Page 29 - The Rifles Bugle Autumn 2019

The Rfn’s Christmas Lunch
One of the Coy’s formal Dinner Nights
the BATUK rugby team against the local Police side. Ex ALLIED ACE at Sennelager in October 2018 was the culmination of Battle Group HQ’s NATO readiness training, providing an opportunity to work under HQ 12 Armd Inf Bde in a full multinational NATO formation scenario, an excellent training,
education and capability development opportunity. In addition to covering both VJTF(L) and JEF readiness commitments, 1 RIFLES also provided the UK Standby Bn (South) from Nov 18 to Feb 19, requiring an HQ and Lead Coy held at extreme high readiness, rotated across the Coys. Despite the drone saga at Gatwick in Dec 18, and some wild weather, thankfully no callout was required during our tenure, allowing us to focus undistracted on our
force preparation for Op TORAL.
In Dec 18 we hosted our Royal Colonel, HRH The
Duke of Kent, for the long awaited Op SHADER Medals Parade, almost 2 years since 1 RIFLES returned from Op SHADER in Jan 17. The Christmas
week was preserved for some fun, and some high spirits were certainly on show, before a well-earned period of Christmas leave.
Pre-deployment training for Op TORAL included excellent individual and low-level collective training, with lots of Live Firing and an Op TORAL focused Chosen Man competition. Our conceptual prepa- ration included visits and talks by Commander Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (COMARRC), Lieutenant General Tim Radford CB DSO OBE, and Lieutenant General (Retired) Sandy Storrie CB CBE, to brief on their high command experiences in Afghanistan.
THE CHRISTMAS WEEK WAS PRESERVED FOR SOME FUN, AND SOME HIGH SPIRITS WERE CERTAINLY ON SHOW
LFTT in SENTA in Nov 18; PDT for Op TORAL starts here
LFTT in a stormy SENTA during which 1 RIFLES was visited by Commander Field Army Lieutenant General PNYM Sanders CBE DSO
THE RIFLES
FIRST BATTALION 27