Journal 2008 - The Journal Royal Highland Fusiliers - The Royal ...

Mastiff armoured vehicle. Mastiff became the focal point forthe Company’s efforts and Fusiliers, JNCOs and SNCOs allenjoyed learning to drive and command the vehicle. All returnedextremely enthusiastic about the vehicle and the protection itoffers. Most even managed to not crash the vehicle, somethingwhich was to change later on during the training. In Germany, theCompany was taught how to use the HMG and GMG, which willbe the weapon systems on the Mastiff.Operational Training and Advisory Group (OPTAG) trainingtook place in early November and we had the opportunity to meetother members of 16 Brigade, the Brigade we were deployingwith. Later on in the month the Company got its first chance touse Mastiff on exercise in STANTA with 2 PARA. The usefulnessand limitations of the vehicle were soon discovered by LCplNaqarase, who managed to discover why the REME exist; havingdriven off-road he was forced to wait for twelve hours for themto turn up and pull the vehicle out of the ditch. The rest of theExercise managed to pass without major incident and the weeklongopportunity to train will prove invaluable.The Company then went straight to Otterburn for a live-firingpackage. Any exercise in Otterburn in December is forced to dealwith the elements and despite the opportunity to use new weaponsystems and continue with all the build-up training, most willundoubtedly remember the horizontal rain and sleet and often amixture of both. The end of the exercise did, however, signal theend to a very busy period and the reward of Christmas leave. TheCorporals and Sergeants had their Mess Christmas function andon the Friday before leave, the Company had its annual party. Thebenefit of being on exercise a lot and raising money through thetuck shop was enjoyed by all.The months since the last leave period have flown by and,although the Company has spent long periods on exercise andaway from Glencorse, knowing that we will deploy in the NewYear has provided all the necessary motivation for the intensiveperiod. As ever, there have been several arrivals and departures inB Company. Capt Keating has moved to BHQ to become IO, LtMuir has become Company 2IC. 2Lt Oladjins commissioned inDecember and will takeover as 4 Pl Comd. Cpl Thomson returnedfrom his tour with the R ANGLIAN and was posted to Catterick.2008. Bring it on….C COMPANYOC: Maj T J Cave-Gibbs 2IC: Capt M D KerrCSM: WO2 S DreverCQMS: CSgt P Marshall8 Pl Comd: 2Lt C Law 8 Pl Sgt: Sgt T Lowe7 Pl Comd: Lt D E Reed 7 Pl Sgt: Sgt S McCulloch9 Pl Comd: Lt D J W Morgan 9 Pl Sgt: Sgt D AmesMuch like the rest of the Bn, C Coy returned from leave in Augustready to continue training to support the forthcoming deploymentto OP TELIC 12 in May 08. However, the plan and the brigadewas to change and by September we had been told that we wouldbe deploying to Afghanistan on OP HERRICK 8 in March 08 aspart of 16 Air Assault Brigade.The training programme has incorporated the key lessons fromPDT and other essential skills such as communications, vehiclepatrolling skills and public order. The programme has squeezedin what must be a record number of individual courses; drivingFus Thrower takes no chances in passing his GPMG assessment shoot.licences (from zero to hero in 8 weeks is the record, thanks to theMTO’s support) for Mastiff and Snatch vehicles, qualifying anAll Arms Search Team and putting soldiers through team medic,tactical intelligence and various helicopter handling courses toname but a few. We also focussed on getting to grips with therelatively new (to us) Bowman radio system and to qualify thewhole Company on the GPMG.To fill our manning requirement for OP HERRICK the Coywelcomed around 40 soldiers from A Coy led by 2Lt Bridle andSgt McGuire to swell the ranks. They have been quickly absorbedand the benefits of a ‘fully-manned’ coy are being felt.Amongst this full training programme we had a number ofsoldiers pass the Potential Junior NCO Cadre. Special mentionshould be made of Fus Smith and Fus Mair, both finishinghigh in the top third. Lt Morgan began as DS Pl Comd and dueto the fortunes of war ended up running the whole cadre! CplThompson and Cpl Mortley were involved as Sec Comds.On the 7 Oct a Bn Team comprising 2Lt Law and Bridle, CplGlen, LCpl Dunlop and McKinney and Fus Buist (all part of theC Coy family) completed the Loch Ness Marathon, running inboots, combats and day sacks weighing 20lbs (unlike all the othercompetitors, who had also done some training for the event!).Nevertheless, the team threw themselves wholeheartedly into therace and completed the course in a very respectable five hours andraised £1400 for the Erskine Charity. Capt Grant and LCpl McGillalso took part as individual runners.40 THE ROYAL HIGHLAND FUSILIERS