Page 43 - The Rifles Bugle Autumn 2019

is usually no doubt that the OR2 is in command of the OF5/6, although the circumstances occasionally require the Rfn to have outstanding levels of moral courage. On any given day the Company conducts 25-30 AFP missions, all coordinated from the Ops room by Cpl Lewry-Podmore and Sjt Series.
The afternoons are generally quieter, with less demand for AFP, giving time for sport, fitness, study and relaxation. Access to the swimming pool in the neighbouring US Embassy requires a friendly relationship with our American colleagues, often developed in the famous Cigar Club (complete with Rifles jackets). Rfn Haskins’ Boxing training, COM RS’s weekly PT, cinema nights and football tournaments are all highlights, but none so much as ‘steak and volcano cake night’ on a Friday, when CSM Phillips and CSjt Smith can be seen queuing to be the first to scoff. Moustache club can be found outside the Ops room, where there is much clucking and comparing of hair. The array of moustache styles are remarkable; Cpl Podmore’s is genuinely impressive in bushiness, Rfn Moore’s has come
from the 1940s, Lt Shorland and LCpl Sanders’ moustaches are so wiry and thin they have secretly resorted to hair-dye.
HQ RS is at the bridge between the strategic, operational and tactical, never more so than now and our small Rfn-delivered tactical enabling actions are delivering operational effect daily for both Afghanistan and for our NATO partnerships. The Coy has forged strong relationships with our partner nations, most notably the Estonian platoon who work alongside us, but also with nations as disparate as the Czech Republic and Australia. The Riflemen have thrown themselves into life on the camp. We have discovered we are terrible but enthusiastic at volleyball, but we have more aptitude at the cigar club where Rfn and Generals can share a joke and a smoke together. The ‘Brit’ Coy has forged a reputation of low-level professionalism, terrible tattoos and worse moustaches, which we aim to reinforce.
Capt Sam Burgess 2IC B Coy
OC B Coy venturing out
CINEMA NIGHTS AND FOOTBALL ARE ALL HIGHLIGHTS, BUT NONE SO MUCH AS ‘STEAK AND VOLCANO CAKE NIGHT’
THE RIFLES
FIRST BATTALION 41
The moustache finals: Lt Shorland, Cpl Davva, Cpl Podmore, Rfn Moore, and LCpl Sandy
Army Comd Sgt Maj Gav Paton with Rfn during his visit in May