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

Commanding Officer saw the complexities of a mirror shootwhilst the Regimental Sergeant Major was introduced to thelife as a Number 2 and 3 by WO2 Temple. An Illuminationshoot followed on that evening, which saw some unusual firingpositions being adopted due to soft ground.The cadre concluded with an introduction to the executive sideof life for the Mortar numbers, allowing the junior membersto be both MFCs and CPO (with some supervision). The dayculminated with a Direct Shoot pitting young mortar numbersagainst the older command team. (See also the Colour Section.)Capt Montgomery assesses the OP.HQ COMPANYOC: Maj C KerrCSM: WO2 D RobertsonCQMS: CSgt A TurnerStoreman: Cpl B DevlinClerks: LCpl N Duhaney and Cpl S HillhouseSince our last entry the tempo of training and support to theBattalion has increased dramatically. From SLE, a possibleoperational tour of IRAQ on TELIC 11 and now a confirmeddeployment, on OP HERRICK 8 with 16 Air Assault Brigade.Many members of HQ Company still had the time to supportceremonial duties for the General Assembly of the Church ofScotland and the guard at Holyrood Palace. All departments inHQ Company can be proud of their achievements to date and willcontinue to train and support the Battalion for the forthcomingOp Tour.LCpl Bonnar adjusting targets from his OP.The QM’s G4 gang, which incorporates the MT, LAD andSignals, has been actively involved in the final stages of thecompletion of the Bowman conversion – less four vehicle fitswhich still remain in Ashchurch. Sgt Worrall (Signals CQMS orQM G1098 2IC) has had the pleasure of receipting all equipmenton to the UNICOM account, a major task as you can understandwith every piece of equipment given a serialised number. Nowthat we have successfully converted the fleet we now need toWhole Fleet Manage (WFM) these assets in line with 3 Div WFMdirectives and reduce the fleet to approx 42 vehicles. I can hearthe screams of joy from the MT/LAD – less to worry about forthe ECIs, more time off, etc. But… “No Chance” – as most of theLAD are now actively training to convert to Snatch and Mastiff,having just converted to “BULLDOG”. (That’s another story.)L-R, Fus Tawake, Cpl Denovan and LCpl Vanalagi getting down and dirtyduring the Illum Shoot.sections deployed out to the training areas and the MFCs stayedin camp to use the Dismounted Close Combat Trainer. Byexploiting the full extent of the Bowman radios, MFCs were ableto send real time fire missions against a digital enemy. Addedto the complexities of the Bowman radio this really tested allthe personnel in the Platoon and prepared them well for theremaining events..As always the main event for any mortar platoon is live firing.After a few refresher shoots the Platoon was back up to its usualhigh standard; just in time it seemed for a surprise visit by theCommanding Officer and the Regimental Sergeant Major. TheAlso during this period the Battalion took loan of four of the newtroop-carrying vehicles that are intensively and very successfullyused in Iraq and Afghanistan. The “Mastiff ”, an impressivevehicle to say the least, gives vital all round protection to theoccupants and packs a punch with its 0.5 Browning machinegun. A Class 2 licence is required for this monster; it is as wideas a ’bus. This troop carrier and weapons platform will be usedextensively by the Battalion in Afghanistan.The Bn continues to be at apace; despite the Driver TrainingWing being maxed out, it is producing newly-qualified drivers inincredible numbers to meet the operational requirement. At thetime of writing there are 99 soldiers planned to go through someform of licence acquisition, conversion or familiarisation trainingin November alone. These are incredible numbers. All credit mustgo to the Driver Training Wing for their efforts in meeting therequired stats.THE ROYAL HIGHLAND FUSILIERS 43