Page 113 - The Bugle 2018

Foreword by
the Commanding Officer
On taking command of 7 RIFLES only 3 weeks ago, I was immediately struck by the sheer volume of change that the battalion has undergone during the tenure of my predecessor, Lt Col Graham Cox - much of it indeed during the last 12 months. Variously, it has seen the seen the resubordi- nation of F Company to the London Regiment, the commensurate loss of our, and the regiment’s, central London home in Davies Street, the creation of a new rifle company in B Company out of Swindon (and with that a return to sub-unit level footprint in Wiltshire), the creation of C Company in Berkshire, the move of Battalion HQ from Reading to Kensington, and if all that were not enough, a change of role, brigade and division. In infrastructure terms alone, we have gone from 4 locations to 10. Perhaps most impressive, however, has been the less obvious but far more fundamental shift in culture, towards that of a war-fighting battalion ready to take its place in the ‘Iron Fist’ brigade of the Army’s armoured division – the 3rd Division. I have been struck by how deeply embedded this ethos already is in the psyche of the battalion. Cultural change is always the hardest kind, and great credit must go to Graham and the rest of the battalion for effecting this so comprehensively and quickly. It puts us in a very good place going forward.
Perhaps (although I think not) as a result of being something of a curiosity in a hitherto all regular organisation, the battalion have been hugely well looked after to date by our new brigade, the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Having one’s brigade HQ in Germany has its advantages and disadvantages (!), but we are not unused to operating at reach from our ‘one up’ HQ, having previously been in 38 Infantry Brigade – home location: Belfast! 20 Brigade are due to move next year to Bulford, where they will be co-located with our paired RIFLES battalion, the 5th Battalion. Mention must also be made of the fantastic support that we have received during our conversion to our new role from 5 RIFLES; we are closing in on delivering a truly integrated opera- tional output. Both battalions were thrown in at the deep end last summer with the 7 RIFLES annual deployment exercise to Estonia, joining 5 RIFLES on their Op CABRIT tour under Ex NORTHERN FROG. A 7 RIFLES composite company was attached to an Estonian brigade for two weeks’ field training, including adventure training and ‘cultural familiarisation’!
This year’s Annual Deployment Exercise, Ex JAGER WARRIOR, in early September 2018, will see the culmination of that process as 7 RIFLES riflemen operate from, and fight, Warrior IFVs (both blank and live – vehicles and crews coming
MENTION MUST ALSO BE MADE OF THE FANTASTIC SUPPORT THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED DURING OUR CONVERSION TO OUR NEW ROLE FROM 5 RIFLES
from 1 PWRR in Paderborn) with support from Challenger 2 MBTs from the QRH and a range team provided by the 5th Battalion. I struggle to think of a better example of pairing in action, and this seminal exercise (a first for the Army Reserve) will provide combined arms training and indeed education to our reservists that will prove inval- uable throughout their careers as well as setting us up for delivering our required outputs under 20 Brigade.
The focus for the next 12 months will be to consolidate the dismounted close combat skills that have of necessity taken a bit of a back seat during conversion, to focus on marksmanship, fitness (as the new Army Physical Training System comes in), and to build on firm foundations in the manning area, in particular with a view to welcoming our first female infanteers into the battalion from early 2019. We are well on our way to regrowing the battalion’s strength post the loss of F Company, under Op FORTIFY, and despite some factors beyond the firer’s control in terms of the recruiting process, the numbers are heading in the right direction across the board and remain amongst the best in the infantry. WO2 Jamie Dwyer, the battalion’s Regimental Operations Support Warrant Officer (in effect the recruiting Sjt Maj), was rightly recognised for his sterling contri- bution in this area with a Commander Field Army’s Commendation. Another stalwart of the battalion, albeit this time a regular, leaves us imminently to pastures new in 5 RIFLES – the Quartermaster, Maj Lee Roberts, has been instrumental to much of the progress outlined above; a better servant the battalion could not have wished to have. He will be much missed, and our loss is very much 5 RIFLES’ gain – we shall see plenty of him there, of course!
In sum, a transformative year for the 7th Battalion, and one which leaves us on the cusp of an incredibly exciting future in the vanguard of the Army – a future which we are well placed to exploit.
Lt Col J R H Gayner MBE
MAJ LEE ROBERTS; A BETTER SERVANT THE BATTALION COULD NOT HAVE WISHED TO HAVE
THE RIFLES
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SEVENTHBATTALION