9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2001 - Page 0050
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2001 |
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50 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Capt TSD Lyle - Assistant Chief Instructor, Intermediate Term eturning to Sandhurst is a little like revisiting one’s school. The same air of menace and boiled cabbage pervades the cor- ridors; it is only the spotty youths who have changed. The spotty 18 year olds of yesteryear have been replaced by an older, more assured Cadet. Cadets commission up to the age of 29 now, mean- ing the range of experience is greater, the questions more searching and the ambition clear from the outset. Most cadets know little of military life, they are fitter but less robust and are keenly aware of their ‘rights’. It is certainly a changed environment, but one that still offers a very challenging course to the cadets and still produces a finished product that can ‘do the business.’ I arrived in post in September having left the Operational Training Advisory Group in Warminster on its move to become part of the NITAT site in Kent. This had been a busy role with a varied tasks. I filled in as SOZ Pre Op Tours and drafted the pre-operational tour plot. I taught negotiation skills to UNMO’s with the help of sev- eral enthusiastic Sierra Leonians and spent some time back in Sierra Leone assessing training requirements for STTT’s and IMAT. I now occupy the post of Assistant Chief Instructor of the inter- mediate term at RMAS. Although this is a staff post, it still sees me with a happy amount of time at the ‘coal face’. I may be in the field on ‘Exercise FIRST ENCOUNTER’ checking the cadets have dug deep enough, teaching the Estimate process to a platoon on Salisbury plain or slogging it around the Academy or Barossa on an ACFT. I also give central presentations on such gems as ‘Coy Gp logistics in war’ and ‘GENFOR’ and motivating cadets on such subjects after they have just completed double endurance PT can often be a challenge. I am seemingly responsible for most of the horrors the cadets go through in the intermediate term such as PRACTAC and MKZ, though I would argue that staffing and marking these events is equally horrific for the Directing staffl Sandhurst is a 14 week roller coaster for staff and cadets alike, and the long leave periods are well earned. I have the pleasure of occu- pying a Flat (as all single DS do) on the end of platoon lines, so have no escape from cadets. As my flat is on the end of New College near the gym I was awoken every morning of the first three Cp/ SW/es and Capt Ly/e , Rates 2007 v SEME weeks by sounds ofintense physical pain as the junior term are put through their paces by the PT staff. Now they have gone and been replaced by a rather insistent bugler from the Royal Signals who toots out his own versions of reveille at 0630hrs every morning. The days are often long, coming back from the field and introduc- ing visiting lecturers and then hosting them in the evenings. I have had the chance to meet and host some fantastically brave and interesting men who have come to pass on to cadets their own experiences of war. Cpl Sharp is now an old Sandhurst hand and plays a key part in the smooth running of exercises for the intermediate term. He is store- man for Alamein Company and has received high praise for run- ning a busy CQMS department in the absence of his CQMS. The CQMS staff, like everyone else at RMAS, work long hours in often inhospitable bits of countryside to provide support for whatever exercise or event the cadets may be taking part in. Sgt Styles has newly arrived at the Signals Wing and is instructing the junior term before moving up to instruct the intermediate term in the spring. Sgt Styles is responsible for teaching Coy Level com- munications on the PRC 349, 350 and 351. He deploys on exercis- es to teach them practical use of line and comms, to back up the teaching that takes place in the classrooms of the signals wing. He has already shown his prowess on the rugby pitch and both he and I turn out for the Academy Pirates N the Directing Staff Rugby team. We had the pleasure ofbeating the SEME recently who had several Fijian Army squad players on the team. I am also involved in the Academy Yacht Club as Members Secretary and help run the sail adventure training that takes place at the end of the junior term and at RowCo. I recently took out some cadets to teach them sailing over a long weekend, though I am unsure if the Solent in December is a good recruiting sergeant for the sport! All in all, Sandhurst is a demanding yet rewarding place to work. It is a pleasure to work within the beautiful grounds amongst a committed directing staff, to cadets who are keen to learn. TSDL Capt Ly/e on patro/ dunng an WATT 8777 /nspeot/on S/erra Leone 2007 . ., .v- _ .w |
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