Page 54 - Cavalry Regiment

As we laid up the Standard, I was also very con- scious that I had just returned from two days visit- ing C Squadron on Operation CABRIT in the border area at the joins of North East Poland, Belarus and Lithuania. Everyone would have recognised the mis- sion of their United States Army battlegroup as not dissimilar from our many years in British Army of the Rhine - already 25 years past. Now though we were in a very different role, perhaps a true dragoon’s role - operating mounted and on our feet - yet still play- ing an important role in NATO’s alliance and in our nation’s life.
So, against the background of the seismic changes being brought about by the pandemic, perhaps we can all draw strength from the fact that other things, not least our Regiment - and the values and standards on which it is founded - have endured so well. Please take a moment, each one of you, to congratulate yourself on the part that you have played in this fine and enduring story and steel yourself for what lies ahead.
Warmest best wishes to you all.
Writing the foreword for the Eagle
and Carbine 2019 seems surreal at
this moment in Spring 2020 with
the country in the grip of the coro-
navirus crisis. The Regiment, split
between operations in support of
NATO and at the outset of what
was to be a training year, has been
refashioned into a Coronavirus
Support Force as part of the national
response to the crisis. By contrast,
2019 was dominated by the dou-
ble deployment of A Squadron and
then C Squadron providing a squad-
ron to NATO’s enhanced Forward
Presence Mission in Poland. The
UK provides a Battlegroup in
Estonia and contributes to the US
Battlegroup based in North East
Poland in support of the Alliance
mission, the latter task falling to the Light Cavalry Regiments.
A Squadron deployed in March for the initial six- month Summer commitment. Although field training and live fire training was unfortunately constrained by safety issues with our Jackal vehicles, the tour was a resounding success. The Polish Camp that is home to the US Battlegroup boasts a range complex and train- ing areas remarkably familiar to veterans of Bergen- Hohne and Sennelager, the opportunities for low level training are plentiful. In addition, the squadron took
advantage of the chance to enjoy the local Masurian Lake District and explore Poland more widely. With the nature of this NATO tour, families were able to visit during individual operational stand down weekends and enjoy the sights of Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk.
At home, our collective training program was equally disrupted by Army wide safety challenges with Jackal but made it onto Salisbury Plain for a Battlegroup level exer- cise in June. The exercise saw a number of firsts: we operated with D Squadron of The Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry as a formed sub unit within the battlegroup; B Squadron, unfortunately cadre-
ised by the manning requirements for operations, provided support to training; and HQ Squadron saw us onto the plain in good order and took the rare opportunity to train the echelons in the field. We also field tested thirteen new pieces of equipment - sights, radios, micro-unmanned aerial systems and sensors - that we hope to bring into service in the coming years.
C Squadron departed Leuchars in September for the more climatically challenging Winter rotation. With Jackal safety issues now largely resolved they have been able to take greater advantage of the tactical training
FOREWORD
The Commanding Officer
EAGLE AND CARBINE 7