9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2002 - Page 0062
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2002 |
| Transcription |
60 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) The Royal Wessex Yeomanry Having arrived in the knowledge that a Lancer adorning a seat usually taken by a Hussar was rather unusual and that a little bluffing of MBT knowledge might be required, I was soon to realise that in fact getting to grips with a Yeomanry Regiment was going to be far more of a challenge. The Regiment is comprised of four traditional County Yeomanry Regiments each now being represented by a squadron with its own own cap-badge and traditions. Allied to this, the very different TA Career structures and working for a TA Commanding Officer who has to rely on his Regular staff heav- ily to fulfill his duties, it has been a little different! A TA Adjutant generally finds himselfwith a variety of other tasks not frequented by his Regular counterparts and I have found myself acquiring the duties of Mess Secretary, Unit Press Officer, Regimental Race Secretary as well as being responsible for all recruiting and marketing issues and being the main point of contact for the Regiment on a daily basis. So life can be busy and if you dare to miss a day from the office it is not unusual to arrive back to an answer phone beaming with messages, an in- tray touching the ceiling and e-mails galore. However, it all helps to make one feel popular! The year itself began fairly steadily for the Regiment, which was perfect to allow me to find my feet and with the main regi- mental focus being on obtaining as many CHALLENGER 2 qualifications for the Yeomen, as much opportunity was made to Live Fire in Lulworth and achieve as much time on tank both on SPTA and within the Bovington area. In May, the provision of communications for the Badminton Horse Trials and the manning of the Fall Out cell on the annual Ten Tors expedition on Dartmoor provided the Regiment with some non-military tasks before it embarked on some collective training in June with the squadrons practicing CR2 tactics using their cut-down Landrovers. At first this appeared to me to be a slightly pecu- liar alternative though it soon became clear that it actually pro- vides a fairly simplistic and educational method of demonstrat- ing the basics. As the year progressed my workload was soon halved when Sarah and I acquired the statutory canine, soon to be found helping to change the shade of our newly finished 1.8 Million Pound TA Centre. Needless to say, two industrial cleans later and any evidence of the “little” accidents had been removed! The Wreck of his year saw the 150th anniversary of the sinking of the Birkenhead off Danger Point, South Africa. Danger Point, itself, is a remarkable headland with, what is now called, Birkenhead Rock lying one kilometre off the coast. Birkenhead Rock is not visible, but the sea boils over the surface in a par- ticularly menacing way. On February 26th 1852, the troopship Birkenhead was carrying reinforcements from Cape Town to the Frontier War, when it struck a previously uncharted rock at 2 o’clock in the morning. The captain, realising that the Birkenhead was lost, gave the order to abandon ship. Pandemonium ensued and it quickly became apparent that there were not enough life rafts for every- one. The senior officer, Lt Col Seton, gave the order for the troops to “Stand and be still” and allow women and children onto the rafts first. (‘Women and children first’ is now known as the Birkenhead Drill). The ship sank in twenty minutes with the troops still standing on the deck. 207 lived to tell the Capt OB /ooK/ng s//ght/y start/ed after f/naHy work/Hg out who has been dO/ng a// the work The latter months of the year have involved much activity including the deployment of RHQ and A Squadron on EX LOG VIPER as part of 101 Log Bde’s biannual exercise in the Armour Replacement Role. Following on from this have been various recruiting weekends, live firing weekends, a two week Yeomanry Junior Officer Course, a Military Skills weekend and several Officers’ Mess events all of which have required signifi- cant input from this Headquarters. With the Training Major, Major Richard Watson, recently returning to the Queen’s Royal Lancers as Second in Command and Lt Col Ewen Cameron handing over command to Lt C01 The Lord de Mauley at the end of the year, I have certainly been kept busy and no doubt their will be little respite in the New Year. Treacle and I are due to relinquish the desk in March and relo- cate to Bulford and the delights of Recce Brigade. However with no replacement Training Major on the horizon and my suc- cessor not due to April coupled with the possibilities of excite- ment overseas 7 who knows? jRC-B the Birkenhead |
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