Page 30 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2017

28 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN) D Squadron
As ever, I start with the obligatory, ‘it has been a busy year’, but given what we have in store for 2018, I am not sure just how ‘busy’ will soon look like! Even as I write, I look forward to The Chapka 2019 [along with how they will re-name Combat 2018], and the opportunity I will have to write about whether we put our Public Order training to use in the hot, dusty and Wifi appointed streets of Agia Nap...Nicosia.
Back on message. 2017 started with a hugely enjoyable collec- tion of events. January saw D Squadron delivering the 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade ‘Recce’ Concentration. This three day event brought together all the reconnaissance elements of the brigade and provided an atmosphere for collective learning. Lieutenant Bobby ‘surface-laid’ Gouldstone did well to avoid the post Long Range Reconnaissance Course blues as he and his trusty Surveillance Troop built a gold standard sub-surface Ob- servation Post. The highlight of the new-year has to have been the week long assault soldier training delivered by our very own Royal Engineer Sergeants. The JNCOs and Troopers combined for a week of basic field engineering training; learning how to construct field fortifications, removing and constructing obsta- cles and culminating in a demolitions day. All delighted at the opportunity to destroy wire entanglements - constructed just days earlier - with Sergeant McKone’s trusty Bangalore torpe- does (it is rumoured that he designed the first batch in Banga- lore in 1912...)
All of these events served as an excellent taster for the more de- manding training that we encountered immediately after Easter Leave. Here an excellent mounted range package in Pembroke- shire proved that there was life yet in (a minority of) the sole- noids of the GPMG cupola mount. It is testament to the skill and dedication of the REME attached arms that they managed to keep the firing going. All of the Squadron’s CVR(T) Spartan commanders achieved level 6s in their Annual Crew Tests and even the Squardon Sergeant Major managed to pull a level 6 out
Exercise NORTHERN LANCER
of the bag on his Panther assessment. With mounted success in mind, D Squadron dismounted into what many have described as the best live firing ranges they have been on in 12 years – or- ganised by the ever keen and skilful hand of Sergeant Veale.
June saw the Squadron back on vehicles, although this time on Salisbury Plain for a dry two week mounted and dismounted Squadron exercise. This was an excellent chance to really get back to grips with basics, with everything from field hygiene to observation posts being covered. Most importantly, the troop- ers were taught the harsh reality of the cycle of life through the sad demise of several chickens - and all without a blessed Gur- kha curry in sight! This was a very important fortnight for the Squadron which enabled a wide range of tactical activities to be practiced and which enabled all to spend some more time in the mounted role, largely free from the restrictions of track mileage and Catterick cross-country movement boxes.
Summer leave heralded a number of personality changes, includ- ing the Officer Commanding, James Davies who left the Squad-
Coco heading out for a ride Corporal Caton-Hewings – a steely dealer of death Trooper ‘Horatio’ Lewis somewhere off Cape Trafalgar