Page 47 - Example Journals

The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars 11
Exercise PRAIRIE STORM 2/14
Although the Regiment is very experienced in deploying to the British Army Training Unit Suf eld (BATUS) in Alberta, Canada, the exercises of 2014 were a very different challenge compared to those of years gone by. With the end of opera- tions in Afghanistan, the Army now must be prepared for any type of deployment, with the KRH and 12 Armoured Infantry Brigade training for high intensity con ict. The restructuring of the Army has resulted in much larger ghting forces than any Regiment has commanded in almost a decade. And so the KRH Battlegroup prepared in Spring 2014 to deploy to BATUS with over 1300 soldiers under the command of Lt Col Justin Kingsford. On successful completion of the exercise the KRH would be judged as ready to assume the role of Lead Armoured Battle Group (LABG), the UK’s rst heavy response in the event of a major con ict.
The KRH Battlegroup consisted of ve combat subunits, an artil- lery battery, an engineer group and supporting elements from the KRH. The Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance Group (ISTAR Gp) was commanded by Maj Alan Ponde, and comprised Reconnaissance Troop (Recce Tp) KRH, a pair of Challenger 2 tanks, and Sniper, Mortar and Anti-tank Platoons from the Royal Welsh. It was also bolstered by a special- ist troop from the Royal Artillery, which controlled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and counter-mortar radars. This ISTAR Gp contained over 200 soldiers in over 60 armoured vehicles, an asset the likes of which had never previously been available to an armoured Battlegroup. The main muscle of the Battlegroup was A Sqn KRH: 18 Challenger 2 tanks under the command of Maj Will Hodgkinson. Following up were two armoured infan- try companies (A and C Companies from the Royal Welsh), each with 14 Warriors loaded to the brim with heavily armed infan- teers, and C Company from the Scots Guards, a highly versa- tile mechanized infantry company mounted in troop-carrying
The Battlegroup Engineer briefs members of BGHQ during a planning cycle
trucks. The ghting element of the Battlegroup was supported by the AS90 guns of 127 Battery, 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, and 30 Armoured Engineer Squadron (30 AES) from 26 Engineer Regiment. PRAIRIE STORM 2 also involved a Lead Cavalry Battlegroup (LCBG – a light armoured force at the same readi- ness as the LABG) based on the Queen’s Royal Lancers, and a Combat Service Support Group (CSS Gp) formed around 4th Armoured Close Support Battalion REME.
The exercise itself was different to those that the KRH had pre- viously taken part in during their predeployment training for Afghanistan. This year, Prairie Storm 2 was a 36 day deploy- ment, which would test all aspects of combat, with the focus being on high intensity armoured warfare against a near-peer enemy. The exercise was divided into three phases: a week of platoon/ troop level training under subunit commanders, two weeks of
Dismounted infantry from the Royal Welsh breach a trench system with explosives