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9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2013 - Page 0043

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Regiment 9th/12th Lancers
Year 2013
Transcription REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12'r1-t ROYAL LAN CERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) 41
nally left the Army in November 2013 after 22 years service to
become a pop bottle recycle agent in Osnabruck. We lost the
MT legends of Cpl’s Brown, Herbert and Webster, LCpl’s Old-
ale, Maunder, Large and Salih, Tpr’s Knox, James and Court.
Cpl Gandidzawa moved to the HQ SQMS department and Tpr
Carnie is now gainfully employed in the WOs’ and Sgts’ Mess
after failing to pick up the Regimental ZIC for a course back in
the UK — smart move, kid. A Sqn poached LCpl Thompson and
Tpr Clarkson to their ORBAT and they were keen to leave the
troop after being “drivers’ file Jedis” for over half of the year.
After all these departures MT troop needed to reorganise in or-
der to be able to provide a service during the ROG period. The
steadfast figure of Capt Whitehead remained as the MTO and
W02 Wright held the helm of MTWO. Sgt Byrd left the com-
fortable confines of the provost office and became MT Sgt. He
is now like a rabbit in the headlights and is learning extremely
fast with an ECI approaching early 2014. Cpl Tawakatini who
not only can play rugby but incidentally likes water sports and
skiing became the details NCO. He immediately had a steep
learning curve and says he has never worked so hard previously.
LCpl Carpenter became the leading driving instructor within
the unit and LCpl Brougham became the BOWMAN ninia and
double hats as the Commanding Officer’s driver.
We were thus left with a dedicated driver pool consisting of
Tpr’s Doney, Easter, Jervis, Ordinado, Nicholson and Reyes, as
well as the A TEAM of the welfare drivers who are technically
MT but drive regularly for the wives whilst their husbands are
deployed. They are Tprs Shaw, Russell and Wright.
The Department has had much success over the year and the
most notable success has been the purchase of 3 Regimental
minibuses to support all members of the unit over H19 and
hopefully beyond. This was solely down to the efforts of Capt
Whitehead and his shady contacts. Needless to say the uptake
on the use of these vehicles has been phenomenal and is a much
needed boost to all in testing times. The MT Department has
covered a distance of 296,127km driving around various loca-
tions across Europe during 2013 in support of the Sqns. This is
an extraordinary feat and testament of the troop’s professional-
ism in ultimately providing a service. No matter where or how,
we get you, your kit or your partner to Where they need to be.
This is the unsung part of the job which is easily overlooked.
Another notable feat has been the Regiment’s 6 place in the Tri
Service Defence Road Safety finals. The Regiment have reached
these finals now for a fourth consecutive year and this is an as-
tonishing achievement. Yet again we have an impeccable road
safety record and we have not lost a soldier or dependant in a
needless collision for over 3 years now! Thank you all for sup-
porting MT during 2013.
IM W
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