Page 61 - Cavalry Regiment

14 EAGLE AND CARBINE
B SQUADRON
Major CPS Majcher
Scripture reminds us ‘it is more blessed to give than receive’; 2019 provided manifold opportunities for B Squadron to enhance its blessedness in a year dominated by the sequential deployments of first A Squadron and subsequently C Squadron to Poland as part of the Regimental commitment to Operation CABRIT. In concert with HQ Squadron, B Squadron has effectively formed a ‘rear operations group’ in sup- port of this primary output. So, whilst this is the only sabre squadron article without ‘news from the front’ to share with distinguished readers of this august journal, the steady beat of activity that underpins life on the home front has kept ‘the Mutants’ sufficiently entertained.
The start of the year saw B Squadron contributing to the force generation and preparation of A Squadron in readiness for their deployment to Poland. This period included the inevitable juggling of manning – a hardy perennial in any pre-deployment window – giving rise to some ‘structural changes’, with nigh on all those in the squadron able to deploy earmarked for a stint in Poland at some point in the calendar year. With the force now generated, a period of training ensued. The first round of squadron-level training came in the form of ‘unit based virtual training (UBVT)’; a form of synthetic training conducted on a standalone net- worked computer system, complete with handsets to drive vehicles and headsets to communicate. It proved
a useful medium for crews to revisit the tenets of mounted Light Cavalry manoeuvre, whilst providing plentiful opportunities for command and control, the sending of reports and returns, and AFV recognition serials. The reader will quite rightly be thinking that it is no substitute for training in the field – and that might be quite right – but if the squadron cannot go to Salisbury Plain, then Salisbury Plain must come to the squadron. The weather is rather kinder in the virtual world, too. Aside from UBVT, the squadron spent two weeks in Warminster alongside the wider Regiment on a combined staff training and tactical exercise (CSTTX), followed not long after in committing a number of immaculately turned out soldiers to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland parade at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
To dispel any worries that may be forming in the read- ers’ minds that the army has changed beyond recog- nition, it should be noted B Squadron was afforded plenty of opportunities for more conventional train- ing, the type that includes exposure to the elements and a sense of jeopardy, throughout the year. As well as deploying numerous personnel on mounted and dis- mounted range packages – at locations as diverse and distant from Leuchars as Kirkcudbright, Warcop and Castlemartin – the squadron supported C Squadron’s pre-deployment training in June. Activities took place over a three week period in June on Salisbury Plain
B Squadron at the memorial marking the Battle of Rullion Green