9th-12th-Lancers - Year 1986 - Page 0092
Image details
| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 1986 |
| Transcription |
THE 9TH/XZTH ROYAL LANCERS REGIMENTAL JOURNAL level. The signals came thick and fast telling you everything from the state of the weather in Northern Norway to what was happening in Eastern Turkey. You catch the odd glimpse of something about 1 (BR) Corps and you note with satisfaction that the old team is well and truly living up to expectations. But of course it is only one cog in a very big wheel and it comes as quite a surprise to realise that the US Maxine Amphib- ious Group you have just been talking to consists of 50,000 men, some 250 armoured vehicles and over twice as many aeroplanes as RAFG. Lunch heats compo into a cocked hat, where else does the cookhouse boast genuine chefs from so many nations. Just like any other exercise you have visitors and you brief them about what is going on, but it suddenly dawns on you that four men sitting together in the front row wear no less than 32 stars on their eight shoulders. They too have to put on Noddy suits and gas masks when PFC Smedlap bangs his mess tins. As the briefing ends, you recognise a new face — no, he is not late for the exercise, he was woken by the same Active Edge as you but he has just made it nonstop from the Continental United States in ten hours, only a little longer than it took you in the road convoy. With any luck Endex comes a little earlier than you expected but just as you are about to execute a crash pack up and race for base you receive a special invitation to attend the 'Hot Washup‘. Like any good soldier you accept it with grace and curse under your breath. By now you will have realised that these few words have little to do with Coal Holes but they may have given you a bit of a glimpse into the big wide world of NATO. The channel may be a superb anti tank ditch. Englishmen are truly not as others and at the sharp end it is quite rightly ‘eyes down and look in’. But spare a thought for our partners in this great Alliance, take trouble to get to know them, to under- stand them and even learn to speak their language — after all, most of them speak yours If you do, you will find the big wide world has a great deal to offer you. LJRN / ment ‘5, Oelaehlagern 6 3300 Braunsehwelg Tel. (0531) 165 65 Outdoor Equ/i sportcamp |
| Title |