Page 7 - The Chapka 2016

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN) 5
Commanding Officer’s Foreword
In the short period I have been fortunate to be in command, I have found the Regiment to be in good health, working hard to be effective in role, and leaning into the demands of a 21st century Armoured Cavalry Regiment.
The recent presentation to the Regiment, by Her Majesty The Queen, of the new Royal Lancer Guidon completes the formal amalgamation process, and draws the Regiment together under a single banner. The Regiment is strong and developing well. I have been impressed by the character of our young soldiers and officers. We ask a lot of them these days, and they continually deliver. But as a regimental family we must not be complacent; we are seeing too many soldiers seek early release and regimen- tally we have much more to do to stem this flow. I would ask all serving and former Lancers to continue to seek out high quality recruits and potential officers to thicken our ranks.
The Regiment is in its training year, which offers a reasonable degree of programming certainty and manning stability. But Army cash shortages are having an impact, and it is likely that our regimental training period in Canada this summer will be axed; while this is a disappointment, it does present other op- portunities. We will instead conduct a regimental exercise in the north of England, maximising local training estate, private land (thank you to those Lancers who are helping), and our Army Reserve connections. For those that have experienced the value
of German 443 training, you’ll understand how important this kind of training opportunity is to complement that achieved on the more sterile Defence Estate. It is also likely that the Regi- ment will train on Salisbury Plain at the end of the year, which should prove to be another valuable layer in our training pro- gression. What is clear however, in these relatively uncertain times, is that we will need to maximise every opportunity in the programme to prepare ourselves for operations as best we can.
Looking forward to 2018, the Regiment is programmed to de- liver Op TOSCA, the long-standing UN task on the Green Line in Nicosia, Cyprus. The Regiment was last in Cyprus in 2000/01, when A and B Squadrons QRL delivered the same task. Num- bers will be tight, not everyone will get to go. For those that do, it is a real opportunity to get involved in something different, and importantly to get a medal on their chest. For those that stay we will need to continue to hold a squadron at short notice in support of the Lead Armoured Task Force, and we will cer- tainly need to invest in some all-important career courses.
My thanks to Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Mudd for a superb handover after a cracking two years in command. Finally, hav- ing been away for such a long time, it is a real pleasure to be back and surrounded by Lancers.
HLS