Page 61 - Example Journals

RSDG Year of 2014.indd 7
02/06/2015
16:35
2014, marked by change and con-
stancy in equal measure, has proven
to be enjoyably paradoxical. On the
one hand, our return from Kabul
straight into the maelstrom of a hec-
tic training schedule bore all the hall-
marks of previous iterations of post-
operational calendars. Experienced
members of the Regiment have been
refreshing their core soldiering skills
after months focused on a speci c
operational theatre and inculcating
those skills to a post-Afghanistan gen-
eration of new troopers. We are now
catching up on the backlog of career
courses, reinvesting in regimental tra-
ditions and trying to escape the attention of the selec- tors’ eyes for the myriad support tasks required by our higher headquarters. The familiarity of such activities has proven a great reassurance during what has other- wise been a period of signi cant change. For 2014 has been our rst year as Light Cavalry and our last full year in Germany. It has been both the dawn of a new era and the twilight of our time as Desert Rats; a year of the familiar and a year of breaking new ground.
This volume of the Eagle and Carbine spans the full range of this spectrum from the traditional to the new. The squadron and departmental articles relate how from junior trooper to seasoned warrant of cer, our people have embraced the conversion to Light Cavalry with that same professionalism, enthusiasm and posi- tivity that have been our watchwords for so many years. Readers will also hear echoes of the past in the
historical re ections of this centen- nial anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, and also in the adventurous spirit that led one young of cer to test the bounds of diplo- macy travelling through West Africa. In the Magazine, meanwhile, arti- cles about Jordan and Afghanistan, international planning in Whitehall, the Yeomanry and the world of psy- chological operations all hint at the character of what will increasingly become core business for all ranks.
As the Army transforms into its 2020 structures and roles, so too the Regiment is undergoing signi cant change. After 20 years under the umbrella of British Forces Germany, we must now relearn the protocols and procedures required to succeed at home, working closely with Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry and our af liated cadets. Our horizons must simultane- ously be local and international; our training directed towards generating a new war ghting capability at the vanguard of expeditionary land forces while also devel- oping resilience at home. We will live alongside other units in Leuchars while also building a home for the whole Regimental family worthy of our heritage. The prospect ahead is immensely exciting; we face it con- dently and assured that we are building on the rm foundations of this year’s preparations.
FOREWORD
EAGLE AND CARBINE 7