Page 16 - QDG 2022

14
1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
Cpl Flower takes a short rest from smoking tabs
The successful employment of the Female Engagement Team (FET) by A Squadron, ably led by our own Lieutenant Zöe Spicer, enabled the LRRG to cement its use in Peacekeeping Oper-
ations in Mali, with much interest from the UN Military apparatus. Most other UN Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) do not have female soldiers and officers in their combat units, so A Squadron’s ability to field an all-female team in a dangerous conflict zone was unique in Mali. With so much interaction with the local population the language barrier came very much to the fore on this Op. It would be wrong therefore to forget the contribution of our loyal interpreters who time and time again came to the rescue – we could not have operated without them.
Alongside interaction with
civilians A Squadron were also
to prove the utility of our core reconnaissance capabilities in
a peacekeeping environment. Following the identification of TAG activity by our attached Royal Artillery Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) team, the Squadron set itself in a series of traditional obser- vation posts in and around the river
Niger in the vicinity of the Horoura on the Niger’s west bank. This was a task we all relished and, putting into good use Sergeant Turner’s extendable JIM sight. This, together with a live observation post (OP) manned by 4th Troop under Lt Alex Allington and Sergeant Warner, was combined with the UAS detachment’s video feed to track a group of TAGs which led to a fruitful seizure of TAG equip- ment the next day from rummage searches in the area. After observation and a show of force, the TAG
members were seen to flee, discarding their weapons and equipment, leaving the people of Horoura, even for a short while, in peace. On such a long patrol, with such sustained activity and in terrain such as it was the vehicle fleet
13D - Cpl Parsons, LCpl Hopkins, Tpr Baxter
was under considerable strain. It never ceases to amaze me how hard our REME soldiers work on such operations. Often having been patrolling during daylight hours or working on vehicles all day in the Task Group leaguer, they would time and time again under the light of head torches perform feats of engineering brilliance on A Squadron’s tired fleet – hats off to them all – their work does not go unnoticed. Finally, it shouldn’t go unremarked that as the Squadron Leader was forced to return urgently to the UK for a brief period, the Squadron was commanded on this patrol by the Second-in-Command Captain James Brockless. He stepped up superbly providing the Commanding Officer with utter confidence that the Squadron was in good hands.
With the new month of March came the eagerly anticipated St David’s day and St Patrick’s day combined cele- bration. Two fiercely proud Celtic units celebrating their patron saints’ days together..... What could possibly go wrong! The morning began in the early hours with the shrewd Irishmen deciding to try and launch a dawn strike operation on A Squadron’s accommodation block, armed with a substance made from mixing flour, foot powder and water, a substance that still haunts SSM Hopkins and SQMS Ewbank to this day! Unbe- knownst to the wannabe block saboteurs, A Squadron had set perimeter defences and an early warning system in place in the form of the biggest blokes armed with their own concoction of hand wash and foot powder! With the din of the block wars rumbling on A Squadron deployed its secret weapon; eager Troopers armed with spray paint and an A Squadron Flash template. Suffice to say the A Company CQMS was not best pleased when every single A Company vehicle proudly became honorary members of A
A Squadron had set an early warning system in place in the form of the biggest blokes armed with their own concoction
of hand wash and foot powder!
Capt Brockless can’t believe how many emails he gets as Sqn Ldr