Page 89 - Cavalry Regiment

Journal articles normally start with some ramblings about being busy so it would be remise of me not to mention that since the publication of the last journal the department has hardly drawn breath.
The start of the year kicked off in traditional G4 style whereby the outgoing QM(T) gathered his dart board and ran like a spring lamb to pastures new leaving the incoming QM(T) with the envi- able task of implementing a new Equipment Care (EC) Directive; no mean feat when you consider the Sub Unit EC managers turn over at a fast rate of knots and all start with “limited” EC Knowledge.
Whole fleet management continues to rule our lives. We no longer own our own vehicles and there is a constant stream of vehicle handover and takeovers to manage, often a frustrating experience pending he unit who we takeover from. However, there are times when lack of vehicles is a bonus. In theory we are getting better at the process which may prove our strength and give us greater flexibility in the long run.
In June, SSgt Matthews posted out on promotion and was replaced with the familiar face of SSgt Leslie in the role of the critical Royal Logistics Corps (RLC) Liaison Officer SSgt. Cpl Holmes was selected for promotion and assigned to 6 RLC and LCpl Limbu promoted to Cpl to provide some much-needed continuity in the USA Store. We also said farewell to Pte “Pablo” Mackay and hello to Pte Gaffakin as the RLC attached storeman.
The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
Quartermaster Technical’s Department
25
In September, the Land Equipment Assurance team visited and we managed to escape with a half decent report. However, there’s still much to do with regards to EC, the onus is on us to ensure the momentum is maintained into 2020 given the myriad of opera- tional commitments.
The annual mounted exercise, Ex GALLOPING DRAGOON, went without major incident, apart from having to explain to the Scots DG that we had written off one of their Panther en-route to the exercise area! The deployment to Warminster for vehicle uplift was seamless with the REME and SSgt Cawthorne pulling out blind to get the vehicles up to the required standard for the start of the exercise. The department clocked up some serious mileage collecting spares which kept the fleet running alongside excellent support from the LAD. This joint effort saw the equip- ment availability at 100% for the Sqn training phase of the exer- cise, a rare achievement that even managed to make the RQMS(T) smile.
2020 looks to be just as frenetic as we prepare to take on the fleet for the new deployment to Mali as well as delivering a separate fleet for Poland pre-deployment training, it’s going to be interesting!
As we draw close on another year it is worth noting the hard work that all the department has put in. Often seen as an unglamorous job the QM(T) department continue to beaver away behind the scenes and perform the thankless job of G4 pixies. Special men- tions go to SSgt Cawthorne and RQMS(T) WO2 Iddon who will be moving on in the new year. I wish them all the very best of luck in their future roles and perhaps the future RSM can relay the message that G4 doesn’t just “happen”!
CJL