9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2001 - Page 0023
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2001 |
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REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) Z3 Swain remains as do the following; LCpl ‘Spot’ Hackney, Tpr 'Hopo' Hopkins, Tpr Beaumont, Tpr 'Dancer' Durrance, Tpr Loughman, and Tpr 'Mutley Wykes. We say goodbye to; Tpr Cona, Tpr 'Chad' Carroll, Tpr 'JT' Kirk, LCpl Meehan, and Tpr’s Ward and Charnick. Overall it has been a very successful year for the Troop, with the high turn over of men professional standards were maintained at a high level, which is a tribute to all individuals involved. Many thanks for all the hard work that has been put in at all lev- els, and we can look forward to another busy and challenging year to come. HLS 2 Troop As the reveries of the New Year died away, 2 Troop, along with the rest ofC Squadron, began their Kosovo training in earnest. This saw us descend on Sennelager for joint training with ZRTR. Once we had proved our hardiness in near artic nights, and braved the ‘King Edward potato’ riots (Tpr ‘Spuddy’ Plunkett managing this time to keep his pate out of the firing line), we were considered fit for operations. We deployed in the beginning of February to Podujevo, and from there, up to an isolated outstation overlooking the bound- ary. There were some concerns that the seclusion might affect our health, however, these fears were unfounded; apart from a few cases of mild blindness and hairy palms, the Troop weath- ered the storm. Indeed, when investigated, much of the prob- lem seemed to stem from LCpl Salih’s prolific video buying; it’s such a shame he was unable to bring these back to the west! From there, we began our Troop rotation around Podujevo and the surrounding area, getting stuck in to the assortment ofprob- lems that urban and rural patrolling generate. (Upon reflection, it seemed that the only constant was Lt Campbell-Collins’ unde- niable mastery of the table-football table.) In the north, we spent much of our time mounted on our vehicles, taking them into the hills to observe Serbian forces. It was rather careless, however, of Cpl Lennox (Scots DG), our tame jock reservist, to lose one of the wagons. He did manage to find it later, however, but he was sure he hadn’t left it there, and he was pretty sure it had had both tracks, and the front decks, and perhaps not quite so many bumps and scrapes. The rest of the tour saw the Troop scattered around Kosovo helping generate recce elements of various Task Forces. Cpl, now Sgt, Allsopp, accompanied the Tp Ldr down to the Sgt Carter wrtn n/s packed /uncn Macedonian border with his trusty crew, namely Plunkett and Aveyard. In rather sunnier conditions, Sgt ‘ Ooh, I think I pulled something’ Mallin took himself, his hernia and Cpl Worgan to overlook the dissolution of the Ground Safety Zone. Sadly, we were left early by Tpr Pook and Sgt Allsopp, the for- mer to a course and the rigours of B Squadron, the latter to recruiting in Leicester. Luckily, this was not until we had all managed to admire LCpl Brassington’s excellent parking of his Land Rover in Serbia 7 apparently the path just gave way! After this, the aspiring LCpls were packed off early to do their Cadre course back in Germany. It was unfortunate that Tpr Smith was only narrowly pipped at the post in the competition and came in an extremely close second. We returned towards the end of]une to two weeks in Germany before some well earned leave. Now, sadly, the Troop has been split up, with many being drawn off to Oman for EX SAIF SAREEA II, and the others scattered amongst a remodelled C Squadron. With the year at an end, we can now look back with a certain degree of pride in the way that every member of the Troop performed throughout a difficult and challenging year 7 hopefully, now, Tpr Thompson will be able to find someone jun- ior to himself! 3 Troop The Tp began the year in the style and with the fortitude to which it had become accustomed under its leadership of the time, with the Tp scoring highest bar bills for Tp Ldr, Tp Sgt, Tpr and overall Tp at the pre-deployment party in Bergen. Sadly, the drinking was about to stop for what turned out to be a hectic but highly successful tour of Kosovo. The familiar C Sqn faces were joined by Tprs O’Brien, Browne and Garley from A Sqn. Tpr O’Brien spent much time indoors, having been told troopers were only allowed out in twos 7 he had not packed that particular uniform 7 and Tpr Browne picked up a tape to become LCpl Browne. The Tp found itself patrolling the Northernmost areas of the province by vehicle, on foot and even on skis, although in true Infantry style, LCpl Alford, our attached ‘I’oacher’, preferred to carry his. LCpl ‘Taff’ Haven, the other augmentee, may or may not have enjoyed the eXperi- ence 7 it was hard to tell through the thick Welsh accent. Boasting three ‘Trevs’ and two ‘Lees’, nicknames became an important part of communication. ‘Dirty Third’ as the Tp came to be known, saw a lot of the coun- tryside, with Cpl McKay and his crew deploying ahead of the 3 Tp moments before pouncrng on a dangerous armed cr/m/na/ |
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