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9th-12th-Lancers - Year 1984 - Page 0021

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Regiment 9th/12th Lancers
Year 1984
Transcription The months tollowmg Ex Mountain
Goat were taken up With varlous close
recce troops in turn going to Sollau
torpre , BATUS tratntng, before tlying
to Suffteld Canada wtth thetr Battle
Groups on Exerctse Medicine Man
What some at the Squadron thought
would be a ntce holiday, to fact,
turned out to be a busy and
demanrltng tratnrrtg exerctse, during
WllIUlI a great deal was learnt (not
least the dtlttculty ol rnap reading
outside red areas) Free movement,
IG ~ lrce qiinnery and ’real We lire
missions lroin arttllery to mortars were
all much aporeclated All the troops
earned nigh oratse at Sullteld lot
seemtng [0 know what would happen
next lrhat‘s what recce troops are tor'l
Brrgadrer Naylor, Crrntrnander 22
Armoured Brigade. when Inspecltng
3rd Troop during his Visit to BATUS
was interested to learn tn response to
one of his questions. that 3 RGJ were
’not durrrg too badly Tor grurttsl'
The troops spent approxtmalely 17
days on the Drama wrth their
respective Battle - Groups 4th Trooo’s
time coincided wrtli one of the hottest
spells the area had known In years, the
temperature averaging 33% Many
new friends were made, tnctudtng
‘Satnmv the rattlesnake’ and 'Grett the
gopher’ Alter the axercrse on the
prairte, there followed a hecttc period
of cleanan and prepanng the vehicle
tor handover to the tncomtng Battle
AGroup Havtrtg completed the
handover, there was nine tor some R
and R wrth vrslts to Calgary,
Edmonton and the Rockies. before
returntng to BAOR
The return flight tor 6th Troop was
made on the RAF‘s new TRlSTARS,
Needless to say RAF stewards dtdn't
compare With the Brttrsh Caledonian
stewardesses who had pandered to
thelr wrshes on the outward tourney
Howevert Sgt Bond unloved the ’thts
is not a drtll’ emergency landing on the
return leg
‘ The return lrotn BATUS brought
wtth rt several changes Captain lewrs
lett 5th Troop on posting to Uganda
while SSgt Fegasse tttoved to lst
Troop In the middle nl all this aCllVIlVr
those that rematned rtr BAOR
depolved to France on Exercise Happy
Voltigeur, A Regtmentalty run
adventure training exercrse at La
Courttrie. Facllttles lot climbtng,
canoetng, trekking, Wind surltng and
‘entente cordiale‘ were all available
The exerctse Will be remembered tor a
number at reasons, not the least being
lHE 9m lZTH noyAt tANCERS RlGlMENYAt JOURNAL
Exrtrnsu Happy vnttigeur in Flfltlce provided a welcome bleak.
Li C E A Cooke’s dubious behaviour tn
the local discos helore berng patntully
dropped down the side at a mountain
by Tpr Darmola whtlst ahsetling
Several people escaped from SHO, it
only temporarily , Sgt McIntyre was
attached to C Squadron as a canoetng
tnstructor, LCpl thhardson detached
himself to hosptlal, Tpr lnow LCpll
McGaiin drsapoeared on a course and
Tpi Pitcher was detached to one of the
groups on the adventure training
Circuit. lt was only LCol Barron, With
his cltmbtng oiialtlloattons, who was
left behind to look after the vehicles
Whilst the remainder of the
Regiment suntanned themselves tn
Fiance enjoying the cheap Wine, 3rd
Troop, havrng iusi returned lrom
BATUS, took some well earned leave
and said farewell to Captarrt
Routledge, who became Squadron
ZTC and to Sgt Raid who was posted
to A Squadron
The cltrnax ot the training season
last year was Exercrse Eternal Triangle,
the lst Armoured diviston FTX For
8H0 II also meant deploying on a CPX
called Exercrse Grand Canyon lr was
during this exercrse that Mator
Strudley reltnqutshed command and
departed on posltng to UK, leavtng
behind him thousands of tracksurts
SHQ was attached to RHO and Mayor
Chappell took over command
temporartly For the remainder of the
exercise SHO were deployed on the
succession ol drllerent tasks whrch
rncluded lookrng alter a CVRlTl
Squadron lrnrn the RAF Regtment at
Laarbruch, who were attached to the
9th/l2th Royal Lancers The
highlights ol tlirs exetcrse lor T31
Troop were One trying to ltnd out
under whose command they were
each day lit changed so often” Two
avoiding the hordes 0t pressmen
lollowrng the Royal Hussar Squadron
equipped wrrlt the new Challenger
tank. Lt Reed departed lst Troop tor
an emergency 6 month tour tn Beirut
and 55g! Day took over command
Wllh only 2 Scrmlrars tell on the road
2nd Troop were ordered to clear 2
routes through a wood thh 4 hours
to go Cpl Wixon's Scimitar broke
down and wrlh ortly 2 hours to go LCpl
Hewttt's also broke down, hoth
vehicles sullering wtth inator assemhly
problemsl no wonder the Amerlcans
gm Plrrthtlshortl
4th Troop deployed as usual wrth
The Coldslroam Guards on Exercrse
Eternal Trtangle but once or twtce tt
seemed they were going to detect to
the Orange Forces. Cpl Hancock
totned an enemy recce trnop l‘Well
they looked llke oursl‘l, and Sgt
Hayes, whilst monitoring enemy
movement‘ turned an enemy column
(‘Just to see where they were goirtitl'l
SSgt Hallsworth and Cpl Gaylor also
spent a whole Sunday chasrng
German TA Paras around the woods
l'Just for the hell of ttl'l Allin all an
exercise worth remembering!
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