The unstoppable G Company cross country team
men, not least because this was really the first time both groups had worked together.
Once the parades were over and the Colours, Drums and bayonets were returned safely to their respective homes, the men of G (Tobruk) Company temporarily forgot their new bonds with the Mercian soldiers, rolled up their sleeves and prepared to lock horns in the highly competitive Inter-Company Competition. This is an annual two-week contest of various sporting and military endeavours with the overall winner being crowned “Champion Company”. The first week was the sporting week and, after easing to victory in the volleyball (naturally) and putting up what was described as a “plucky” effort in the rugby 10s, the G Company team put the cat amongst the pigeons by coming second in the football competition - a particularly noteworthy achievement in a battalion with a rich footballing pedigree and a plethora of talented players. This made many sit up and pay attention to the G Company threat to the title.
The second week carried a military skills theme and commenced with the Private Soldiers’ competition and the Patterson Trophy. This is an arduous 23km individual orienteering course, with kit. Despite the race being won by a Mercian soldier, it was the consistency across the board that marked G Company out with the most runners in
the top ten and therefore the winners of the trophy. It would be a huge injustice not to mention the efforts of Rfn Hom. With 5 km remaining in the race, he had had enough of his boots rubbing and so removed them, placed them in his bergen and finished the tab in his socks leaving everyone who witnessed or indeed heard about this in absolute awe.
G (Tobruk) Company’s consistently strong performances were beginning to pay off and they took victory in the Earl of Chester’s Trophy for the March and Shoot and coasted to victory in the shooting competition. The final reward for these titanic efforts was the revealing of the final leader board and the declaration that G (Tobruk) Company were the new Champion Company for which the officers and men were understandably delighted especially as they now have a full year’s worth of bragging rights to use!
The men of G Company receiving instructions on survival
24 October 2010
Cohesion month complete and, with a little slice of summer leave sandwiched in the middle, the Battalion’s and Company’s minds began to turn to Op Herrick 12: PDT commenced with a deployment to Kenya to participate in Ex Grand Prix. This was to be a six week exercise in the Kenyan Bush and an opportunity for the entire Battalion to be assessed by Brigade. The results were excellent and this was not in the least due to the efforts of G Company. The exercise was designed to be theatre-relevant and, rather than being simply a series of Company and Battalion attacks, now included scenarios involving with IED threats, small-arms shootings and compound clearances. The added factor was the Kenyan heat which served to give those troops who had not experienced kinetic operations in a high- temperature environment, the chance to experience the realities of working in such conditions.
After recovering from Kenya and some more leave, the unstoppable monolith of PDT trundled on keeping everyone very busy on various courses before the Company came together once again in the somewhat milder climate of STANTA in Norfolk for the one week CFX. This is run by OPTAG assisted by units who have recently returned from Op Herrick to give up-to-date guidance about current TTPs in theatre. The exercise was based completely on the current Afghanistan model with scenarios that included ‘Green Zone’ patrolling and conducting Shuras as well as FOB security and other testing serials. It proved to be a resounding success for the Company who performed excellently across the board in all serials with the DS involved mentioning that the Company was the ‘best they had ever seen’ during two of them. This included the complex ‘suicide bomber’ serial that was conducted by the men of XII Platoon whose calmness in dealing with the aftermath of such an event was extremely impressive to watch.
Ex Gran Prix. Still no comms ...
Ex Grand Prix. Notebooks out
Ex Grand Prix. The Platoon Waits
Ex Grand Prix Endex The Mercian Eagle
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