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

52nd Lowland, Sixth BattalionThe Royal Regiment of ScotlandCO: Lt Col C A Coull2IC: Major A J TomczykTrg Maj: Major G A Irvine-FortescueRAO: Major PM HazellAdjt: Captain A D WatsonRSM: WO1 (RSM) S G CochraneCOMMANDING OFFICER’S OVERVIEW – 2007Lt Col C A CoullI took over command from Lt Col Sam Burns in April of this year.The summer period has been heavily dominated by our preparationsfor deploying a Force Protection (FP) Platoon to Kabul on OPHERRICK 7 and Exercise SUMMER CHALLENGE 07.The most challenging activity of the Summer months was tomobilise and train the FP (Force Protection) Pl to accompany124 Petroleum Sqn from 151 Tpt Regt for a six-month tour ofduty based at the ISAF (International Security and AssistanceForce) HQ in Kabul. The MOBREP (Mobilisation Report) to HQLAND was to mobilise forty-four from the Bn in order to meet theminimum manning requirement for the FP Pl of 1 + 31. BremenPl, as we’ve named them, form the 4th Pl of the Macedonian(MK) FP Company in the ISAF base and will be under TACON(Tactical Control) of the MK Coy, but remain OPCOM to (underOperational Command of) the Tpt and Maint Sqn. A Lt Col fromthe NATO ISAF HSG (HQ Support Group) is the immediatecommander of the ISAF 10B Tpt & Maint Sqn. So a complex chainof command and set of events! The bulk of the training effort fellupon the Bn and it is no small part due to the Herculean efforts ofthe Training Major and his team (and in particular CSgt Millar, theMachine Gun Pl PSI who is also accompanying the Pl for their firstfew months in theatre) that the relatively short period of trainingpassed off so well. I am also very grateful indeed to 5 SCOTS whoprovided, at very short notice, a training team of three with recentexperience in Kabul who worked with the Bn team.SUMMER CHALLENGE was headed up by 7 SCOTS and over aseven-week period produced CIC (Combat Infantryman’s Course)(TA) trained soldiers, most of whom had come straight fromcivilian life. 6 SCOTS contributed a large number of personnel toassist with the training and in turn have benefited from almost anentire Rifle Pl. This scheme, although manpower intensive andextremely difficult to organise, has produced large numbers oftrained personnel over the past two years, many of which are nowdeployed on HERRICK 7. We will be running Summer Challengein 2008 and it will be the main effort for the year.In addition to the FP Pl in Kabul, we have personnel mobilisedin the Balkans, Germany and quite a few who have just returnedfrom Iraq. It is fair to say there are very few left in the Bn whocan be mobilised and the situation is unlikely to improve for awhile. That said, we will attempt to support the Reg Bns withBremen Pl, PDT, Barry Buddon.50 THE ROYAL HIGHLAND FUSILIERS