9th-12th-Lancers - Year 1987 - Page 0021
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 1987 |
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1 ._AA—-§l C Squadron Our last year in Germany was eventful as always. The various exercises and schemes that kept us busy, if not always entertained, are outlined in the troop notes below: suffice it to say that our skills, not to mention our tact and diplomacy, were stretched to the full during our visit to Italy, provision of a Site Guard, umpiring of GRAND CANYON, participation in ETERNAL TRIANGLE, and “proving" of the justly renowned WHITE RHINO (WHITE ELEPHANTY). This latter extravaganza, inspired by (we like to thinkl) the Regiment‘s Boeselager triumph, was mounted by lst Armoured Division as a test for all their Recce troops and platoons It was certainly a test for poor QDG who had to run it, Two events stand out above the rest for special mention. The first is the departure in January for pastures new of Major Lord Morpeth. It is safe to say that none of us will ever forget serving with him! I think it is also true to say that none of us would wish to have missed the experience: his uniquely memorable contribution to international relationships and NATO solidarity in ltaly last summer was certainly the highlight of the year. With the con- siderable experience of his farewell speeches behind him he has now gone on to seek a political career — although at the time of writing. with a General Election only just announced, it is too early to say whether he has succeeded at the first attempt. We wish him well and trust that he will remember us favourably when he is Minister of Defence. After the 3 month interregnum of Captain Everard we now welcome Major and Mrs Robin Bennett to the Squadron fresh from some RAF bunker several miles beneath Buckinghamshire. The second event of note is of course the move back to England after eight years in Germany: a pretty traumatic business I think all would agree, despite the invaluable efforts of Captain Monckton and his red hot computer to make sense of the various nonsensical regulations governing the move. In THE 9TH/IZTH ROYAL LANCERS REGIMENTAL JOURNAL common with the rest of the Regiment we had a highly successful PRE prior to departing and handed over our vehicles to QDG in tip-top shape. The UK spares system being what it is, we were not overjoyed to see what we inherited in their place: however we are now hard at work in the biggest tank hangar in the world setting things straight, Finally, two block farewells and two greetings. The move means that our faithful Guided Weapons troop depart to B Squadron, where all the Regiment‘s Strikers will in future be concentrated. Our thanks to ZLI DIAMOND, SGT HUDSON. and the rest of the troop for all their efforts over the past yearr In their place we have acquired a shiny new fourth troop — currently flourish- ing under the stewardship of the ex provo Sergeant. SGT NICHOLL, but awaiting the arrival of an appropriately shiny new troop leader, 2L1 CHERRY, fresh from Bovington. We have also lost our LAD fitter section under SSgt DIXON, they remained in Wolfenbiittel with QDG. We offer our very sincere thanks for their efforts and friendly professionalism during our EAOR tour: we wish them well and welcome SSgt LEWIS and his team as their replacements. Now firmly installed in Wimbish. we look forward to seeing a little more of our families and sampling what England has to offer during 1987, while at the same time working hard to improve our professional standards. SHQ Troop Several changes in SHQ this year, in the main fairly recent. Officer wise we said hello to Captain Everard in April last year: Major Morpeth departed in January, and after being spotted occasionally in Germany trying to get transport to the airport, Major Bennett finally joined us for good in Wimbisb in Aprilr Our long suffering Sqn Sigs Sgt. Sgt Austin has now departed to pass on pearls of wisdom at the Signals school, he has been replaced by the newly promoted Sgt Pearce — an old C Squadron hand. LCpl Bird leaves the Army shortly, is serving out his Brigadier Toyne—Sewell attempting to cheer up Sgt Nicholl |
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