9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2013 - Page 0046
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2013 |
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44 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRIN CE OF WALES’S) Unit Welfare Office — Overview As I enter my fourth year as the Unit Welfare Officer (albeit not consecutively) and my second consecutive year of writ- ing for the journal, I cannot help think how much has changed, and not just because the regiment has deployed to Afghanistan on operations. The amount of output that is required from the Welfare Office, its diversity — especially in the area of our Non-EEA soldiers, Housing, School Governance, Child Care, Benefits, Removals, Assignments, entitlements, organising events, Flights, trans- port, marriages and births to name just a few; the list is almost endless. I was even asked one day how one might be able to get hold of goat’s milk as that’s all they were willing to give their new born child — apparently that was my problem to resolve! And, as ever all to be delivered on the most meagre of resources — sound familiar? This year has been without doubt, busy! We started the year with an uplift of an additional 2 personnel (LCpl’s Hannan and Campbell), but they were quickly whisked away again in sup- port of the regiment’s pre-deployment training. They were to return, but only for a short period as LCpl Campbell was inter- nally transferred to A Sqn with whom he eventually deployed as a member of the Warthog Group, whilst LCpl Hannan was placed on his Crew Commanders’ Course. LCpl Green took over the reigns as the unit postal NCO from LCpl Wilde, who, having given his Notice To Terminate (NTT), returned to the UK in Jul 13; we wish him and his family the best of luck! With our established manning unchanged we set about how best to tackle the conundrum of continuing support to the home base, support to the sub units, support to the wider UK community and deal with the bombardment of deployment briefings, meetings, ROC drills and myriad of enquiries that pre- sent themselves at our front door on a hourly basis, Not forget- ting of course balancing all of this against our primary role which is “Soldier First”. There is nothing quite like basic soldiering so the opportunity to put a uniform on, force March with weight or shoot on the ranges is always a welcome experience; at the end of the day this is exactly why most of us joined. That said the most recent round of ranges left Sgt Andy Barwick feeling more than little deflated. Having not fired a Rifle for some 3 years getting to grips with the Marksmanship principles did seem at the time quite difficult. I think for any future enemy reading this (know your enemy) the safest place to be will actually be in front of Andy’s Rifle, but be warned, anywhere near his food and you’re not likely to return with all your fingers intact. With all of the above going on we will always require some form of continuity, a non military individual who will look after the office and ensure our clientele are well looked after. Luckily we are blessed with Mrs Rebecca Kinsey, a real stalwart of an indi- vidual and I think the oldest person the regiment has have ever employed! She is a no nonsense individual who is committed to getting things done and who looks after us all. Rebecca manages the Red Rat Cinema and up until earlier this year was heavily involved in the setting up of the Celle Community Centre. I thought she packed quite a lot in to her working day but then there is Becky Carruthers our lovely PRI manageress/assistant/ cleaner and mother to 3 young children. Becky has been the proverbial whirling dervish: she has rearranged the workings of the PRI, turned a shop that was losing money into a profitable one, brought in new lines that appeal to both the military and civil elements, and manages all of this as a one-parent family due to the deployment of her husband. Her home life is just as busy and the activities she does with her children (Rugby club, Cycling, Swimming, Dance) - normally shared with her husband when he is home — just simply haven’t diminished. In my line I see plenty of other parents who can barely look after themselves never mind a spirited family to support— maybe they should take a leaf out of Becky’s book of management. Not sure whether I mentioned already but it does help if you are as Mad as a March Hare and in Becky’s case maybe this helps. As I come to a close I would like to make special mention of Mrs Julianne Tilney. Married to A Squadron leader and having served with the KRH, they arrived at the beginning of pre-de- ployment with little of no knowledge of the regiment, its soldier or families. Julianne has immersed herself fully and has been absolutely superb in organising and executing events for the wives, husbands and families. Currently as I write the regiment is one third of the way through the operational tour (if you’re deployed) and for those of us that remain behind (Rear Operations Group) we are just hitting a quarter of that time. But we are not looking at the present — our gaze remains fixed on the medium to long term future and in particular the unit move in the first quarter of 2015. We are already planning the hand back of our offices, what we will carry through to the new regiment, how it’s all going to come together during a time of recovery from Operations, regimental adven- ture training, Collective Training, Freedom parades, the celebra- tion of 300 years formation and of course a little thing called Amalgamation. It’s been fun, challenging and quite worthwhile. We will all leave our posts much better people for the experienc- es we have been exposed to and the knowledge we have gleaned. One thing I will say though, and that is that there will not be a 5th year in post for this Unit Welfare Officer, K}H |
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