Page 109 - QDG 2022

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
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Hesford and Bloodworth helping prepare lunch
half spider, half scorpion which Sergeant Williams (871) became acquainted with when he didn’t close down completely one night. He woke to find a portion of his leg had been eaten, leaving a nasty hole. The main stress came from the fact that, for the first two months, there were only two loos between all ninety-seven of us and four sinks with no hot or drink- able water. The other major downside of living in a disused tobacco processing plant was the pervading smell of tobacco – especially when doing the mandatory twice weekly five laps around the plant!
We decided upon two dining areas, which were a joint Officers’ and Sergeants’ Mess and a ‘cookhouse.’ When Prime Minister Callaghan visited, he commented on how marvellous it was to see the Officers and Sergeants living together. Sergeant Williams (871) replied instantly, commenting on what a terrible idea it was!! In reality and in the best Waterloo tradition, it was huge fun and the scene of much hilarity. Someone painted a scene to represent the valleys on the wall of the cookhouse, which also served as the general meeting room, and our pictures from Squadron Head- quarters were on the walls of the Mess. So, daytime quarters were limited but acceptable in the circumstances. Initially, sleeping arrangements involved camp
Sandbag filling
beds but after a couple of weeks, we were sent proper beds and sheets. So gradually, we made the whole camp more like British Cavalry quarters than Syrian ones. The Americans paid their respects one evening and we enter- tained them in the Mess. They couldn’t believe their eyes. They had been in Beirut for six months and were still under canvass. Meanwhile, we had two bars and proper food.
As a footnote to this, Prime Minister Callaghan was visiting just ahead of the 1983 election. He was also MP for Cardiff South. As he inspected the guard of honour, he stopped in front of one of the Troopers, (Bloodworth?) and said:
“I expect you will be voting for me, young man.”
Whereupon the Trooper replied: “You must be joking...sir.”
We devised a four-day cycle based around the four troops:
• Troop on patrol
• Troop on fatigues (and Orderly Officer/
Sergeant)
• Troop on patrol and night Quick
Reaction Force
• Troop on guard (and watchkeeping) The daily routine comprised of either general patrolling or specific tasks. Each Troop on patrol was tasked with two, three-hour patrols per day. The Guard
Troop was augmented by four men from the balance of the Squadron. This included a Gate Sentry and two people in the sangar on the roof.
The Fatigue Troop plus another four men helped prepare meals, keep the building clean and help the LAD maintain the vehicles.
The routes for the general patrols were not rigid, only the general area to be covered was designated. We would patrol with the Troop Corporal (upfront), Troop Leader, Troop Lance Corporal and the Troop Sergeant (at the rear). This meant that, in general, the arcs of fire to our front and back were covered by the front and rear vehicles, and the middle vehicles were covered by the left and right arcs. Sergeant Neil Williams hated his position at the rear as he said that it was so uncomfortable to always be facing backwards. If we came to a choke point or if there was a disturbance, we would hard target through the area using the leapfrog technique. It was pretty much the same as urban foot patrolling in Northern Ireland. We received lots of comments on this from the locals who told us that we looked so much more professional than the other contingents.
They particularly commented on the fact that they could
Corporal Mead in the roof sangar