Page 7 - Cavalry Regiment
P. 7

                                6 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
 Commanding Officer’s Foreword
In my office are 27 photos – each of a former commanding officer. Only eight are smiling. Which is surprising. Because it really is the best job in the world if for no other reason than one works with the best people in the world. Jones, Davies, Williams, Smith, Rai and Navunisaravi. Men of Harlech, Swansea, Cardiff, Shrewsbury as well as Thetford, Kathmandu and Suva. And, increasingly, women. Our first female trooper joined our ranks in 2018, and we will commis- sion at least one female officer in 2020. More yet.
In our 60th year, QDG enjoyed oper- ational commitments in Europe and training in Africa and across the United Kingdom. In the first part of the year, A Squadron completed its six-month tour on the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s eastern flank, in Poland, as part of Defence’s enhanced Forward Presence. The Squadron formed part of a United States Army Battlegroup (2/278 Armoured Cavalry Regiment (The Tennessee National Guard)) and con- ducted a series of exercises, demon- strations and rehearsals making a small but important contribution to deterring a revanchist Russia and reassuring our allies and partners. A winter tour, with snow on the ground for half the period and with temperatures as low as minus twenty degrees centigrade, QDG sol- diers rose to the challenge presented by the environment and developed warfight- ing skills in a frozen and heavily wooded landscape. Tough soldiering certainly but with opportunities for in-country travel including tours of World War Two battle- fields, cultural trips to Krakow and skiing in the Zakopane mountains.
During 2020 QDG delivered training sup- port to other regiments and battalions. In March, Battlegroup Headquarters deployed with B and C Sqns to Kenya for two months to provide live fire training and an opposing force to 2nd Battalion The Rifles. Our soldiers relished the daily safari afforded to them whilst simulta- neously unhinging Riflemen with yet another well sited observation post, skir- mish or ambush. And there was time for adventurous training too – white water rafting, climbing and river scrambling – at the end of the exercise. In August, QDG deployed to Salisbury Plain for
six weeks providing an opposing force to 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (The Black Watch). As recon- naissance soldiers, comfortable oper- ating dispersed and within intent, QDG were the scourge of our Celtic cousins.
Most recently, QDG has begun the pro- cess of building back up to battlegroup level activity. We have completed sim- ulated training in the Combined Arms Tactical Trainer, headquarters staff train- ing and conceptual development. And all this with one firm aim: to ensure that as a Light Cavalry regiment we are acknowl- edged as a reconnaissance battlegroup capable of war-fighting against a peer adversary in a degraded environment. We will validate our progress against this aim on a large-scale exercise on Salisbury Plain in January and February 2020. As part of a brigade exercise, whilst working alongside other units in 7th Infantry Brigade (The Desert Rats), we will re-establish our reconnaissance credentials and receive a host of attach- ments to increase our capability, from electronic warfare and influence special- ists to unmanned air system operators. We will also integrate Yeomen from our paired reserve regiment – The Royal Yeomanry – as we work to deepen the relationship and support them in their deployment to Poland in October 2020. And, working with industry partners – many of them QDG veterans – we will use the exercise to trial a range of excit- ing new capabilities including unmanned sensors, hand-held surveillance and targeting devices and communications. Bottom-up we intend to improve the reconnaissance capability we offer to the Army and remain First and Foremost.
We have an enviable forecast of events. Held at readiness in 2020, QDG will be prepared to generate forces for oper- ations abroad and in the UK, providing resilience to the home base. Continuing a West African focus to our Defence Engagement, we will send soldiers to Nigeria to train members of the Nigerian Armed Forces. And, we have been warned for a United Nations operation in Mali spanning 2020 and 2021 where we have the opportunity to operate as a long-range reconnaissance unit: at reach, highly mobile and dispersed to find, understand and interdict insurgent
QDG is a highly deployable and employable regiment.
activity while protecting the population we are there to serve. It remains a tan- talising prospect for our soldiers who are enthused by the opportunity to put their training to good use on operations.
QDG is a highly deployable and employ- able regiment. We are getting back into the business of delivering battlegrouped reconnaissance skills building on the strong foundations in place at the squad- ron level. We are innovating across all ranks to improve our capability, unlock the potential of our soldiers and force the pace of procurement. And we are con- tributing to and shaping discourse on how best to employ wheeled reconnais- sance in the 21st century. QDG is poised to seize the opportunities 2020 affords us to train hard, fight smart and uphold our Regiment’s hard won reputation for operational excellence.
HTL
           






















































































   5   6   7   8   9