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Commanding Officer’s Beach PT Station Charity Boxing Event (Honoured guests: Steve Collins, Michael McKinson & Lucas Ballingall)
to offer the unit in order to ultimately prepare Soldiers for operations. On a personal level, I feel I achieved everything and more at 12 Regt. I have made some forever friends and was fully supported by the Chain of Command (CoC), it was the perfect platform to exploit my expertise as a Staff Sergeant Instructor (SSI). My
most memorable moments include the beach PT sessions, Station Families’ Day (the sheer scale of the whole event) and the Station Charity Boxing event I was fortunate to host with my small committee of All Arms. On all occasions working tirelessly to achieve the ‘WOW factor.’ If there is one thing I feel my team will take
Old hanger up lift, Strength & Conditioning Suite
Station Families’ Day
away from me, it is attention to detail. Although, on several occasions, I know they call it something else!
Now it is onwards and upwards as I embark on a new chapter at Defence School of Policing and Guarding (DSPG) at Southwick Park. - Ubique.
a 6-month on 6-month off cycle. This has thrown up no end of challenges across the regiment and across my department. Due to most of my PTIs being deployed, I had to develop a new way in which PT could be delivered. First off, I looked at how we could utilise the Soldier Conditioning Review (SCR) to really assess the level of fitness across the regiment and how we could really emphasise the need to put maximum effort in across the elements. The CO also wanted to give the troops more empowerment over their decision-making, so a new programme was established. Two times a week we now deliver three sessions focusing on aerobic/anaerobic, S&C and pre-hab (agility, COD etc). Soldiers are given the option to choose which session they wish to attend, but only if they are in-date for SCR. A nominal roll is taken and placed on
a datasheet along with their current and previous SCR results for all to see. If it is identified that an individual’s aerobic stats have not been equalled, or become worse, and they have not been attending the aerobic session, the gym staff or CoC will inform the individual that they are to attend a certain percentage of aerobic sessions until they have improved. All sessions follow the Army Physical Training System (APTS) and a specific build up programme is followed for the Role Fitness Test (RFT) on the third session ensuring everyone is in-date before deployment.
With such a hectic Ops cycle, the Regiment has now confirmed an extra 134 posts, with soldiers arriving over the next few months. With our uplift and the other unit on the island also gaining more personnel, it has been a high priority to
increase our infrastructure. Last year ’s article spoke about a new S&C facility being installed; this has allowed us to deliver a more accurate S&C programme. As I write this article, we are currently having our main hall converted into a larger S&C facility, which when complete will offer some amazing areas to help in the development of our soldiers.
I am now getting ready to handover and will take up my new post as QMSI at the Defence School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (DSEME) in Jul. 16 Regt RA has been an amazing time in my career and I have cherished every moment. Whoever takes over will have an amazing facility with some amazing personnel and I hope they have as a rewarding time as I have.