Page 2 - The Royal Dragoon Guards Digital Sample

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THE ROYAL DRAGOON GUARDS
D (The Green Horse) Squadron
At the end of the last journal D Squadron had returned from a rather remarkable and very successful Op HERRICK 17. Having scattered to the four winds in Helmand Province and making some good, if only temporary, friends in the Helmand Police we were all looking forward to a well- earned stint of post-tour leave. Looking
at the horizon there was then plenty of ‘white space’ in the diary that would
afford us the opportunity to take stock
and enjoy an extended period of relative calm in which to attend to the elements of ‘normal jogging’ that had been necessarily sidelined during the tour. I am not sure
why we were surprised, but this anticipated hiatus has turned out to be a bit of a pipe dream; life this year has been as hectic and unpredictable as it ever was. We converted (physically) to a new role and have begun preparations for what on the face of it looks like an operational deployment, but with some significant differences. We have also come within a hair’s breadth of packing our bags and heading to
Maj Watts
leave we took the chance to get away on some Adventurous Training, take part in the very competitive inter-squadron sports competitions and enjoy a smoker or two. Unfortunately D Squadron’s plan to focus
WO2(SSM) Lavery
place in the cricket competition, held at Richmondshire Cricket Club, but the least said about the rest the better; I am sure Tpr Bradley would rather forget his day at the athletics track, running four events in quick succession, including the 1500m and 3000m. Well, he did make up 25% of the squad!
After our return from Summer Leave we climbed back on the hamster’s wheel. The common theme that has characterised life ever since has been one of dispersion; the spreading of individuals far and wide on a plethora of courses in order to set ourselves up for success with events later in the year.
the Thames Valley to fill sandbags. Could this be the return to contingency that we have been hearing so much about?
The summer of 2013 in North Yorkshire has been glorious; prior to
We have also come within a hair’s breadth of packing our bags and heading to the Thames Valley to fill sandbags.
on sending soldiers away sailing, climbing and mountain biking backfired when it came to fielding teams for the sports competitions, so our performance was not up to its usual high standard. We mustered a respectable second
CT1 Training - Model making and orders