1 MERCIAN Foreword
by the Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel A N Hadfield This foreword is written as I wait to report to
the MCCP for deployment to Afghanistan. As part of 4th Mechanised Brigade, we will be part of the Op Herrick 12 order of battle, although not in the rôle that we may have picked for ourselves - but more of that later.
The last 12 months have seen the Battalion deploy in Companies to The Falklands, march some of the Regimental Freedoms around Cheshire and the Wirral, deploy to Kenya and conduct Mission Specific Training for Afghanistan. It has been busy, of course, but I would hope that there have been moments of fun that we can all look back at during the next six months. We have enjoyed excellent support from the County of Cheshire and the Metropolitan Borough of the Wirral and our Regimental Support Team forges and reinforces our links on a daily basis. Perhaps the most visible manifestation is the increasing number of high grade men passing through the recruiting offices and the Infantry Training Centre here in Catterick. Manning improves constantly and our operational effectiveness increases alongside.
Last June was our “Cohesion Month”. This was designed to bring the Battalion together in a way that it had not been possible to do over the previous year because of Op Telic 11 and preparation for and deployment to the Falklands. It included Freedom marches and the Inter-Company Competition. The marches took place in Congleton, Nantwich, Runcorn, Ellesmere Port, Birkenhead and, of course, Chester. At all of them, the public response was simply awesome. The soldiers were left in no doubt at the level of support which they enjoy at home and, for our G Company, it was an excellent insight into the County from which most of our soldiers hail. The Inter- Company Competition produced some excellent teamwork, physical effort and sporting prowess. We started the competition concurrent with marching and the first event was volleyball. It will be no great surprise that G Company won this event, although they were pushed ever so slightly by A Company. The Competition was to be run in its entirety over a period of just three weeks, so endurance and preparation were to be key factors. Support Company challenged hard and won both the football and the rugby and were runners up in the Skill at Arms Meeting and March and Shoot but, in the end, it was G Company who won the overall Competition and the title “Champion Company”. I was particularly heartened at the response from the rest of the Battalion that was both sporting
The Mercian Eagle
and well humoured but I sense that, next time, it will be different. It must be noted that Fire Support Platoon (previously Machine Gun Platoon) was the fastest team around the March and Shoot and so now hold the coveted Earl of Chester’s Trophy and it was Recce Platoon who provided the best individual team in the Section Competition and won the newly- presented Harrington Trophy.
The remainder of the summer was spent preparing for Kenya and taking block leave. As the weather started to get a bit cooler, it was time to head for the warmer African sunshine and our deployment to Kenya was good fun for almost all. There were inevitably a few who found the wildlife and baking sun not to their liking but, in training terms, it was both demanding and rewarding. There is little doubt that it set the Companies up well for the Mission Specific Training waiting for them back home. There was also, of course, the chance to enjoy Kenya out of uniform and everyone had the opportunity to do this to some degree.
Mission Specific Training (MST) for Afghanistan was comprehensive, demanding and very time- consuming. I sensed that the men had lost many weekends and opportunities to be with their families, many of whom probably thought that we had deployed about four months ago. Perhaps the greatest time-consumer is driver and crew training on the myriad of vehicles that we may use in Theatre. Ridgeback, Mastiff and Husky are our key protected mobility vehicles with Jackal, quad bikes and Springers providing lift for equipment and heavy weapons. The variety of capability is impressive, the training is long and only time will tell how many of the men who trained ever actually use the vehicles. But such is Afghanistan and, no doubt, new vehicles are already being designed. Perhaps the most generally useful part of MST was the Confirmatory Field Exercise run by OPTAG at Stanford. The training area has been modified to reflect Afghanistan wherever possible and the training was simply excellent. From Stanford, we went to Lydd to catch up on our shooting and try out a vast array of new weapons and sights and then we took some Christmas leave. On return, it was back into the saddle and the Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise in Otterburn gave the Companies the chance to conduct live-fire training supported by our mortars and heavy weapons, artillery and, in some cases, Apache attack helicopters. On completion of this, it was straight down to Salisbury Plain to take part in our Mission Rehearsal Exercise
(MRX) - I am feeling exhausted just writing this and I know that, at the end of the MRX, the men were in need of a break. This then brought MST to a close for all but a select few in Battalion Headquarters but it has left us well trained and prepared for that which lies ahead. These notes would not be complete without mention of the support given to us by The Colonel in Chief who found time to visit us twice during MST - once on Salisbury Plain and once here in Catterick with our families present. His visits without doubt lift the most tired heads and demonstrate the regard in which the men and their families are held by him.
And so to our rôle. It was planned that the Battalion would form a Battlegroup and take responsibility for Musa Qaleh during our tour of Afghanistan. This was the plan, right up to the point at which the US Marines arrived in large numbers and took Musa Qaleh from the British, displacing us from this rôle. A number of contingency plans exist but, at the time of writing, we will be supporting three other Battlegroups in four locations. A Company will go to Patrol Base Wishtan in Sangin under command of 40 Commando Royal Marines. C and G Companies will deploy to Forward Operating Bases Sandford and Keenan in the Danish Battalion area, whilst the newly re-formed B Company will deploy under command of 1 Royal Gurkha Rifles to Patrol Base 1 in the Babaji area. Battalion Headquarters is currently tasked with developing the Afghan National Civil Order Police Brigade that is on its way to assist in Helmand. Almost every man who is fit will be on the operation and in the fight but not in the way that we would have picked. But six months is a long time in Afghanistan and anything can happen. It is important to stress that this situation has been caused by the arrival of the US Marines and is not a reflection on the efforts or performance of the men through MST, which has been quite humbling and totally inspiring for me to witness as Commanding Officer.
So, with a night on a plane to look forward to I thank the men and women of the 1st Battalion for keeping the pace over the past 12 months and also those in the wider Regiment and at the various training establishments who support us so well. The Battalion feels part of a proud and successful Regiment and, as we deploy onto what will probably be our most demanding tour for some time, we will Stand Firm and Strike Hard and, of course, we will remain Ever Glorious!
October 2010 11
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