Page 116 - The Bugle 2018

The silverware at least came home. A Coy celebrates their Bn SAAM triumph
I FOUND A COMPANY AS I LAST SAW IT: IN GOOD SPIRITS; ENJOYING SOLDIERING AND EACH OTHER’S COMRADESHIP
A Company
It was with great pleasure that I returned to A Coy as OC this year. Steeped in the history of the Ox and Bucks and covering both counties, it holds a special place for all who serve.
I found A Company as I last saw it: in good spirits; enjoying soldiering and each other’s comradeship. The Company was well into its latest challenge, working as Armoured Infantry and gearing up for the high tempo exercises the rest of the year has install for us.
Plenty of time on the ranges, both fixed and field firing seem to have paid off. Even if football didn’t come home this year, as far as A Company was concerned the silverware did. We left the Battalion Skill at Arms Meet with Best Shot, winning the falling plate and enough other competitions to take away the champion Company trophy too. Bravo A Company, bravo!
We also had the pleasure of hosting a visit from our friends of the Goldsmiths livery company, including the new Prime Warden Michael Prideaux, himself a brother of fellow Riflemen. As well as some lively urban ops demonstrations by one of the platoons, and an enjoyable social aspect, the Prime Warden got stuck-in on the Javelin simulator, scoring a good hit first time, though he was sadly unable to commit to signing-up.
Maj M Hyrcak OC A Coy
1 Platoon & Buckling on the Iron Fist
One of the things that attracted me to join A Coy 7 RIFLES after commissioning last April was the company’s recent record. Some of the Riflemen and officers I had met on an open evening had done one, or often more, tours in Afghanistan or Iraq and Short Term Training Team (STTT) taskings seemed to be plenty. A Coy struck me as a busy fighting unit with great opportunities on hand. What more could I have wanted as an excuse to escape working on my PhD?
By the time I had swapped an Officer Cadet’s blue beret for Rifle green, however, things had changed. With the move from the Adaptive Force to the Field Army, we were being asked to think less about classic infantry fighting and counter-insurgency and more about the kind of high-intensity, mechanised war the British Army has not fought since Korea.
Our new role was welcomed as a breath of fresh air that would inflate the old and bold and stop local recruits in the area succumbing to the charms of the RLC... We also could not wait to dump our bergans and take a heavily armoured taxi to the front. On our first “armoured” weekend, however, we uncovered
WHAT MORE COULD I HAVE WANTED AS AN EXCUSE TO ESCAPE WORKING ON MY PHD?
perhaps the best deception plan the British Army has ever devised: the mighty WARRIOR was simply a box made of plywood screens, from out of which we would dash at an enemy no doubt so flabber- gasted they would be stunned into submission!
After we had proved our mettle operating out of such “vehicles”, however, 5 RIFLES kindly let us play with the real thing. Learning the craft of armoured infanteering has been invigorating – and terrifying when the vehicles break down, meaning we may actually have to tab somewhere – and the associated proficiencies are a useful addition to our skillsets. There can never be an excuse for neglecting the basics, however. One Rifleman on a recent weekend was convinced that someone wearing an odd uniform and firing at him from close range whilst pretending to speak Russian was actually a friendly: definitely an excuse to put MATT 0 (Common Sense) back into the training programme.
Such a suicidal willingness to avoid blue-on-blue aside, 1 Platoon and A Coy are continuing to grow in number and capability. To lead Riflemen of the calibre and experience usual to 1 Platoon is a privilege – as much as it was originally daunting – and to welcome, as we are, a new generation into the Coy as we buckle on the iron fist is giving us the capacity and energy to meet whatever challenge may next come our way.
2Lt JM Wakeley
1 Platoon Comd
122 SEVENTH BATTALION
THE RIFLES