9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2006 - Page 0072
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2006 |
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70 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) RAC Training Regiment, Provost Troop urrently the RAC Training Regiment Provost Troop/Garrison Detention Centre, has two members of the 9/12L gracing its corridors, thought not quite the Green Mile! More a sort ofbattleship grey! SSgt Pumford and Sgt Milne rule the roost, while Cpl Milner left to go back home to RD late in 2006. The job itself is very different from any that I’ve encoun- tered at RD. Never in my life did I expect to be baby sitting a young Trooper refusing to soldier sitting in his underpants for 12 days awaiting discharge. Still you’ve got to admire his, all be it misdirected, determination! Although the steady flow of Phase 2 recruits who slip up here and there keeps us reasonably busy, we do still find the time to stay quite active representing the Garrison at various sports. Sgt Milne desperately tries to pretend he’s not as old as he is, by tor- turing himself every Wednesday afternoon on the rugbypitch! I gave up rugby when I could still feel the injuries from the previ- ous week. I now solely concentrate on building up a Garrison Judo team. Cpl Liburd and Sgt Milne have recently taken up the sport and will fly the 9/12L flag at the Army Championships. RAP 502 Find, HQ DRAC have been at the home of the Royal Armoured Corps for 18 months and am enjoying the varied and rewarding job of SO2 Find. I am responsible for filture equipment for Formation and Close Recce, which can be both filn and interesting. I also look after all RAC Recce doctrine and publications,which tends to be less filn. So what do I get up to? My current projects that should affect 9/12L include the following: the Surveillance System and Range Finder (SSARF), due to replace OTIS and SPYGLASS in 2008 7 and not before time. It will have a GPS and a laser range find- er, giving a grid ofwhat is being observed. That will be followed by a version for FACs with better communications and greater accuracy. The new lightweight thermal imager (LWTI) 7 a ther- mal weapon sight 7 is in service now but rather than go to Regiments, it has all gone to Afghanistan. The improved sniper system which includes a new rifle, scope, sights and suit 7 due in 2008. FRES 7 it will arrive (I promise) to replace most A vehicles in 9/12L, but not for a few years... Putting Javelin on a remote weapon station on top of Spartan allowing use of TI and firing of the missile from under armour (but retaining the ability to dismount it when required). This will also increase the number of missiles carried on each vehicle. I have written the new Tactical Aide Memoire (TAM) Recce insert, which should be with crew commanders soon. I am also working with the medics to improve the old problem of medical support to Formation Recce; seeing medical competence, usual- ly a doctor and a mini-aid post, deploying forward at squadron level when appropriate. The Goggs family has increased by one since I left Regimental Duty, so I now have a daughter Sophie, as well as a son Freddie. We move to Warminster in the summer and I will be SO2 ISTAR in the Battle group Training Unit, running TESEX exer- cises on Salisbury Plain. DMG 802 Training Requirements, HQ DRAC It was one ofthe hotter days we had to date on the tour, return- ing from patrol, my shirt had gone dark brown through damp and the Fabreeze I had applied to the body armour, the night before, had given up the unfair struggle to keep the smell neu- tral. ‘Glasgow phoned, could you phone them back’ I was told on entering the Ops Room. Great, they were phoning to say I had the job in Cyprus, how many beach towels did I need? ‘Tim, thanks for calling back (on my welfare minutes!), we have got you a job in DRAC, there are 2 others in the running but if they say no you will get it.....’ Needless to say the other 2, obvi- ously far luckier souls than I, said no and hence in August 06 I find myself buzzing to be let in at the front door of the Headquarters. The building actually houses 2 distinct organisations, DRAC and the Armour Centre and there is a clear separation ofrespon- sibilities as one side continually tells the other. The job is SO2 Training Requirements, forecasting out into the future for new equipments, fire fighting UOR trg requirements, maintaining the steady state justifications for funding and handling non RAC courses. Stimulating, rewarding? Well in all honesty at the moment, no. Challenging and improving my wider military education? Yes. Quality of life? Excellent. Far from the Troop Leader perspective of DRAC being full of crotchety, senior and shuffling retired officers there are actually a lot of like minded, good fun and social Majors trapped behind the dour facade of the HQ. Don’t take my initial impression of the HQ as gospel, for I have not been here all that long. I am busy trying to justify, under the current operational load, a return to 3 sabre Sqns for 9/12L and QDG 7 can’t be bad! TR} Project LISTENER — The baton is passed 11 completion of ICSC (L), my foray into the Acquisition World began in mid-August upon my arrival in Abbeywood, just as Major Farrer was returning to RD and Major Clifford preparing himself for his stint in Iraq. Despite having read with interest Major Farrer’s intro to Requirements Management from last year’s journal, I still did not really know what to expect. The preparation from Shrivenham was broad to say the least and provided a mere overview of acquisition man- agement and how procurement in general worked. I certainly had no forewarning of the technical understanding required, the vagaries of the commercial world and the intricacies involved in procurement as a whole. Not unsurprisingly, the job is proving to be very different and a challenge, but one that I am, in gener- al relishing. |
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