Page 11 - Example Journals

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
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2013 ended with A Sqn having been warned off at short notice for operations in Afghanistan, as part of Op HERRICK 20. A Sqn had been tasked to form the UK component of a joint British Army and US Marine Corps (USMC) training team. This team’s job was to develop the Afghan National Army’s (ANA) 215 Regional Corps Battle School (RCBS, based in Camp Shorabak, in Helmand Province, adjacent to Camp Bastion) so that it could, in turn, deliver a steady ow of well trained Afghan soldiers to the ANA 215 Corps ghting in Helmand Province, even after the departure of ISAF forces. By January 2014, the ANA had taken over the vast majority of the ghting against the insurgents from UK and coalition forces in Helmand. Their ability to continue the ght and ultimately win (whatever a win might actually look like) depends on a continued stream of new soldiers, well trained and equipped both to take the ght to the enemy but also to support operations through logistic, medical and equipment support. The RCBS trains ANA soldiers for a wide range of roles, including the infantry, artillery and mortars, driving and logistics, equipment maintenance and repair and combat medical care, to mention but a few.
The road to prepare a squadron for deployment to Afghanistan is long and intense at the best of times and for A Sqn, having only been stood up for deployment late in 2013, it was particularly intensive. 2014 started in earnest in January with a range package to qualify each man in the squadron for the live ring phase of the centralised mission speci c training (CMST), a live ring exercise conducted
A Squadron
at Castlemartin called Ex PASHTUN TEMPEST. In order to deploy on Ex PASHTUN TEMPEST, each member of the squadron had to conduct live re tactical training up to section attack level. This meant progressing past the basic Annual Combat Marksmanship Test (ACMT, formerly the APWT for those who remember it), red on a purpose built range; through transition to eld ring serials, which include individual close quarter battle ranges, individual, pairs and re-team re and manoeuvre and nally the section attack itself, conducted on a eld ring area on the Sennelager Training Area. In common with the remainder of the RAC, A Sqn was not ush with of cers and NCOs quali ed to conduct dismounted eld ring; however, fortunately Sgt Cubitt held all of the right quali cations, allowing him to both design and conduct the ranges.
Given the mentoring role that A Sqn was deployed in, there was (unfortunately) no requirement to train beyond section level live ring, to prepare us for more specialist combat marksmanship training at Castlemartin. We were however trained on the Army’s new pistol, the Glock 17, which has replaced the venerable Browning, in service (with at least some nations) since before the end of the Second World War. While ring the same ammunition, it was very clear from the outset that the new pistol was a vast improvement on the old, both in terms of accuracy and reliability. Tprs Guercio and Hutchings in particular also made it clear how much they liked the appearance of the new pistol, particularly
when combined with some particularly edgy military fashion choices.
Along with shooting, A Sqn conducted a great deal of Counter Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IED) drills training. While it was sincerely hoped that the squadron would not be required to put these drills into practice for real, they are an obvious must for any squadron deploying to Afghanistan. While there was a wealth of experience gleaned from previous Afghan tours within the squadron (particularly at the SNCO level), much had inevitably changed since the QDG’s last tour there and new techniques introduced to counter the constantly evolving menace that IEDs present. The squadron was fortunate to have high priced help organic to it, in the form of Sgt Simpson, the squadron engineer recce sergeant and a Royal Engineer CIED instructor as well as a number of QDG all arms CIED instructors. The learning curve was steep with training often taking place outside normal work hours or as concurrent activity on ranges or alongside other training events.
Equally important was rst aid, medical training. Squadrons and companies deploying to Afghanistan are mandated to train one in four people up as team medics, able to conduct slightly more advanced life saving rst aid. As A Sqn was likely to be employed in very small training teams of two or three in Camp Shorabak, it was quickly decided that one in four was not nearly high enough a proportion, so this was increased resulting in nearly all of the squadron undergoing