Page 52 - Example Journals

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The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars
BG HQ
year for the KRH, but it was something very different to nor- mal jogging and is certainly something that all who deployed will remember for years to come.
Experiences of Ex BLACK EAGLE
A Sqn
Lt Cowell de Gruchy – 3rd Tp Ldr
As a troop leader, the KRH BG deployment on Ex BLACK EAGLE was both developmental and interesting. Working in Poland, with the Polish, added the rst level of complexity. Not only did that necessitate moving soldiers and equipment across Europe, but it also required us to learn how to work alongside another nation’s Tank – which of course had a different modus operandi to us – and all within a very tight timeframe. In these two regards speci cally, Ex BLACK EAGLE provided an extra level of training on top of the already excellent experience gleaned in BATUS earlier in the year, making us more deployable and adaptable even still – right down to troop level. In such uncertain times the ability to integrate seamlessly down to troop level is essential. On a personal note, it was fascinating to experience a different military and national culture and have a much needed change from BATUS. Further more becoming fully ingrained into the local cuisine was a key takeaway (no pun intended) from the exercise – but in reality one of BLACK EAGLE’s longest last- ing legacies will be on the local pizza shop, who’s phone lines and ovens probably still haven’t recovered from the full onslaught of
A Royal Welsh sniper
a Lead Armoured Battle Group. A highly pro table endeavour then, and not just for the British Army.
Sgt Brown – 1st Tp Sgt
Life as a troop sergeant within the KRH BG deployment on Ex BLACK EAGLE was both challenging and interesting. The rst task as the troop sergeant was to ensure that all of the soldiers had the right equipment (cold weather issue) before we deploy- ing to Poland. At the same time as a troop we needed to provide one Challenger 2 to send to Poland. With this I had to ensure that all of the vehicle equipment and BOWMAN radios were cor- rect and accounted for. The rst lesson I learnt was that moving soldiers and equipment across Europe was time consuming and sometimes painful for the soldiers, due to their accommodation in Germany which didn’t have any sort of heating at all and the wash rooms at times didn’t have any hot water for the soldiers to have a shower or even a wash. Every soldier’s morale can be lifted by a hot meal, which the chefs in Germany provided plenty of and to a good standard. On arrival to Poland, we had a bit of time before the Challenger 2 and the rest of the equipment arrived on the trains. So the troop leaders and troop sergeants put their heads together to populate a MATTs week. On the arrival of the vehicles, the troop’s next task was to conduct vehicle maintenance and to prepare the vehicle for live ring. The Live Fire Ranges were a considerable step down from the relative space and lux- ury of Castlemartin, due to there being a big difference between the sizes of the two ranges and lanes. Which only allowed us to have two ring vehicles with main armaments at once and the
Members of 1st Polish Tk Bn and KRH BG on Parade