Page 45 - Cavalry Regiment

The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars 19
Mountain biking
And the ROG was typically busy, supporting B Squadron exer- cises on Salisbury Plain, taking over tanks of our own and lead- ing support to the Rundle Cup. Amongst this, the Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant (SQMS), Staff Sergeant Thorpe, found time to become an ‘IronMan’ in Bolton and the C Squadron five- a-side football team picked up the inter-Squadron championship.
Following summer leave, focus switched firmly to tank gun- nery and the prospect of ranges at Castlemartin in November. The C Squadron instructors, Sergeant McDonald and Corporal Kingston, had already qualified a tranche of new gunners and loaders but there was still plenty of practice required prior to ‘going live’. Alongside this were a huge number of distractions: the good (an expedition trekking around Monte Cassino in Italy), the useful (supporting the training of a new batch of crew com- manders on Salisbury Plain) and the ugly (arguments about how much ammunition was available). It was an extremely busy period but with hard work and perhaps a slice of luck, nine crews were able to fire their Annual Crew Tests (ACTs).
Remarkably for a November in west Wales, more time was lost to sun-glare than downpours and the firing period went smoothly. All nine crews passed the ACT at the first attempt, with newly arrived Sergeant Lees picking up a ‘Level 6’ and the best KRH score of 2019. A service of remembrance was held in the lovely
Cpl Hayes and SSgt Oakes stitch up Cpl John Buckley
2IC Capt Archie Nicholson seems remarkably happy in the helmet of shame
LCpl Lee finds a break in the crew commander course to flog butties and show the rugby semi-final
SSgt Joel Thorpe earning his tattoo