9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2004 - Page 0005
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
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REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) 3 Foreword by the Commanding Officer ast year I closed my foreword by stating that, following the Regiment’s return from Iraq, we hoped to concentrate on the things that we wanted to do, rather than those that others wished upon us. I am pleased to say that we have achieved that and we can look back on the last twelve months with a consid- erable degree of professional and personal satisfaction. The Regiment spent the second half of the tour in Iraq in equal- ly unusual circumstances as the first. A Squadron continued to monitor the border with Kuwait, interdicting smugglers and criminals, while C Squadron had to re-role to become part of the Security Sector Reform initiative. This project sets out to raise the standards of indigenous law enforcement in Iraq and, while others trained the police, C Squadron looked after the Department of Border Enforcement and the law courts and judi- ciary. RHQ continued to support HQ 20th Armoured Brigade by providing the expertise for the media, information opera- tions and civil affairs groups. Throughout this challenging tour the Regiment once again demonstrated its courage, flexibility and resourcefulness in a demanding environment. Despite numerous ‘contacts’ we were mercifully spared any serious casu- alties. Having returned from Iraq in the spring, my aim was to reform and retrain as a Formation Reconnaissance Regiment. This was important because we had spent nearly two years on various dif- ferent tasks such as BATUS OPFOR, the Firemen’s Strike, Bosnia and Iraq; none of which was in our core role. Throughout the year conventional warfighting training was conducted, beginning with a demanding but exciting three week exercise to the south of Germany where we pretty well re- invented training on public land, an art that has been lost in recent years. Taking all our tracked and wheeled vehicles and supported by elements of fourteen other units the Regiment manoeuvred over an area thirteen times the size of Salisbury Plain and used fifty thousand track miles. Building on what had been learnt on Exercise Swabian Lance we participated as in the lst (UK) Armoured Division’s major exercise in the autumn where we acted as their divisional reconnaissance battlegroup. The final element of this training was Annual Live Firing con- ducted on Hohne Ranges which culminated in three major squadron exercises including firing from all our own integral weapons systems supported by engineers and mortars. Running concurrently with the more obviously military aspects of life was a desire to boost our stock of ‘esprit de corps’. We were delighted to welcome our Colonel-in-Chief to Hohne on his first visit to the Regiment. In 24 hours His Royal Highness The Duke of York saw various aspects of Regimental life, met many of the families and witnessed a very successful mounted and dismounted parade. This was followed up with the remain- der of the weekend being dedicated to the Old Comrades and to our Regimental families. Our affiliation to HMS TIRELESS has been started in fine style with several reciprocal visits and these are already bringing rewards. In September a coach party visited the battlefield of Moy and we provided lance markers, silver and the 9th Lancers captured Prussian trumpet for the 90th anniversary dinner of the Battle of Mons at SHAPE. Continuing the historical note twenty members ofthe Regiment undertook a Battlefield Tour to South Africa to visit the 9th and 12th Lancers engagements in the Boer War, a fascinating trip made possible by a generous donation from Home Headquarters. The final area that I wished to develop was to give our soldiers the chance to enjoy aspects of military life that are frequently squeezed out of our busy lives. Paticular attention has therefore been paid to adventure training and sport. In the latter we have been as active as at any time that I can remember and, as well as getting everyone involved, we have also achieved some notable success. The Judo squad are Army Champions and collected a total of eighteen medals in the recent finals in Aldershot, we were runners up in the Germany Volleyball championships (and have qualified for the Army final) and currently the Regiment lies top of our league in the football. Polo has been reinvigorat- ed at Hohne with the running of a novice course and a Regimental tournament. Members of the Regiment have also been selected for Corps and Army teams in a number of differ- ent events ranging from netball (our female clerks) to full bore rifle shooting and ice hockey. At the end of the year we were informed that as part of the Future Army Structures work we would be changing our organ- ization. We will lose one of our CVR(T) equipped Sabre Squadrons and it will be replaced by a Command and Support Squadron. The latter is a new structure that brings several new capabilities including a dedicated surveillance troop equipped with radar, an NBC troop, a Tactical Air Control Party and Command Support troop. While our overall numbers will reduce by about thirty at Regimental Duty I do not anticipate us having to make anyone redundant. The Regiment is currently planning and preparing for opera- tions in Iraq once again. 2005 will therefore be focused in this direction however I believe we have established a really solid basis from which to generate success. Our soldiers and families remain as loyal and steadfast as ever and it is them that we rely on to provide our military capability. As well as being of inter- est to others, I trust that the serving Regiment will take consid- erable pride in what they have achieved as they read this Journal. |
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