour, to a level we haven’t attained for many years. Of course, reconnaissance soldiering cannot just be an endless cy- cle of maintaining readiness. It must be stimulating, rewarding, and above all fun. You will read more of our soldiers’ exploits
from Texas and California to Finland and Germany, from Israel to Cyprus, and the many other places we have been this year. Success on exercises has been replicated on the pitches and slopes, as you would expect.
You will also read articles from our wider Regimental family, particularly our old comrades and our Lancer cadet detach- ments. We have focused this year on en- gaging more fully with our wider families and communities at home. Firstly, we have been seeking to tell our story more effec- tively, mainly on social media. Secondly, we are trying to be more present in our communities.
Remembrance Sunday was a great oppor- tunity to get motto-wearers back into their home towns and we laid 25 wreathes to re- member those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, or who still carry the scars of their
service. 2019 will also be remembered for the tragic loss of Maj Mick Welborn, and Tprs Noah Marchant and Jordan Holmes, members of our family who whose loss we feel deeply.
Whilst 2019 has proceeded to plan, as we create this year’s Chap- ka in the foothills of the COVID-19 pandemic, the immediate future is less assured. I am immensely proud of how your Regi- ment has seized the opportunities presented to us this year, and I am confident that whatever happens in the next few months it will do the same in 2020. Once you have read further, I hope you agree.
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