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9th-12th-Lancers - Year 1984 - Page 0051

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Regiment 9th/12th Lancers
Year 1984
Transcription LAD
’LAD Duty Grapefruil' lsanie colour
but larger than a lemoiil keeps going
through nty mind as I sit here,
remintscntg over the happenings last
year, tor inspiration lot these notes,
May 83 saw us on Exercise
Mountain Goat’ in Langenberg, The
time, was, in the main, spent changing
major assemblies which seemed to
havoa 'down‘ on its Although we
went to all corners ol EAOR in pursuit
of the elusive replacement assemblies,
we reluctantly had to resort to
cannibalisarton to maintain CVRT
availability This resulted In some 20
CVRTs looktng somewhat ’battle
damaged’ at the rail station equipment
park. At least they pnivtded good fun
when we attempted to load them on
the trains for the return tourney The
exercise had it‘s highlights, orte being
SSgt Langlord, who hell bent on
furthering Anglo/German relations on
his last exercise in the Army, spent as
much time as possible tn any available
Gas!» Statle He didn’t appreciate
berng nick - named 'Cinderella’ when
EME deCided midnight was late
enough lot his taunts Mention must
also be made oi Sgt Page, who spent
two days extricating his CVRlTl
Samson from a most inaccessible
track in a steeply sloped wood; all this
to save 5 minutes on the original
tourney? Must be a lesson herel
The exermse was followed by a
fairly quret time through the Summer
months, during which we had a
successlul Annual Technical Review,
followed by an enjoyable adventure
training exercise in La Courtine,
France. This time we were blessed
wtth excellent vehicle reliability and so
avoiding the conSIdeiable headaches
involved in casualty recovery to
Hohne.
Exercise ’Etetnal Triangle’ was the
next obstacle. This proved to be very
worthwhile. It was played realistically,
allowing us to appreeiote some of the
problems we would encounter on the
'teal thing’ Many ol the Regiment
gained, lor the first time. the
experience of being backloaded With
their vehicles through the Divisional
recovery system. Repairs being carried
out some 100 Kms behind the front
line. We don't think they Will be so
keen to break down in luture,
Radio communications sometimes
proved unsattstactory, particularly on
one occasion, when the LAD was
ordered to attend a REME Brigade
meeting. Alter chasing around the
countryside, the meeting turned out to
be for DtVisional Recovery Olltcers It
was attended by Lieutenant Colonels
and Motors plus one but of place’
ASM However, the free beer and
sandwrches available at the meeting
were appreciated
The next lew months saw ultra
high activity on PRE‘s, handover of
the Scorpion Heat and preparation for
the move to Wollenbottel. During this
time we said goodbye to Captain and
Mrs Lucy, who tell to try their hands
in Civvy Street. and welcome to
Captain Williams from 12 AD Regt
Workshops. Indeed, by the time of the
move, we had bid farewell to the
whole LAD, tunlortunately too many
to mention by name, but we wish
them all wellltLess the ASM,
WOZIAOMSl Gowman, SSgt
Woodard, Sgt Williams, Cpl
Wightntati, LCpl Fenwtck arid CFn
Manning who moved With the
Regiment Once at Wolfenbuttel we
met all our new members, the majority
of whom were ex , 2 RTR LAD Again.
unfortunately, lat too many to
mention tndtvdually but welcome to
each and every one ot them No
sooner had we arrived than
preparations for Exercise ‘Fresh Starl’
were underway The ExerCise proved
bettefiCial by allowing the new LAD
personnel and the Regiment to get to
know each other quickly In tact, it
could be said by sprite, too quickly;
they arrived in the Unit one day. to
lind themselves on exercise the next.
Apart from ltxtng everything, lrom
the memorial to mole traps, we have
managed to lind some time lot spun
at both Regimental and BAOR levels.
We had entries in the Hohne 10 mile
race and Verden Marathon.
WOZlAOMSl Gowman achtevrng the
latter in 3 his 59 mins, a time at which
he is tusttliably proud; It was his first
ntarathon' We are presently in the
linals ol the REME BAOR Hockey
‘Late’ Competition. on a [Oll'll entry
Willi 45 Fd Regl Wksps and l FlHA
LAD 5891 Welsh was a regular
member of the REME BAOR Hockey
squad, Sgt Hughes is a member of the
Football squad at the same level SSgt
Woodard continues his good work
training the REME BAOR Swmtmtng
team. The LAD were runners ~ up in
the REME Ollshore Sailing Regatta.
wrnning the ELKIN Cup. LCpl Rowley,
an ex » Army Youth rugby player, is
expected to do well next season This
only narrtes a few with sporting talents
but with such diversity of skills we
look forward to even better
achievements over the next year.
tiii. othrtz'tii ROVAt lANlJRS REGtMENTAl JoiinNAt
Throughout the year we had
detachments to the Falkland lslands,
Belize, Canada and Cyprus This extra
Workload was ottset to some extent by
the attachment to us of SSgt Net .,
RNZEME, on Exercne ‘Long Look’. He
was constantly shalt-trig his head llt
disbelief at the things we do and
COltSldef quite normal Maybe he now
believes the British 'Tontmy’ to he
ouatntlv eccentric but. who knows. he
may be right7 On his own admission,
he enioyed his stay With us and gained
some very uselul CVRlT) experience
He did nor appear to think much ol the
All Blacks defeat by England,
espeCIally, as he was watching the
game ‘live’ on televismn at the ASM’s
house.
It has been an eventful year during
which we had manpower turnover of
around 90 per cent but more ‘ups’
than 'downs' Now we are settling
well at Wolfenbuttel and. With a
largely fresh team. are looking lotward
optimistically to the challenges of
1984/86.
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