Page 24 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2017
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 22 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
 invasion of Warminster town centre by the navigationally-chal- lenged 1st Troop.
To the delight of the Squadron, it began raining as we returned to camp and we gleefully waved B and C Squadron off for two weeks of being wet. We retired back to Warminster for a week of CATT, the Squadron Fancy Dress party and embarrassing computer deaths. The CATT training prepared us to deploy on one of the highlights of the Regimental year, CSTTX. As RHQ planned themselves into oblivion, the Squadron rode to battle electronically each day with good spirit and very little sleeping in the booths. 2nd Troop also went out for a troop night-out at the cinema in order to enhance cohesion by sitting in the dark for two hours not speaking to each other. Of more interest, the GOC’s visit allowed the Squadron to demonstrate their knowl- edge and ability to our divisional headquarters; particularly rel- evant with our likely move back to being ‘Divisional troops’.
With a clear dominance in CATT of the other Squadrons, as usu- al A Squadron were magnanimous in victory and demonstrated this during the Regimental ‘Mons Weekend’. Saving their en- ergy during the sporting competition for the evening festivi- ties, they created the most popular pop-up bar North Yorkshire has ever seen with the infamous ‘Price Drop Bar’. Whilst other squadrons followed the cliché of barn dances and beach bars, A Squadron channelled their inner Gordon Gecko, ordered 100 pairs of red braces, and created Wall Street complete with a live- price adjusting bar, rewarding those who could see the run on tequila and punishing those foolish enough to invest in vodka futures. Each ring of the Price Crash Bell brought hordes of B, C and D Squadron speculators eager to get a taste of the action; later allegations of insider trading against the SSM were thrown out of court.
Meanwhile, Anti-tank troop had deployed ‘en masse’ to Cana- da as part of the ‘1 YORKS Battlegroup on Exercise PRAIRIE STORM 2 and thus spent six weeks arguing with them how to kill T72B3s most effectively with lots of pointed chopping. On a more serious note, the troop is now the most experienced anti- tank troop in the Regiment and has justifiably led to A Squadron taking the lead for the Regiment in this sphere. Whilst the Regi- ment enjoyed three weeks of leave in August, A Squadron de- ployed onto Exercise ÆTHLING LANCER, where each troop spent a week in the field, honing basic skills and practicing TTPs for Exercise NORTHERN LANCER. Alongside this, they also took the lead in testing and refining the new VIRTUS kit per- sonal kit – helmet and body armour – good; bergan – rubbish.
No doubt better described elsewhere in this publication, Exer- cise (Egg-cercise) NORTHERN LANCE(R) was the signature training event of 2017. It involved the egg-citing deployment over vast swathes of Northern England and Southern Scotland, and saw the Squadron conduct tactical activities in complex, congested and unfamiliar terrain whilst obeying all traffic laws. To the egg-stacy of the troops, ‘local national’ interaction was en- couraged and various troops eagerly charmed the local populace. Whether it was the OC, Squadron Sergenat Major, Bagguley and Imber glamping on a beach, 1st Troop being treated to tea in a village hall or posing for a photo at the Angel of North (RL’s most liked photo on Facebook in 2017), we roved throughout the region with professionalism and panache. It wasn’t all cakes in car parks though as 4th Troop found during one of their patrols; sneaking through a wood in Northumberland, they encountered two gamekeepers who had initially thought them to be poachers. On closer inspection, the gamekeepers were shell-shocked to be surrounded by heavily armed Lancers complete with night- vision goggles.
Perhaps the highlight of the Exercise was the urban phase in Stockton-on-Tees that involved us occupying two urban OPs in an abandoned office and a vacant shop overlooking the High Street. With our attached patrol from 4/73 Bty (special- ist artillery observers from the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery), we tracked the OPFOR moving through the town centre and reported movements in a unique environment that most had never operated in. Whilst our own urban OP training has fallen away, our Royal Artillery cousins had much to teach us and were hugely appreciated throughout the exercise – more co-operation is planned for the future.
Always soldiers first, sportsmen second, A Squadron neverthe- less demonstrated their prowess on the field, whether it be arti- ficial or grass. Following Wellington’s dictum that Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, A Squadron decided that any future battles would have been won on the playing astro-turf of Robertson Road, Catterick and promptly destroyed the rest of the Regiment at hockey. At this juncture, they decided that they
Did you put the battery in when you signed it out?
 

























































































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