Page 78 - RAPTC Mind, Body & Spirit

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3RD (UK) DIVISIONAL SIGNAL REGIMENT
SSgt (SSI) D Forster RAPTC
With a move completed and a new chapter just started, I think back to my role with my previous unit The 1st Battalion the Mercian Regiment (1 MERCIAN) and how the unit invited me in and made me feel so appreciated. The introductory lesson bums and tums for Commanding Officer’s PT, was initially not welcomed especially with a Regimental moto of “Stand Firm Strike Hard”. However, with a lot of coaxing for many of the personalities, they were swayed for the lesson to go ahead. The following Monday morning was very interesting to say the least, I was on the hit list of all personalities including the Commanding Officer, nevertheless some bought into the radicalisation. The lesson volume and intensity progressively
increased with greater turnouts for Commanding Officer’s PT, the unit were on a roll. I know I made a difference in many of the unit’s training programmes with actively pursuing “a healthy mind in a healthy body”. 1 MERCIAN are a fine unit and I wish them all the best for the future.
Looking ahead, I assumed appointment in September 2017 as 3rd (UK) Division Signal Regiment (3 DSR) SSI. There have been several challenges in the short period I have been in post however with my whetted appetite for success I welcomed all challenges large or small. The support from the top corridor has been unequal to any I have previously been exposed to, with all personalities constantly scoring in the three hundred club. My predecessor SSI Ward pre-warned me, the unit are exceptionally fit and take their physical training serious at all levels.
After the initial mandatory bums and tums, and the Monday morning hunting for the SSI the focus started on the education of the PTIs and the introductory lesson of programme THOR. Over the coming months, the unit completed the first cycle of the Foundation and Resilience Phase, all 3 DSR welcomed the change including all attached arms. The selling part to all, was the inclusion and education from signaller to Commanding Officer.
Within the first two months of the settling in, I was informed I would be deploying to Exercise WAR FIGHTER 18.4 (EX-WFX 18.4). The first question I posed was “What will be my job?” The reply I received was, “You’ll be aiding SSgt Hogg in the facilitation and running of Kiwi Treck”.