wire - Royal Corps of Signals

THE WIRE, AUGUST 2010

The Royal Corps of Signals

THE

August 2010

wire

HONOURS AND AWARDS

We congratulate the following Royal Signals personnel who received awards in the QueensBirthday Honours List 2010

Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE)Lt Col BJ Spiers Blandford Garrison Support Unit

Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)Lt Col SA Clarke GM QGM

Maj BJ Skinner

We congratulate the following Royal Signals personnel who received the MeritoriousService Medal in May 2010

WO1 DP Collins 30 Sig RegtWO2 DW Maxwell 216 Sig Sqn

We congratulate the following Royal Signals personnel who received a Commander inChief’s Certificate for Meritorious Service in the Queens Birthday Honours List 2010

Capt DG Ikin 38 Sig Regt (V)SSgt TW Abbott 37 Sig Regt (V)

Cpl AJ Arnold 299 Sig SqnCapt (Retd) R Wright 10 Sig Regt

Published bi-monthlyAnnual subscription £12.00 plus postage

Editor: Mr Keith Pritchard

Deputy Editor: Mrs Amy Petersen

The Magazine of the Royal Corps of SignalsEstablished in 1920

Authors alone are responsible for the content of their articles. The opinions expressed in the articles of this publication are those of theindividual authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy and views, official or otherwise, of the Royal Corps of Signals or the Ministry of

Defence. All articles and submissions are published at the discretion of the Editor.This publication may contain official information. It should be treated with discretion by the recipient.

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CONTENTS

Page

Movements 2

News from Blandford 3

News of Training 6

News from Regiments 7

News from Squadrons 62

Other Units 77

Adventure Training 85

The Royal Signals Association 88

Donations 89

Last Post 94

Obituaries 94

Reunions 96

FRONT COVERThe Princess Royal meets RSA members at the RSA Reunion heldat Blandford Camp 19 - 20 June.

August 2010 Vol. 64 No: 4

All correspondence and material for publication in The Wire should be addressed to:

The Wire, RHQ Royal Signals,Blandford Camp,

Blandford Forum, Dorset, DT11 8RH Email: [email protected]

The Wire

EDITORIAL

It is with deep regret that we have to publish the untimely deathof Sig David Grout who had returned to the UK from Afghanistanon R&R whilst serving with the TFH Sig Sqn. Our thoughts arewith his family at this difficult time.

On a lighter note, our congratulations go out to all thosementioned in the Queens Birthday Honours List. Their namesand awards are published on the inside cover.

The quantity of material submitted for this edition far exceededthe maximum size of the magazine. As a result we have had totrim some of the material published, which means that somegood photographs have not been published. Also some articleswill miss this edition but will now be published in the Octoberedition. Our policy is to try and maintain currency, so reportsfrom Units will take priority with sport and interest articles makingway if necessary. However, please do not feel discouraged asyour reports will eventually be published. I am very happy withthis situation but do apologise to those whose hard work has notmade it to the final proofs but please do not be deterred – keepsending your articles and photographs.

Editor

Mr Keith PritchardTel: 01258 485249

Deputy Editor

Mrs Amy PetersenTel: 01258 485248

Welfare

Mrs Linda SizelandTel: 01258 482089

Accounts / Subscriptions

Miss Ruby StanleyTel: 01258 482087

Contributors

Deadline for The Wire : 15th February for publication in the April.15th April for publication in the June.15th June for publication in the August.15th August for publication in the October.15th October for publication in the December.10th December for publication in the February.

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BACK COVERThe two 40 Sig Regt Group teams after finishing 1st and 3rd inthe UNFICYP Military Skills Competition on 28 May.

2 THE WIRE, AUGUST 2010

Name and Rank Unit to which posted

MARCH 2010Maj LJ Courage .............. Eng Div, DCCIS

Capt AM Combe ………… 16 Air Asslt Bde

APRIL 2010Capt JA March ………… 2 Sig Regt

MAY 2010Maj JKR Hawkins ............... HQ 145 (S) BdeMaj EA Mortimore ............... HQ SOINC(A) RHQCapt AR Bunting ………… 3 (UK) Div - 206 SqnCapt IR Flannery ………… 3 (UK) Div HQ & Sig RegtCapt FS Keith ………… Temp HQ 2 (SE) Bde PRU Capt AP Manley ………… 22 Sig Regt - 222 SqnCapt MS Mattacola ………… 14 Sig Regt (EW)Capt GMT Oosterveen ………… CSDT Ops, DCCISCapt KS Smith ………… 30 Sig Regt HQ SqnCapt CK Whittley ………… HQ UKTF

JUNE 2010Lt Col CD McGrory .............. HQ 2 Div - G6 CISMaj DC Ball ………… HQ 11 Sig BdeMaj HL Bosley .............. CAST (S)Maj CM Dixon .............. BATCIS IPT, DESMaj KA Jeeves .............. ATR (W)Maj L Keily .............. NATO - CIS BMaj VE McNaught .............. 16 Air Asslt Bde HQMaj DG Richardson .............. 2 Sig RegtCapt JM Cunningham .............. 14 Sig Regt (EW)Capt RHC Day ………… 12 Mech Bde Capt ML Gray ………… 22 Sig Regt - 248 SqnCapt JZ Haines ………… HQ London DistrictCapt MW Joiner ............... 10 Sig Regt - 225 SqnCapt HM Kealy ………… 39 Sig Regt (V) HQCapt L McGrail ………… 71( Y) Sig Regt (V)Capt PJ Stubbs ............... 11 Sig Regt, DCCISCapt LE Webster ............... Maternity Leave

JULY 2010Lt Col TC Cooper .............. DESA/Lt Col JG Hill .............. HQLF AD G6Maj M Barratt .............. SANGCOMMaj SO Cole .............. HQ SOINC(A) CSD NtwksMaj CP Coleman .............. 3 (UK) Div - 206 SqnMaj AKT Crapper .............. DGISSMaj AHT Garrett .............. HQ 1 Sig BdeMaj CJ Kell .............. 11 Lt Bde - 261 Sig SqnMaj JN Mayne .............. 7 Sig Regt - 232 SqnMaj L O’Rourke .............. HQ SOINC(A) CSD NtwksMaj CI Russell .............. HQ 11 Sig BdeMaj WA Walker .............. 1 (UK) Armd Div Sig RegtCapt RDD Bennett ………… DESCapt EF Brookes-Smith ………… HQ 11 Sig BdeCapt RP Hammond ………… 1 (UK) Armd Div Sig RegtCapt AC Hodges ………… JSSU (Cyp) - ComdCapt D Khokaja Pun ………… Gurkha CoyCapt LS Matthews ………… JSSU Digby - OpsCapt PV McGarry ………… HQ 11 Sig BdeCapt EA Moore ............... 7 Sig Regt - 229 SqnCapt CG Parkes ………… HQ SOinC(A) COSCapt NCW Purdy ………… 21 Sig Regt - 220 SqnCapt JA Snelgrove ………… DESCapt MJ Speed ............... HQ SOINC(A) CSD NtwksCapt CL Van Der Merwe ............... 11 Sig Regt, DCCISCapt TJC Walton ………… 2 Sig RegtLt KJ Bilney ............... 4 Mech Bde

Name and Rank Unit to which posted

AUGUST 2010Lt Col JRC Bunce .............. Land Warfare Dev GpLt Col JRE Janes .............. HQ SOINC(A) CSD NtwksLt Col CC Richards .............. MOD Defence StaffA/Lt Col BM Bingham .............. HQ UKSC - J6 BranchA/Lt Col PJ Cooper .............. HQ DISCMaj ND Baker .............. HQ 19 Lt Bde - 209 Sqn

Maj NC Bruce .............. 7 Armd Bde

Maj AR Campbell ………… HQ Land G6 CBMMaj RJ Craig .............. HQ ARRCMaj CP Crowther .............. 10 Sig Regt RHQMaj TJ Downes .............. 21 Sig Regt (RHQ)Maj RJG Edwards .............. HQ ARRCMaj A Greenfield .............. PJHQ - J6Maj GB Ingram .............. Temp JSCSC Cse, LandMaj SC Jeffery .............. 21 Sig Regt - 244 SqnMaj JO Lambeth .............. DSTLMaj GH Lenthall .............. Temp JSCSC Cse, LandMaj AG Lucas .............. 22 Sig Regt RHQMaj PN Randell .............. 14 Sig Regt (EW)Maj KJ Simmons ………… CISM Cse, DCCISMaj JL Squires .............. HQ Land - G6 CBMMaj PF Stowell ………… DGISS, DESMaj NGC Yardley .............. Temp JSCSC Cse, LandCapt KF Allt ………… HQ 12 Mech BdeCapt JEG Barr ………… 20 Armd Bde Sig SqnCapt CS Budding ………… 39 Sig Regt (V) Spt SqnCapt MJ Cox .............. 12 Mech BdeCapt SW Crowther ………… HQ ARRCCapt MR Flather ………… DCCIS CISM CseCapt TEF Gardner ………… 1 Gren GdsCapt JW Hooker .............. CSD Trg Ops, DCCISCapt PA Leach ………… 1 (UK) Armd Div Sig RegtCapt SR McGuckien ………… 3 (UK) Div HQ & Sig RegtCapt R Pace ………… USSO, BowmanCapt CJ Raynor ………… SANGCOM, DESCapt GA Stanger .............. 14 Sig Regt (EW)Capt SV Thomas ………… 71(Y) Sig Regt (V)Capt RJ Thompson ………… USSO HQCapt MJ Tremelling ………… 14 Sig Regt (EW)Capt EK Watson ………… HQ SOINC(A) CSD NtwksCapt N Watton ………… JSSU CheltenhamA/Capt ME Wilson Ramsay ………… Off Cdt SchLt D Wall ………… 52 Inf Bde - 258 Sig Sqn

SEPTEMBER 2010Lt Col E Doughty ………… Temp JSSU Digby L6MLt Col RG Thomas .............. Temp HQ SOINC L6MMaj JC Higginson .............. CISM Cse, DCCISMaj BDD Howarth .............. CISM Cse, DCCISMaj RS Jacques .............. CISM Cse, DCCISMaj JD King .............. Temp Defence AcademyMaj GJ Oliver .............. CISM Cse, DCCISMaj AD Shakespeare .............. CISM Cse, DCCISA/Maj MC Duff ………… DGISS, DESCapt GD Hume ………… 102 Log BdeCapt IG Thompson ………… HQ 1 Sig BdeLt EA Shale .............. 16 Air Asslt Bde

NOVEMBER 2010Capt JAM Watt ………… 1 (UK) Armd Div RegtA/Capt TEB Jones ………… NTM-I Fwd

DECEMBER 2010Capt EL Cameron ………… 1 Mech Bde - 215 SqnCapt G Davies ………… NTM-I FwdCapt IJ Kirk ………… PJHQ - J6

MOVEMENTS

THE WIRE, AUGUST 2010 3

NEWQUAY TRAINING CAMP – A FIRST YEAR PERSPECTIVE

- by Cpl Rees

The time arrived for our 6 week training in Newquay where wehad heard the hard work was to begin. This was in fact the truthfor 7 of us as LCpl Kes Potter injured himself on the 2nd dayand his strong ankle is still yet to be found.

We woke on our first day ready to get the training underway, thatwas until we got to the field. On arriving we were greeted by avery bumpy, manure covered area. This didn’t put us off howeverand after a few days Cpl ‘Fossy’ Foster thought we needed toget the warm fuzzy feeling again so moved us back to concrete.Luckily during this time he was able to find us another grass areathat was better than the first and it wasn’t long till some of ourpersonal tricks started to come along. After the first couple ofweeks it was soon apparent that it was the body fatigue thatmade the training harder as we practiced the tricks over and overagain.

Once we were managing to conquer the majority of our tricks wewere given the chance to jump on the quads and were taughthow to do wheelies and ride on 2 wheels. Everyone was soontrying to show off although the winner had to be LCpl ‘B’ Parris

who managed to wheelie with her hand off the throttle due to her“fast and furious” approach to all the tricks she does. We werealso given the opportunity to practice car jumping, Sig Mann andSig George Armitage leapt at the offer; all bets were placed tosee who would be the first to come off, but sadly both stayed onwith a few good jumps as well as a couple of dodgy landings.Hats off to both of them for giving it a go.

As we started to get into the rhythm of things the 2nd and 3rdyear riders were allocated their tricks to ride. This raised thetempo due to the other riders dragging us from trick to trickseeing who made the better props, once we were given our newtricks it was back to stage one again, trying to master them.The pace was raised after week 3 as we were now past the halfway mark and were due to put a show on midway through thefinal week. Solo practices were stopped and we concentrated onputting the show together. Our first attempt could only bedescribed as shocking as we ran around the pits grabbing wrongbikes for the relevant people. Like they say though practicemakes perfect or in our case a semi improvement and the run

throughs ran a bit more smoothly. It was about the 4th weekwhen the good old Cornish weather paid a visit for the majority ofour stay. This didn’t stop our training as we moved back on toconcrete but it did make the tricks we were still practicing ongrass a bit harder as we found out when the 3 bike fan was goingaround and Cpl Bartlett’s bike slipped from underneath himsending us crashing down, minus any injuries.

Sadly though the show we were to give didn’t happen due to badweather and gale force winds. However it was a fun andenjoyable 6 weeks with a few bumps and bruises along the way,and we now look forward to another 3 weeks training back inBlandford preparing for the Opening Show and receiving ourwhite helmets.

NEWQUAY TRAINING CAMP – A SECOND YEAR

PERSPECTIVE

The team train every year at RAF St Mawgan getting the newermembers of the Team up to speed with all the first year tricks,second years move on to learning how to reverse ride and learnthe fast complex rides. It is also used as an opportunity for thethird years and above to increase all aspects of their abilities.

The second year’s concentrate on reverse riding for the first fewweeks, getting their ability to a level so they were comfortable totake weight on the bike. Then they moved on to learn theirindividual tricks over the next few weeks. Included in the last fewweeks was time set aside for learning new rides, and the finalweeks assigned for getting the show up to a good standard.

Learning to reverse ride was difficult due to the controls beingreversed and having to teach your brain to do everythingbackwards, this includes correcting the bike, preventing the bikefrom falling and correcting the speed with the offset hand.

The rides are at a fast pace and require a lot of concentration atall times, to ensure that you are in the right place at the right timeto ultimately prevent accidents occurring during rides.Theweather this year was not to the teams favour, with rain andstrong winds from the coast causing problems with training.

However the team put in extra training when the weatherpermitted. Along with extra training upon returning to Blandford,

the show is now up to the required standard for theOpening Show.

THE WHITE HELMETS OPENING SHOW 2010

The first show of the year for the team is always ourOpening Show which this year was on 24 April. Thisis where the team put on a full display in front of theSOinC for his approval and when the first year ridersreceive their White Helmets.

On the Saturday the team awoke to a warm sunnyday which is ideal conditions for us to display. Theteam displaying consisted of just 21 riders which isprobably the smallest that has ever performed in anopening show.

After a warm up around camp in the early morning allbikes and props were moved to the square. Then thecustomary pre opening show chat to the team outside

NEWS FROM BLANDFORD

The Royal Signals Motorcycle Display Team


the garages to steady nerves before heading to Hawke Square forlast minute preparations and show board.

The show started well with a good opening ride, then came thefirst trick the famous “Double Jimmy” which failed to make thecorner due to a “braces issue” resulting in Cpl Bartlett beinggiven the “black peak of shame” before he even received hiswhite helmet. Apart from this trick the rest of the rides and trickswent according to plan. The new Kawasaki bikes and rides werereceived well by the younger members of the audience.

The training that the White Helmets do to get the show to thehigh standard required sometimes means there are a few bumpsalong the way and unfortunately there have been a few this year.So missing in the Opening Show was 3rd year rider LCpl

Cotterill, 2nd year rider Sig Pechey and the Team Captain Capt

Jen Hollins who will hopefully perform in a show later on in theyear to be able to receive her White Helmet.

The following first year riders received their well earned “WhiteHelmets”: Cpl Tim Bartlett, Cpl Dave Cryle, Cpl Jon Rees,LCpl Kev Hamiltion, LCpl Bee Parris, LCpl Kes Potter, Sig

Craig Mann and Sig Stevie Armitage.

The Royal Signals Motorcycle Display Team ‘The White Helmets’are always looking for new riders. The selection course for thisyear is running from 4 - 15 Oct 10. No previous motorcycleexperience is necessary you just need to be physically fit and wewill train you to do the rest. If you are interested please contact94371 2365 or 01258 482365 for further information.

COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS TRAINING ANDDEVELOPMENT UNIT

DEFENCE INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE

IMPLEMENTATION TEAM (DIT), BLANDFORD

- by LCpl Tuck 30 Sig Regt

On Monday 11 January 2010 the DII Implementation Team (DIT)began the mammoth task of trialling the new DII Future Deployed(FD) system, with each node providing a level of communicationcapability never seen before on the battlefield. Perhaps becauseof this we soon realised that it wasn’t going to be as straightforward as we first expected. The team, consisting of some ofthe finest members of the tri-service ICS community, were aboutto have their nerves tested as DII consumed their lives.

The system is complex and requires weeks of manual user inputto configure, but this held no fears for the DIT. The trial started at0800 on Monday morning and morale was high after a trulystirring speech from FofS Brett Doyle. Each team deployed withtheir node and started working under the direction of their nodecommanders. Those lucky enough to be working with Sgt

Ashton RM were put straight to work without hesitation (or brew)!

The trial continued and each node progressed at a steady rate.After a few weeks the monotony was broken when the newscame about that the team had to put a squad forward for theapproaching SOinC(A) march and shoot. For SAC Lasseter thiswas a chance to mention his enduring shin splints injury andtherefore count himself out of the competition. Howevertaskmaster FofS (IS) Crompton wasn’t playing ball and his namewent down on the team sheet nonetheless. Unfortunately, afterall the hard training the march and shoot was postponed.Thankfully the next team bonding session was a little morecivilised, consisting of a curry and a night out. The last time thishad been attempted was the Christmas party where the TriService community was well represented with terrible dancingand corny pulling techniques. The team headed down town andhad a curry at the local Indian restaurant before moving on to the

pub. After an hour or so the majority of the team had gone tobed but SAC Levett and LCpl Burns kept going strong, morethan filling the rest of the teams shoes.

The trial continues with no big surprises; LCpl Tuck continues totake his regular 2hr toilet break and Sgt Bhatia RAF puts in yetanother weeks leave from his infinite allowance. That said, theteam continues to be at the forefront of technology and iskeeping the “spirit of trialling” alive.

COMMAND AND BATTLESPACE MANAGEMENT (LAND)

TRIALS TROOP

OC Capt Muz Murray

YofS WO1 (YofS) Mark Wyldes

FofS WO2 (FofS) Warren Quinn

Tp Sgt Sgt Andy Rose RE

The Bowman Trials Team (BTT), located in Blandford Camp wascreated in April 2002 under the auspices of the CommandSupport Development Centre. BTT were formed to conduct bothtechnical and operational Field Trials across all aspects of theBowman communication system prior to release to British ArmedForces. The initial Tri-Service team of 10 (mostly driver operators)soon grew into a substantial team of 60.

In 2008 the decision was taken to re-brand the team to thecatchy title of ‘Command and Battlespace Management (Land)Trials Troop’. The name change highlights the team’s increasedremit, focussing on other tactical CIS rather than just Bowman.Most trials still have a Bowman flavour and the Tp is currentlysupporting the Multinational Experimentation (MNE) programme,networking the Tactical Ground Reporting (TIGR) application overHigh Capacity Data Radio (HCDR) and developing the DefenceInformation Infrastructure (Future Deployed) to Bowman Gateway.

Sgt Phil Callaway and SAC Liam Levett

LCpl Al Longwe


As a multi-cap badge group of 23 personnel, the Tp is now afraction of its former strength. Despite this, we still maintain abusy trials programme with vigour and enthusiasm. Likeeveryone else, we find ourselves increasingly operationallyfocused by being on a Campaign footing.

RED SECTION - by Cpl Distefano

This has been a very busy period for us; in addition to numerousother trials we have been focussed on preparation for theupcoming MNE trial. LCpl’s Chuck Norris and Tammy Williams

along with LCpl Aaron Fellows from Blue Section are workingwith Sgt Mick Stirling to fit the Vehicle Service Access Point(VSAP) and guest radios into our FFR land rovers. This wasachieved with assistance from General Dynamics UK prior todeploying to Fort Monmouth and subsequently WhitesandsMissile Range in the USA. We have received many briefings onthe aims, scope and methodology of the trial and continue to getas much familiarisation on the equipment as we possibly can.

BLUE SECTION

It’s been quite a busy period of late within the Section. It allstarted back in May with the majority of the Tp getting away for aweek to catch some sunshine and carry out our MATTs inChickerill Camp, Weymouth. On return from a busy MATTs week,we had no time to relax as we immediately deployed to theDorset countryside to assess the improved range of the latestversion of the HCDR. After a successful HCDR range trial, wethen deployed straight onto Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA)to conduct further HCDR range trials over more challengingterrain. This also provided the opportunity to brush off somecobwebs and refresh Tp members on basic military skills. Sowith that it was a night out in the field with our residentinfantrymen Sgt Dave Percival, LCpl Aaron Fellows and Pte

Stuart Taylor-Rice going over the 6 section battle drills. We thenpractised an advance to contact, with all members of the Tpissuing fire control orders. This is a lost art which just isn’tpracticed enough within the Tp and was welcomed by allmembers participating.

So, on the whole it remains an extremely busy period for the Tp.As well as the MNE Trial we still have numerous other trials takingplace such as supporting the Royal Navy’s Exercise TRIDENTWARRIOR in Portsmouth and the Joint Helicopter Command’sairborne re-broadcast programme, which allowed our residentArmy Air Corps soldier, Cpl Brian Distefano to get back tofamiliar ground. The Tp also continues to assist with thedevelopment of TIGR, a Tactical Ground Reporting application,able to give commanders up to date reports on previous andongoing patrols and contacts within a selected area, which ishoped will bring direct operational benefits to soldiers deployedon operations in Afghanistan.

So, a busy period within CBM(L) Trials Tp; but with an excellentteam ethos and professional operators, we continue to deliver aneffective and useful trial product on behalf of HQ Land Forces.

The Tp would like to say farewell and congratulations to Tpr Joe

Matthews and Pte Stuart Taylor-Rice as they embark on theirre-trade and transfer to R SIGNALS. Farewell also to LCpl Dan

Swain as he returns to his parent unit, 2 RTR. Welcome to LCpl

Andrew Fyfe who is joining us from sunny Herford andcongratulations to LCpl Claire Donaoghue on her recentmarriage to LCpl Craig Donaoghue from the Corps RecruitingTeam.

T TROOP

OC Capt Brian Jeffery

Tp SSgt SSgt Jules Dolan

The beginning of the month saw 749 and 346 Team on SalisburyPlain in the mud and rain, whilst a lucky few, namely Sgt Emma

Meadows and LCpl Andy Maidment worked within the comfortsof the Land Systems Reference Centre carrying outInteroperability trials on the Swe-dish Small SatCom. Thisequipment is due to replace Mitral in the coming year. 543 Teamhave also been extremely busy carrying out trials on a regularbasis.

A contingent of the Ops team has been heavily involved with DII(FD) trials and this has included SSgt (FofS) Brett Doyle and Sgt

Bri Milne. DII (FD) will replace a range of CommunicationInformation Systems across the three Services. The busiest manin NATO award goes to Cpl Neil Haggar who has had his fingersin every pie within the Tp.

The majority of the Tp’s attention has been directed at assistingthe FALCON Team which has pretty much stripped WO2 (YofS)

Mick Murphy of his last remaining few hairs and made ‘Lambertand Butler’ extremely rich. FALCON is the new CommunicationsSystem that will replace PTARMIGAN and will be due into serviceafter trialling has been completed. The personnel within 346Team have been on a very steep learning curve, due to the newequipment that FALCON brings with it. This includes the 18mmasts, which operate on a winch system.

A small number of Tp personnel have managed to escape thebusy environment; LCpl Stu Tait attended the CBRNI course andSig Greg Heaney and LCpl O’Neill attended the BCDT course.These qualifications allowed them to instruct on the annualMATTs week that took place in Weymouth. LCpl Tait alsomanaged to qualify Sig Heaney with his Assistant CBRNIqualification. LCpl O’Neill enthusiastically instructed on theBCDT stand, finishing with a casualty simulation that was sogood it put ‘Saving Private Ryan’ to shame! The BCDT wasnominated for a BAFTA award as there were plenty of roundsgoing down and a broken down Land Rover that had casualtiesdripping fake blood all over it. Sig Richie Pullan decided that hewas going to be the ‘joker of the pack’ by continuing to coughfake blood all over members of CBM(L) Trials Tp. The tactics thatwere seen throughout were like something from ‘Dads Army’ andthere was a lot of adrenaline pumping. The weather remained

Section Battle Drills lesson, delivered by LCpl Aaron Fellows

PWRR

LCpl Claire Donaoghue (nee Towers) recently participated in the

Army Swimming Union annual training camp in Gibraltar


great throughout the week, especially when we were on theranges. Pte Stuart Taylor-Rice PWRR showed that he was thetop shot of the week, winning the shoot by 3 points ahead of thenext contender. LCpl Tait could not understand that he had beenbeaten. The week finished off with a BBQ, allowing everyone tounwind with copious amounts of food and beverages that wouldhave fed the whole Corps. 543 Team turned up in fancy dress,something that is not unusual for them. Sgt ‘Chappie’ Chapman

won the best dressed in his banana costume.

It has been a busy period for the personnel in the Tp, but it hasnot been all work and no play. The Tp has been involved invarious charity events on the Garrison; Sgt Paul Wade tried outhis best dolphin impression when he raised money in the Swimfor Heroes event. Capt Brian Jeffery, SSgt Jules Dolan and Cpl

‘Gordy’ Gordon have also been training hard for this years

Lanyard Trophy. Cpl Graham Baily has been away playing hisfavourite sport, for the Corps football. Recently LCpl Chris

O’Neill and Sig Lee Pearson have represented the unit in theShot-Put and Discus and have been picked to represent theCorps in the 4 Div Athletics Championships.

Trials Tp do have some hellos to say to Cpl Lee Pell and Sig

Matt Haagensen, as well as saying goodbye to Sgt Shell

Atkinson, Cpl Gordy Gordon, LCpl Bert Coates and LCpl

Steven Jackson. Promotions within the Tp go to LCpl Dan

Briscoe, LCpl Chris O’Neill, LCpl Steven Jackson and Sig

Greg Heaney. Best wishes go to Sgt Chappie Chapman, Sgt

Bri Milne, LCpl Dan Briscoe, LCpl Stu Tait and Sig Richie

Pullan on the births of their sons and daughters. Congratulationsalso go to Sgt Shell Atkinson, LCpl Dan Briscoe and Sig Greg

Heaney on their recent nuptials.

NEWS OF TRAINING

CARIBBEAN JUNIOR COMMAND AND STAFF COURSE 2010

- by Capt Ian Flannery

As the Adjutant of one of our 6 disbanding TA Sig Regts, the endof 2009 was becoming a depressing and progressively less activetime. On the verge of offering myself up to the Regional Bde HQas a project officer (knowing I’d be given all the worst jobs!), outof the blue I was e-mailed a trawl for directing staff forthe Caribbean staff officers’ course. The requirementwas for a senior Captain or junior Major to deploy toMoneague, Jamaica for the entire course of 20 weeks,or 2 officers to complete a half each. Withouthesitation I took it straight to the Training Major and COand within a week I had support from my Regional HQand APC to complete the first half of the duty, beforeonward posting to Saudi Arabia.

On 22 January I flew from Gatwick to Kingston and wasmet at the aircraft door by my former Chief Clerk fromColchester, who had been working for the British HighCommission in Kingston for 3 years. He briefed me onthe local threats and handed me a huge pile of localcurrency that was to sustain my weekendaccommodation and ‘incidentals’. I was fast-trackedthrough immigration and customs and met by Sgt

Crawford, the Canadian Admin NCO and driven to UpPark Camp in Kingston to meet and greet the CanadianChief Instructor and some of the Jamaican DefenceForce (JDF) personalities from the 4 major units andHQ. After my first few Red Stripes, we weretransported to Moneague, where I bedded in to mycori-mech suite and was presented with the choice of stayingthere for the weekend or moving on to ‘Breezes’ all inclusiveholiday resort for 2 days of sun sea and surf – that was a shortconversation!

My first working week was for ‘reading in’ to the course. My co-DS included; a Canadian, a Trinidadian, a Guyanan and 2 fromthe JDF, including Maj Kevron Henry, who would be my partnerin crime as 3 Syndicate DS. Together we sampled the coursematerial and practised marking assignments from previouscourses and set ourselves a common standard. We prepared forthe first 2 weeks, which involved delivering numerous coursepresentations in the ‘big bedroom’ or lecture theatre. Afteranother weekend of glorious weather, scuba diving and karaoke,we returned to Moneague to see the students begin to arrive onthe Sunday afternoon. They were a diverse bunch, withrepresentatives from Belize, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago,Bermuda, St Kitts and Nevis. There were also 3 Canadians and a

US student, but the majority were from Jamaica. The Jamaicanswere not just JDF; there were 2 Jamaican Constabulary Force, 2Jamaican Fire Service, 2 Prison Officers and a Coast GuardOfficer. A mixture of Lts and Capts, they were split into 3syndicates of 11 each and began to bond within their groupsinstantly.

After 2 weeks of burst information and plenty of homeworkreading, the course began to concentrate on syndicate work; lotsof group discussions and assignment writing. My tasks movedfrom presenting to mentoring and marking. In no time at all thepapers were flowing in, keeping Kevron and me busy for somelate nights. Then came the bi-weekly reports, which caught us bysurprise at the end of the second week! As the courseprogressed I could see the direct effects of my investment of timein working closely with the weaker students and got a real senseof satisfaction from seeing their work improve. This culminatedwith one of our Fire Officers, who we thought would struggle tocomplete the course, receive a ‘C+’ for his service paper (theover-arching piece of work that would largely decide thestudents’ staff grade for part one of the course).

I can’t say that it was all hard work though, and the odd eveningin the mess bar did turn into a ridiculously late night in the barsand clubs of Ocho Rios and the ‘Thank God It’s Thursday’ parties

3 Syndicate conducted one of their discussion groups at ‘Lyming’ Jerk Chicken

restaurant


on alternative weeks became legendary after 3 Syndicate hosted theirs, transforming the big bedroom into a dance club andbussed in lots of friends to make it an unforgettable night.

Instructing and mentoring on this course has been fantastic formy own development as a staff officer and has given me a newperspective on what will be expected when my turn comes to dothe UK course! I made some great friends from many differentcountries and learned a huge amount about Western hemisphereforces from the National Perspective presentations that the

students gave. I also managed to progress to ‘advanced diver’ inwhat is fast becoming my favourite pastime.

I was a little surprised that Canada takes such an interest in theCaribbean area. CJCSC is funded and largely coordinated andadministrated by the Canadian Forces, who built and maintain theCollege and provide the largest proportion of the course staff. I am hugely thankful to the Chief Instructor and all of the otherCanadian and Jamaican Staff for making me so welcomethroughout my 9 weeks with them.

NEWS FROM THE REGIMENTS

1st (UNITED KINGDOM) ARMOURED DIVISION HEADQUARTERS AND SIGNAL REGIMENT

HERFORD

CO Lt Col FE Hargreaves OBE

RSM WO1 (RSM) K East

HEADQUARTERS SQUADRON

OC Maj J Duncan

SSM WO2 (SSM) C Wilson

REGIMENTAL TRAINING WING

RTO Capt G Middleton

SMI SSgt M Nordon

PNCO CLM COURSE 04-16 APR 10 - by Sgt G Collins

As a Distributed Training Centre for PNCO CLM, 1(UK) ADSR heldits first course of 2010 over the Easter period. Despite the EasterBunny being in town, 16 students from across Germany formedup in the Regt Trg Wing on Easter Sunday to complete the normalday 1 administration, followed by a 1.5 mile ‘streaming run’. Oncompletion, the sections were formed according to their fitnesslevels, ready for the course ‘proper’ to begin the next morning.

After a day of lectures in the classroom, we deployed on Mondayevening to HQ DTE Haltern for the remainder of the course. Thisnot only puts the students in the correct environment to conducta CLM course, but allows the DS to constantly assess eachsoldier, whether they realise they are being watched or not! Onthat point, a mention must go to A/LCpl Murray, who from thefirst morning until the final day of the course won the award for‘Best DS Watcher’ hands down.

Leadership theory lessons, problem solving written assessments,command tasks and many other periods of instruction werecovered during the first week of the course. During the PhysicalLeadership & Development (PLD) lessons, you may have beenforgiven for thinking that some of the course had eaten too manyEaster eggs!

The final week saw the course deploy onto the training area andoccupy a patrol base in FOB Pregel. From there the studentsconducted numerous vehicle and foot patrol scenarios,culminating in the ‘Battle Run’ on the Wednesday, during whichCO 1(UK) ADSR visited the students. On return to Herford thecourse was hosted in the WOs’ & Sgts’ Mess for a luncheon,where the prizes for Top Student and Best Field Soldier went toA/LCpl Innes from 207 Sig Sqn and A/LCpl Bates from 211 SigSqn respectively.

Thanks must go to 200 and 262 Sig Sqns who provided enemy,admin staff and Section Commanders for the course, the PTI’s

L/Cpl Webb and Sig Madden, who, despite an accident with atoilet brush during the first week, made it back to Herford withboth eyes intact! Finally the DCCS Instructors Cpl Bradford andCpl Smith who both excelled during the instructional phase.

REGIMENTAL MT

MTO Capt S Vernon

MTWO WO2 B Etherington

April and May of 2010 witnessed the MT Tp being pushed to thelimits once again. First off was the Regtl PNCO Course whichsaw LCpl Connon worked to the bone (for a change) for 2weeks. The course took most of the MT drivers away for drivingand instructional purposes, which put a considerable strain onthe soldiers back in camp, especially when you consider that assoon as the course was finished we deployed to the CzechRepublic on Ex FLYING RHINO 10. Getting involved with themovement of vehicles and generators to the railhead then tryingto get them on the train was emotional, (on the train off the train,usual script).

The MT said goodbye to Sigs Walker and Mason as they movedover to different sqns and Sig Stewart deployed to the Falklands,to replace Sig Page who has returned after a hard 6 monthspenguin spotting.

On a sadder note the MT said farewell to Capt ‘Big Mick’ Jones

the MTO who has moved to pastures new in Bielefeld. From allthe boys in the MT we wish you and Sue all the best for thefuture.

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new MTO,Capt Stu Vernon who has been posted to us from the ARRCSupport Battalion in JHQ along with his wife Sarah, (just leavethe arrivals crate in my office sir). Also newly arrived is Cpl Mick

Harvey, who has been posted in after spending his last Tour inthe UK with the TA.

And finally, everyone in the MT would like to congratulate Sig

Harrison and his wife Lesley on the arrival of their newborndaughter Chloe in April.

FORT EBEN EMAEL - by Sig Henly

On 11 May, the Sqn visited the fortified bunker at Eben Emael,which was occupied by the Belgium Army during WW2.

The interior of the bunker was almost like a vast maze, which onecould easily get lost in. It is protected by several armouredturrets as well as several machine gun nests. Entering into the


bunker through the main entrance we noticed that the main foyerwas a sealable area which had small holes in the wall throughwhich grenades could be posted to engage intruding forces thatwould dare attempt to take the fortress by force.

Unfortunately for the occupants of Fort Eben Emael the Germanswere able to achieve this. The attack started in the early hours ofthe morning by landing gliders, carrying up to 11 troops in each.One glider was shot down, however the pilot survived and wasable to get out of the glider and take out one of the machine gunnests, which helped the Germans immensely in winning this smallbut important battle.

Elements of the fortress had been demolished by shellfire,however most of the fort has remained in its original condition.Sadly the Belgium forces that occupied the bunker surrenderedquickly, an act that was deemed dishonourable at the time andled to these soldiers having to forfeit their pensions and gratuitiesafter the war.

REGIMENTAL SHOOTING TEAM - by Sig Parry

On 3 May the Regtl shooting team took part in a week long rangepackage at Haltern range complex. Day one consisted ofgrouping and zeroing and just a refresh on how best to adopteach position using the marksmanship principles.

Day 2 was a run through LF9 in the morning to gain our points ofaim for different ranges and firing positions. In the afternoonLCpl Paddy Reid, LCpl Smith, Sig Connolly and Sig Parry, theteams LSW Gunners, took part in the machine gun match, whichinvolved sprinting up and down the 600m range (Deep Joy).

Days 3 and 4 were the culmination of the week where wemastered the Robert and Roupell cups. Sig Emery cheered upeveryone’s day by screaming out “I can’t breathe” quicklyfollowed by the canister of his respirator flying down the firingpoint, this being after only 2 runs of the Roupell cup. Day 5 wasa slightly more relaxed day, spent practicing the Para Cup. Thankyou to the Parachute Regiment for this kind donation to theremainder of the British Army (someone must have laughed whendonating this to the “Hats”). Then the remainder of the day wasspent practicing the pistol shoots.

The team now look forward to putting all the hard work to goodeffect, in the BA (G) SAAM 10.

201 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj BY-T Higgs

SSM WO2 (SSM) CT Vickers

Since returning from Op Herrick XI, 201 Sig Sqnhave been occupied with the task of reformingthe Sqn and settling in at our new home onHarewood Barracks. This has kept us all busy,taking over detachments, claiming ownership ofstores and getting the Sqn lines up to a decentstandard.

As a result of extensions to the tour we are nowseeing something of a mass exodus. Amongthose posted out are SSgt (YofS) Gav

Holloway, Cpl Joe Hewes, Cpl Rachel Turvey,Cpl Jimmy Somerville, LCpl ‘Mido’ El-

Behnaiy and Sig Dave Paige. All ranks in 201Sig Sqn wish them all the best for the future.As quickly as personnel leave, new faces areposted in. SSgt Andy Moss joins us from theRegl Trg Wing, LCpl Nelson joins us from 211Sig Sqn and Sigs Evans, Janes, Ruffel,

Powell, Green and Fagan have all arrived fromBlandford. Congratulations to Sgt Stewart,who celebrates a much deserved promotion this

month.

Lanyard season is upon us again and it’s great to see Cpl ‘Paris’

Hilton, Sig McGill, Sig Chambers and Sig Foster training hardto represent the Sqn in the Regtl Team.

The tempo of work seems to be smoothing out now and it’s fairto say we’re all looking forward to some well deserved adventuretraining in June and July along with the chance to get somecourses under our belts.

BF(G) TEAM ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010

- by 2Lt K Davies-Walters

The 1 (UK) ADSR Orienteering team was urgently recruited by thenew orienteering OIC 2Lt Davies-Walters on 27 April. The verynext day the team, consisting of, 2Lt Davies-Walters, Cpl

Newman, LCpl Kudiersky, LCpl Miller, LCpl Tucker and Sig

Richardson-Sherratt set off to Sennelager, only a 40 minutedrive away. Two hours later the team arrived, test one – findingthe event location had most certainly been failed by the wholeteam after we had to resort to stopping at a local Safari Park toask for directions.

However we were not deterred and after a hearty lunch the teamheaded off into the woods for a quick bit of orienteering tuitionfrom 2Lt Davies-Walters. The first day of the competitionstarted at 1700 hrs and comprised of a Harris Relay event, wherea team of three each has to collect a “spine” of controls as wellas additional team controls. This is one of the most complex andcomplicated types of orienteering event so nerves were high aswe waited at the start line. As soon as the start control had beenpunched the nerves disappeared and the two teams settled downand enjoyed the orienteering. Although both teams werecomplete novices (except for 2Lt Davies-Walters), they did well

HQ Sqn standing outside Fort Eben Emael

Sgt Andy Naylor on air defence


and managed to finish well within the allotted time period. Somecontrols were missed and time penalties gained, however for firsttime orienteerers, it was a successful day. Sig Richardson-

Sherratt had an exceptional run collecting the “spine” controlsand 7 team controls in a very respectable time of 61 minutes.Impressive considering Sig Richardson-Sherratt had neverorienteered before.

Day 2 of the competition was a line relay event. We were blessedwith gorgeous weather in Sennelager and this combined with thearrival of the NAAFI wagon meant that morale was high amongstthe team. Sig Richardson-Sherratt and Cpl Newman ran thefirst legs for the 1 (UK) ADSR teams and both had good runs.LCpl Turner and LCpl Miller ran the second legs and 2Lt

Davies-Walters and LCpl Kudiersky bought the teams safelyhome. Again a few time penalties were gained due to somedodgy navigation and decision making, however we wereconfident that neither team would gain the wooden spoon.

In the end 1 (UK) ADSR A and B teams came 8th and 9threspectively. Although not as good as the unit’s previous successat the BA(G) Champs where they came 2nd, the teams should becongratulated on their all round efforts and hard work over thetwo days of orienteering. Next stop (after a bit of training), theCorps Championships.

211 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj JO Lambeth

SSM WO2 (SSM) JCW Baxter

EXERCISE FLYING RHINO 10

NAMEST AIRBASE

At a disgracefully early hour on Sunday 25 April the main party of211 Sig Sqn were loading up the coaches ready for one last rollcall before the joyous 10 hour journey to the Czech Republic forEx FLYING RHINO, the UK’s largest Air/Land integration ex.Everyone in the main body was present, but by the looks on theirfaces some of the subalterns were there in ‘body’ only…..clearlya lot of effort had gone into the previous night’s charity ball in theOfficers’ Mess.

So after 10 hours of sweating, leg cramps and the delights of aless than fragrant on board loo on the coach, we arrived atArmada Barracks, Namest, our somewhat basic home from homefor the next four weeks. The hard work started immediately thefollowing morning. Almost as soon as we stepped onto theairfield we could hear a familiar high pitched whining noise. Notone of the Czech Hind helicopters revving up for a sortie, butrather the all too familiar Geordie voice emanating from Cpl

‘Benny’ Bennett as he directed the build for the Silver HQ tent.The HQ went up in record time and little did we know that somefour weeks later it would be collapsed in a similarly recordbreaking time, albeit in rather different circumstances, and muchto Cpl Bennett’s dismay.

72 hrs into the Ex and the Sqn sustained its first casualty, to aparticularly virilous strain of Czech D & V. It would be unkind tomention that it was Sgt ‘Ratts’ Rattenbury who fell foul of thevirus first, and equally unfair to mention that he was unable tomove more than 20 metres away from his own dedicatedPortaloo for more than for 24 hrs, and for that reason he ought toremain nameless….…but he hasn’t.

The ex build was always going to be the most intense period ofwork for the Sqn. With a fleet of wheeled and armoured vehiclesto unload from the rail head, not to mention 12 ISO containersworth of equipment to unpack and a tented field cookhouse largeenough to get Billy Smarts going green with envy, we had achallenge on our hands. Fortunately the weather remainedglorious throughout and other than Sig Penn’s hilariouslysunburned ears, we got the work done without major incident,buying ourselves a couple of extra days to engineer in thecomms.

By the end of the first week, the Div HQ was set up and commswere in and working a treat. Flying Rhino was Cormorant’s debutex deployment with the unit and there were high expectations,which it lived up to on all counts. By the time the OSG and DivStaff arrived Silver HQ, NETCEN, Excon and Syscon were allready to roll with everything in and working. A comprehensivesuite of BCIP 5.4 and OVERTASK applications integrated onto aCormorant voice and data backbone connected to the RLIthrough REACHER (and within theatre by a Czech military E1 link)provided the staff with an embarrassment of ICS riches over arobust and efficient ICS architecture. Underpinning this wereadditional layers of redundancy in the form of BOWMAN HF voiceand data circuits, augmented with Czech military and civillandlines. The network represented a quantum leap forward fromwhat we achieved last year, enabling progressive and challengingstaff training to be delivered as well as some groundbreaking‘firsts’ such as the use of FC BISA to automate real time liveartillery fire missions. In every respect it was a giant leap forwardfor the 211 Cormorant capability and another small step forwardtowards a fully digitised Division. Mid-way through the ex the Divhosted a number of seriously VIP visitors – CGS, CFA and the 6thDuke of Westminster to name but three – which provided anopportunity for us to show off our achievements in a 4 star forum.

All in all, the ex was probably more successful from a G6perspective than any of us had dared to imagine… well, up untilthe third from last day when a passing helicopter looking for agood photo opportunity flattened one of our shiny new tents.Luckily no-one was seriously injured, but by the look on Cpl

Bennett’s face you’d have been forgiven for thinking he’s just losta close relative.

JINCE DETACHMENT - by Cpl Chris Burley

During Ex FLYING RHINO 2010 a small element of 211 Sig Sqnwere deployed to a remote area in the Czech Republic calledJince, a Czech Army live Air and Artillery range some 30 minutesdrive from Prague. Our role was to provide Divisional ICSservices to HQ 20 Armd Bde through Cormorant and REACHER.Being right on the doorstep of the Czech training area and impactzone for all live AS90 firing and fast air assets dropping theirordnance didn’t make it a particularly tranquil setting, but itwasn’t all bad though; Prague was only 30 minutes away.

Team Jince, consisting of 211 Sig Sqn personnel, a 7 Sig RegtREACHER detachment and a 22 Sig Regt J1/J4 PoP, deployedfrom Sennelager railhead bracing ourselves for a hefty trainjourney. You can imagine our relief to arrive in the CzechRepublic a mere 24 hrs after setting off. However this elationwas relatively short lived once we realised that there would belittle other than work and SSgt Tony Raby’s dart board to keepus amused. At times Jince really did feel like central nowhere!

Sig ‘Dobbo’ Dobbins, Sig Roberts and LCpl ‘Fergie’ Ferguson

raising the roof


That said with all the trials and testing planned, along with thefirst deployment of our new Cormorant system we couldn’t everdescribe ourselves as bored. So with all our CP duties, helpdeskand lots of MATT training we ended up smashing out long hoursover the course of the 4 weeks. Similarly there was someexcellent phys to be had - every direction you could run wentuphill, a rare treat. We mustn’t grumble though, there was Pragueon the doorstep and most of us did manage to get ourselvesaway for one ‘cultural visit’ which was particularly enjoyable anda welcome break.

In all, everyone from Team Jince had a very successful exercise,learned loads and had a thoroughly enjoyable experience with anenormous amount of praise from 20 Armd Bde. Cheers.

212 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj KE Emmerson

SSM WO2 (SSM) D Cattle

MONTE-CASSINO TROOP - by Sig Havercroft

Tp Comd 2Lt M Woodman

SSgt SSgt S Miners

After the successful completion of a 6 month tour of Afghanistanon Op HERRICK 11, 1 (UK) ADSR CSR returned to HerfordStation following 2 months of well deserved post operational tourleave. Upon returning, the soldiers of the Regt were greeted withwarm words from the CO, Lt Col Hargreaves OBE, whocongratulated all those on a successful tour, not just those whotravelled overseas, but also those who stayed behind to help withEx FLYING RHINO and support the wives and families backhome. This year was a time to consolidate and reflect on whatwe had achieved, striving to better ourselves outside of the

standard military syllabus, by embracing adventure training andfurther education opportunities which are now available to us.Challenges lay ahead, not least adapting to the change in theSqn landscape, following the reformation of the Regt. For manythis would involve a change of job role, work place and evenwork colleagues. These will be testing times for all and thedegree of flexibility and resilience shown by all on tour with theRegt will need to be applied again. This year is a time to explorenew horizons, embrace a sport of passion, and relax after a jobwell done, then return re-energised and motivated ready for thebuild up to our next operational tour in late 2011.

RIMINI TROOP

Tp Comd Lt R Bonner

SSgt SSgt L Norman

Returning from their well earned POTL, the tps can now lookforward to enhancing their career profiles by taking advantage ofthis period to complete courses, participate in Sqn and Regtl ATand continue the drive towards maximum participation in sportingactivities.

The Tp has welcomed several new arrivals; Lt Bonner, taking thechair after a move from 211 Sig Sqn, Sig Hooper joins us from200 Sig Sqn, Sig Lawless has joined us from Alamein Tpfollowing the Regtl reconstitution, while Sigs Parry and Frost joinus fresh from the factory that is Phase 2 training.

Rimini Tp bid farewell and good luck to Cpl Duckworth and LCpl

Whitford who move on to 7 Armd Bde and 1 Mech respectively.

While taking advantage of this time to progress with courses, theTp will soon be back into the form cycle in order to supportHelmand ICS Sig Sqn to achieve its mission.

2nd SIGNAL REGIMENTYORK

CO Lt Col AR Knott MBE

RSM WO1 (RSM) A Combe

As this edition of The Wire goes to print a majority of the Regt willhave just deployed on operations to Afghanistan. Months ofindividual and collective training covering all necessary aspects ofmilitary and communication skills will eventually be put to use intheatre as the Regt provides the operational and strategiccommunications in Helmand Province, Kandahar, Kabul and otherlocations across the country.

The training regime has been intense at times with some soldiershaving spent over 4 of the last 6 months away on courses andexercises in order to prepare them for the challenges that layahead. The Regt is now at full fighting strength and is asprepared as it is going to be to ensure success on operations.

This series of notes covers the final stages of the preparation forOp HERRICK 13 and other events that the Regt has beeninvolved in during the run up to deployment.

KOHIMA DAY - by 2Lt Gormley

In April 219 Sig Sqn had the honour of hosting veterans from thebattle of Kohima. This annual reunion commemorates the Alliedforces halting of the Japanese Army in Asia which took placefrom April to June 1944.

The day started with a welcoming reception for the veterans andtheir families at the Sgts Mess in Imphal Barracks where theywere hosted by officers and seniors from the Sqn. Following thereception the veterans and their families were accompanied bySqn members to York Minster where a service was held to

commemorate thebattle. Followingthe servicewreaths were laidat the KohimaMemorial in theMinster Gardens.

A minute’s silencewas then held toremember thosethat fell in battle66 years ago.The minute’ssilence wasbroken by amember of theCorps Bandsounding the lastpost and reveille.The poignantKohima epitaphwas then read byveterancommander Maj

Gordon Graham

MC and Bar, lateThe Queen’s OwnCameronHighlanders:

“When you go home, tell them of us and say: ‘For your tomorrow we gave are today”

(From left) SSgt Rose, SSgt Morrison and

SSgt Sweeney of 219 Sig Sqn at York Minster

during the Kohima Day commemoration


After the service the veterans and families were then invited backto Imphal Barracks for lunch, providing a great opportunity for theofficers and seniors from the Sqn to find out about the veterans’experiences in 1944. The day served as a great reminder tothe sacrifice made by British soldiers in 1944 in a battle thatultimately proved to be the turning point of the Burmacampaign.

SUPPORT SQUADRON ON EXERCISE KEY STORM

- by LCpl Whitmore

Souter Force Protection and Transport Company (SFPTC) andKabul Support Unit (KSU) deployed to Swynnerton trg area inStaffordshire on Ex KEY STORM, a confirmatory training exfor the forthcoming tour of Afghanistan. The 2 week exstarted with a week of lessons for KSU delivered by membersof SFPTC on subjects such as cordon drills and base security.

KSU fully enjoyed the lessons and all involved said theylearned a lot. However they were less impressed with LCpl

Witherspoon’s casualty evacuation lesson. This had nothingto do with the quality of instruction but more to do with thepractical part of the lesson and the words “see that poncho,tree and back GO!”

Whilst not instructing KSU the other members of SFPTC werebrushing up on their urban patrolling skills under the watchfuleye of WO2 McIlwrath, who brought along his years of NorthernIreland experience. This was an excellent opportunity for SFPTCto see the benefits and limitations of working in multiples on footand soon got up to scratch with the basics of dealing withcasualty evacuations, small arms contacts and IED finds.Although some minor mistakes occurred, including LCpl

Whitmore being accused of firing 7 rounds at a “dicker” (it wasonly five), we all learned from these mistakes and in the words ofMaj Fleming “you learn more when it goes tits up”.

Also during this week SFPTC got a chance to work with theRidgeback vehicles we will be driving in Kabul and soon setabout learning contact drills and, after much cursing, recoverydrills with ropes and A frames. This was possibly the mostvaluable part of the trg, especially for those in SFPTC who haveyet to familiarise with Ridgeback.

On the Friday of the first week SFPTC deployed out to the UNbuilding on Swynnerton training area which was to become ourCamp Souter for two and a half days whilst KSU changed clothesand became the local residents of Kabul. Over this portion of theex the 3 multiples carried out a rotation of MT taskings,patrols/QRF and base security. In these duties the multiplesexperienced several different scenarios including RTAs, hostilecrowds and IED attacks. Again casualty evacuation featuredheavily, especially in multiple two’s case who took a “No Play”casualty when Sig Fletcher dislocated his thumb to a disgustingangle while carrying Sig Robinson on an improvised stretcher. At the end of the rotations there was a spectacular attack onCamp Souter which included all the scenarios we had previouslydealt with. After this it was time for a debrief and a well deservedchance to finally enjoy the scorching heat out of body armour andfull patrol order and have a brief sit in a beer garden.

The Monday of the second week saw SFPTC & KSU deploy toKingsbury ranges to carry out re-zeroing of weapons and achance for KSU to carry out their ACMTs. On the Tuesday KSUagain deployed to the ranges to get to grips with the GPMG whileSFPTC stayed behind to demonstrate all we had learned toComd11 Sig Bde, Brig Hill. Each multiple demonstrated a differentaspect of the training we had undertaken and Brig Hill was veryimpressed with the way we had got to grips with fairly complextasks.

The remainder of the week was taken up with a mixture of LMG,GPMG and pistol ranges and other training such as Op BARMAand vehicle and personal searches, which included LCpl Smith

hiding a smoke grenade in a place best not mentioned in politecompany.

Overall the ex was a complete success with everybody whoattended learning something new and brushing up on skills theyhadn’t used in a while.

219 SIGNAL SQUADRON ON EXERCISE KEY STORM

- by Sig Woolley

Ex KEY STORM was the final CIS ex that 219 Sig Sqn would betaking part in prior to deployment to Afghanistan. We had a lot ofnew equipment to get our hands on, particularly for theTechnicians and IS Engineers who had been waiting eagerly toget a chance to practice what they had been taught in theclassroom.

The main ex aim was for the Sqn to brush up on their technicaltraining and to confirm understanding of the processes such asfault reporting and site reconnaissance that would be vital whenin theatre.

The focus was mainly on Promina, OTES, Avaya and Reacher,although there was also the opportunity for each trade group topractice their core trade skills. At the end of the first day, wehad built 2 medium size HQs and were well on the way toreaching full operating capability. The Installation Techs had donea good job of providing cross-site fibre and the infrastructure forboth HQs. The Operators had both Tacsat and Bowman in andbooming, and the Electricians had stepped in to try and solve themains power problems by bringing out the FEPS.

Although progress was good, the Technicians were struggling toget the new Promina nodes fully up and working, with even WO2

(FofS) Walker and the experts from 600 Sig Tp scratching theirheads at times. However, far more was learnt from having to re-configure the nodes than if they had simply worked straight away.

On the IS side, by the end of the ex LCpl Hitch and LCpl

Williams had managed to engineer JChat from site to site and wewere given a brief as to how the application is used in theatre.The ex was short and sharp but allowed everyone to get theirhands on some of the equipment used in theatre. Everyonemanaged to gain some vital skills that will no doubt be useful aswe deploy to Afghanistan.

EXERCISE KHUKURI PRAGATI - by Sig Sanjeep Rai

Ex KHUKURI PRAGATI was a cadre course designed to test theleadership ability of all Signallers within the 246 Gurkha Sig Sqnin order to develop their confidence for PNCO and other futurecourses. This was conducted over the period 28 - 29 April inImphal Barracks and Strensall Training Area. The main aim of thisex was to provide challenging and demanding competition forSignallers in order to test their leadership and potential to be aJNCO.

Following months of driver and patrol training, Support Squadron are ready

for deployment to Afghanistan to provide security and driver support for

British interests in Kabul


Twenty four combative Sigs and 7 DS were involved on thisarduous ex led by Sgt Devprakash under the direction of theOC, Maj Dagless and the SSM WO2 (SSM) Som Chochangi.The ex was conducted in 2 phases. Phase one was based onindoor activities and phase 2 outdoor. The first phase wasdesigned to assess students intelligence and skills and wastested through group discussions on current affairs, presentationsand essay writing. This part of the ex created a lot of pressure asnot many of us had delivered presentations in front of officersbefore.

The second phase was a physically demanding competitionbased on basic soldiering skills. It was planned to assesssoldiers’ professionalism in low level tactics and command tasks.We were grouped into 3 sections and everyone was given anopportunity to be SectComd or 2IC so that leadership skills couldbe assessed and coached. At the very end of the exercise PLD(Practical Leadership Development) was conducted by PTI Cpl

Uttam. One Section won the competition but everyone hadgiven their best efforts and all sections had showed theirdetermination and strong teamwork throughout.

On Friday afternoon the SSM paraded the whole Sqn outsideSHQ and Maj Dagless announced the results of the individualcompetition:

Overall Champion Sig Sanjeep

Overall Second Sig Ockleford

Overall Third Sig Navin and Sig Santanu

It was a significant moment in my life to be declared the winner.My thanks go to Sgt Dev and all of the DS who organised anexcellent exercise in which we all learnt a huge amount aboutbasic soldiering skills and leadership in the field.

OPERATIONAL SHOOTING CHAMPIONS 2010

- by LCpl Naresh Khapung

The Royal Signals Operational Shooting Competition (RSOSC)2010 took place over the period of 19 – 23 April at PirbrightRanges. Even though 2 Sig Regt is currently busy preparing todeploy on operations it was still able to put forward a ‘scratchteam’.

The Regtl Shooting Team managed to deploy under its TeamCaptain Sgt Devprakash Gurung for the competition. The teamcomprised of Class A: Sgt Dev, LCpl Suraj and Sig Lal. Class B:LCpl Sanjay, LCpl Naresh, Sig Bijay, Sig Brindan, Sig Bipen,

Sig Kabin and Sig Santosh, and a young soldier Sig Plumb.

Unlike previous years, we only had a week of training to get readyfor the event. Despite this the trg was very valuable; partly due tothe brilliant summer weather and because we were able topractice on competition specific ranges. Despite the lack of trgand a few nerves, the team started to perform very well from thestart. There were a few ups and downs during the course of theweek-long competition but we managed to keep ourselves clearoff our nearest rivals, winning numerous trophies along the way.

Not only did the team perform extremely well, but a number ofindividuals stood out and earned a number of achievements.These include: Best Young Soldier - Sig Plumb, Best Class B -Sig Brindan, Overall Rifle Championship Runner-up - Sgt Dev,and All Arms Championship Winner - Sgt Dev amongst manyother titles won.

Achieving the accolade of Overall Unit Champion RSOSC 2010was the biggest reward. No doubt the CO will welcome all thesilver that we have won back into his Regt.

What a brilliant and highly remarkable start of 2010 it has beenfor the 2 Sig Regt’s Shooting Team. The team is already lookingforward to taking part in the upcoming Army OperationalShooting Competition (AOSC) 2010 where similar success ishoped for.

EXERCISE CHIMERA STRIKE 2 - by LCpl Franklin

In April 219 Sig Sqn on Ex CHIMERA STRIKE 2, with the missionof further readying soldiers for deployment on Op HERRICK 13.The ex was a week long and was based in Catterick and FeldomTraining Areas. The main focus was on familiarisation andtraining on various comms equipment including JOCS, J1/J4,LANs, BOWMAN, TACSAT, LWRN and REACHER systems.

The ex also included a theatre-specific military skills phase,familiarising soldiers with the important skills needed to survive inAfghanistan, including Op BARMA, Op KALA, FOB sentry drills,and the setting up of an emergency HLS.

It was a chance for soldiers from all trade sets to acquaintthemselves with the jobs of other trades, from cable terminatingto setting up equipment, and understanding the basic workings ofshift work within the different types of environment we will deployto.

The ex also included a MATTS and range package, includingACMT, IBSR GPMG and Grenade ranges. Overall the ex gave theSqn a good look at life working from FOB conditions and the ladsall got a good idea of what will be expected of them when theygo out to theatre.

EXERCISE KEY PINNACLE - by LCpl Sujan Thapa

Over the last few months the Regt has been exceptionally busyconducting pre-deployment training. Despite the current tempoat the unit, Cpl Patterson managed to find a small window in thetrg programme and put together a plan for some adventurous trg.Ex KEY PINNACLE was a high risk and challenging expedition toScotland over the period 3 April to 7 May. The main aim was toclimb Inaccessible Pinnacle which is on the top of Sgurr Deargmountain on the Isle of Skye. The expedition also included hillwalking in Cairngorms and Benin Eighe.

The ex gave both novice and experienced mountaineers theperfect opportunity to test and advance their skills and push thembeyond their comfort zone.

Sig Sanjeep leading his Section during a burden retrieval test

The 2 Sig Regt Shooting Team with Brig Hill, Comd 11 Sig Bde and

Capt Purna, 2IC 246 Gurkha Sig Sqn proudly display their trophies


The AT was in the form of a multi-activity package consisting ofhill walking led by WO1 (RSM) Combe, SSgt Sweeney and Cpl

Patterson and rock climbing under WO2 (QMSI) Maddox andLCpl Sujan. After completing a 3 day recce for both the hillwalking and rock climbing we waited for the main party.

The main party was divided into 3 groups, executing each eventin turn on a round robin basis. That evening I took one group toBalmacara house on the Isle of Skye which was another one andhalf hours drive away. When we got there the QMSI was alreadythere to welcome us. We all sat round for a briefing about theroute and then started preparation for the next day’s event. I alsoshowed them quick snaps of Inaccessible Pinnacle which I hadtaken earlier on our recce.

We set out early and hit the road towards the Isle of Skye. Ourday started from Glen Brittle, walking uphill which took us almosttwo and half hours. The route consisted of easy scrambling andsome shaky legs paths but when we reached the top peopleseemed to forget their pain.

The Inaccessible Pinnacle is a climb of 50 metres involving tworopes and abseiling on the west side. There was also already a

permanent anchor sited at the summit which made abseilingeasier and safer. Overall the climbing was challenging foreveryone involved, from Sig Santeshor overcoming being upsidedown whilst abseiling to some people who were scared ofheights.

The next day CO saheb Lt Col Knott joined us and helpedpeople on climbing by encouraging them and boosting theirmorale. On the final day we went back to Inverness and joinedup with the rest of the group. The evening finished with thehandover of kit and followed by a night out in Inverness.

Being in the Army I think AT plays a vital role both for training andmorale. Overcoming fears is something that AT provides anexcellent opportunity for people to try and do. I personallygained loads of experience on rock climbing and hill walking andhope each individual got some new experience from it.

A big thank you must go to Cpl Patterson who organised theexercise so smoothly and safely. I should also not forget tomention WO2 (QMSI) Maddox who helped us to stay out of thecold and managed to find us accommodation in Balmacarahouse on the Isle of Skye.

3rd (UNITED KINGDOM) DIVISION HEADQUARTERS AND SIGNAL REGIMENT

BULFORDCO Lt Col G Wilson

RSM WO1 (RSM) AC Torrington

MORRISON CUP 2010 - by SSgt Durrans

On returning from Easter leave the Regt set about trying toestablish its athletics squads for the Morrison Cup. The teammanager and coach Capt Porter and his the team captains comecoaches SSgt Durrans and Cpl Gunn started to trawl the Regtfor talent and, like all Regts, with the Unit commencing itspreparations for deployment on Op HERRICK in Jan 11, thenumber of personnel available to due to Special to Arms trainingcourses and the competition with the other well establishedsports meant forming a squad of almost 40 personnel was goingto be a challenge. The previous records were trawled and the TpComds and QMSI were consulted to try and establish the knowntalent. Unfortunately, the normal Inter Sqn athletics competition,a precursor for finding the Regts talent, gave way to the forecastof events and commitments. Never the less, even though thelocal track at Tidworth was going to be out of use for the periodleading up to the event, we started to conduct training, slowlypulling the talent from all the other Unit sports teams on the way.

The big 2 days arrived with the short trip to Blandford, the teamstarted off slow, but come lunchtime on the first day the teamwere set ready to turn the tables. The female team showed greatpromise as they started to pick up 1st and 2nd places. The male

team qualified for all of their heats ready for day 2, both male andfemale teams where in a great position to finish in the top 3teams. Sig Steadman, although leading the 400m hurdles untilthe last hurdle, after falling over he picked him self up determinedto still win but his legs gave away from him once again but finallyfinished 3rd. During the second day the Regt were battling forthe lead position against 11 Sig Regt, great team spirit wasshown and the performances including pulled muscles and sadlyLCpl Sutton AGC breaking her foot in the 100m hurdles on routeproved the effort and determination which was put in by all. Bythe end of the event waiting for the results the Regt showed thateven with limited training it still had the ability and talent tocompete with the best in the Corps to pick up runners upposition in both male and female teams.

SUPPORT SQUADRON

OC Maj DG Skimming

SSM WO2 (SSM) Darby

It has been a busy time of late for Sp Sqn as we have justtransitioned into MST 1 prior to deployment on Op HERRICK 13.

The troops are realising that their fundamental basicsoldering skills are not yet perfect. However theSSM has a plan up his sleeve to ensure that all histroops are fully prepared to take on the futureexercises that have been planned by the Regtl TrgWing which will be conducted in MST 2 towards thelater end of the year.

SP SQN ADVENTURE TRAINING

- by LCpl Tim Jones

We got off to a great start by filling our minibus withmostly Souter Tp and then turning the wrong way outof camp and up the A303 adding an extra 15 mins toour restricted minibus journey of 9 hours. Most of ushad finished our packed lunches before evenreaching the Swindon M4 junction so we stopped ata couple of service stations on the way to fill up onBurger King and buy neck cushions because the

minibus was so uncomfortable. Travelling through the valleys ofNorth Wales we all realised that we were heading for the backend of nowhere. Upon arrival at Capel Curig we all realised thatthe camp wasn’t that bad at all, it looked more like Butlins than a

Morrison Cup athletes


military camp, until you went into the rooms and it was all bunksand lockers. After about 6 hours we had the place smelling ofbodies and feet so it probably felt like home for some of the guys.

We were split down into 3 groups and had a briefing on theactivities we would be doing throughout the week. These were tobe; rock climbing, mountain biking and everyone’s favourite, hillwalking which was more like mountain climbing. That eveningwas filled with volleyball and some climbing on the outdoor wallon camp. My group’s first activity of the week was to bemountain biking. We set off in the fun bus with our helmets andkit for the day. We arrived at the bottom of a mountain and gottold we had to ride up the thing before we came down it! Wespent the next couple of hours pedalling up the tracks and thengoing onto more technical single track to get a good feel for whatmountain biking was really like. The day was finally over, after afew minor falls. a snapped chain, and a lot of sore bums. I thenpurchased some t-shirts because I only packed 2 for the wholeweek! I wanted to fit in with the AT ‘look’ so I picked up a NorthFace t-shirt so I could wear it in the cookhouse and pretend I didextreme sports.

Our second day was to be hill walking. Our group was split intotwo and we both went our different ways. On looking up youcould not see the tops of the hills due to the clag coveringeverything, talk about a morale boost! I took the first leg leadingus up into the grey cloud and to the top of the first peak. Theslog up to the top was a hard one and even though it was prettycold and wet we were soon down to T-shirts. We had a quickbreak at the top and carried on over the top of the next peakchatting to some mountain goats on the way. The half way pointwas at a pub for some lunch and a cup of tea. We met with thesecond group and laughed at them because of the hill that wehad just come down, they had to climb. After lunch we set off upthe other side of the valley and across the top into even moreclouds. We were promised a good view at the top down onto thelakes but, as before, all we could see was cloud. We finished offthat day’s activity in an overly priced cafe eating cake anddrinking tea.

On returning back to camp a BBQ had been organised so we allhad a few burgers and bratty’s. Most people had a few beers butas I was on fire piquet in the evening I couldn’t have a drink. Firepiquet for me involved sitting in the guard room between 2300and 0130 to cover the MPGS guy on his break!

Our last day was to be rock climbing in an old warehouse. Wehad to go indoors due to the rain the night before making therocks too wet to climb. The morning was spent doing some‘bouldering’ and then onto climbing the big walls in the mainroom of the climbing centre. We all had a few climbs each withsome of the guys timing themselves to see who could get to thetop the quickest. Our last night was spent in Bangor for a fewdrinks with the local population of student nurses. The best thingabout the place was the student prices of a quid for a drink!

We got woken up early in the morning to give the block a dig outand pack all our gear away. Then it was back into the fun bus forthe journey back to Bulford. One last job of cleaning the fun busthen we were finished for the week.

SOUTER FORCE PROTECTION TROOP

OC Lt Hick

Tp SSgt SSgt Palin

On Monday 26 April Souter Tp set of for the south of Wales fortheir first adventure training as a newly formed tp. There was afeeling of anticipation overcoming us after a 6 hour journey alongthe scenic route thanks to a cheap sat-nav, but we still arrived inhigh spirits.

In true ex fashion, the weather started with thick fog and a bitingchill in the air. We soon split into the first activities of the day anarduous days worth of sea kayaking for those lucky few who“volunteered” and rock climbing where we watched the amazingcoastline as the fog slowly disappeared from the cliff faces.Whilst waiting for the ropes to be set up we explored thesurrounding cliff face commenting on the old fossils we could seein the rocks. The climbs proved tricky and a strain on even theexperienced climbers.

The next day began with an overcast sky but we grew hopeful ofa sunny trip on the powerboat, or for those less fortunate to havetheir name selected from the hat, a day surf kayaking! My grouphad a fun time jumping into wetsuits at the nearest car park whilethe local old dears watched on trying to catch a glimpse of skin.After a quick brief on surf technique in a closed cockpit kayak weheaded into the messy surf (cue beach boys music). A dozencapsizes later we decided to grab some sit-on top kayaks whichproved to be a lot better at surfing.

Finally, early on Thursday we headed back to Bulford. This wasindeed an excellent opportunity and worthwhile for everybody tobe away from the daily in-barracks routine and to get involved invarious outdoor activities as well as promoting troop bonding. Amuch enjoyed time by all.

202 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Major M Parke

SSM WO2 (SSM) J Thisby

The Sqn is currently going through a very busy period inpreparation for deployment to Afghanistan in Jan 11. With all thecurrent commitments and Special to Arms Training, Sqn paradesoften only number in the tens. That said, preparations are goingwell. The Sqn is nearly manned to 100% and the team are nowfully in the Operational mindset. The Sqn would like to welcome Capt Rob Harris to the newly established position ofOps Offr and WO2 Chaz Charnley in to the long gapped post ofYofS.

SANDPIPER - by FofS Dobson

Elements of 202 Sig Sqn were nominated to fill key roles to formthe Project SANDPIPER team, the new bearer system for the 16Bde FTX in July. Soldiers from 202 have been involved in theprojects architectural designs, testing, configuration anddelivering cascade training to 258 Sig Sqn, 2 Sig Regt and 21 SigRegt and a few soldiers from 3 Cdo Bde, all of which were aboveand beyond their usual day to day activities. WO2 (FofS)

Dobson and his team consisting of Sgts Steve Purvis and Loz

Howarth and Cpls Chris Charnock and ‘Deano’ Deans havespent much of their time on SPTA conducting feasibility tests ofRADWin radios and the Plains fixed infrastructure.

OTES and Server capability for the project is being delivered bySgt Sean Robson and LCpl Healy who have had to endure livingall over the country for short periods of time, much to the dismayof their wives and Tp staff. Cpls McLeod and McIllorum havespent 4 weeks in sunny Blandford learning the VoIP and RouterMaking climbing look good!


configurations under the direction of CSD Nets prior to moving upto West Down Camp.

So far the project is going well and is to schedule and budget(nearly). The whole Sqn is now concentrating on the deploymentphase once the cascade training has been completed.

4th DIVISION OSC 2010 - by LCpl Thompson

Tuesday morning was a 0700 start for the shooting team. Wearrived at the ranges at about 0745 and went straight to thezeroing range where there was already a queue as everyonewanted to ‘just make sure’ with a check zero. The first day was aday to get ourselves ready for the rest of the weeks shootingAND after a few hours getting our rifles zeroed we went onto thepractice shoots. The first one we arrived at was the Roupel Cupand after we finished the shoot we moved down to the next rangewhich was the Roberts Cup. Unfortunately we didn’t get tocomplete this shoot or the Whittaker Trophy (Moving Targets) as itwas 1300 and there were three details ahead of us with theshooting due to finish at 1400. However we decided to watchboth shoots to assist us in learning them.

Wednesday was a later start which was a bit of a bonus. Wearrived at the ranges and got ourselves ready for the shoots bycollimating and preparing our rifles while talking through theshoot. Today we had 2 shoots, the Roberts Cup and theWhittaker Trophy. All in all it was a good days shooting andhighly enjoyable. It was clear that some teams had found a lotmore time than others to prepare and this was borne out in theresult.

Thursday consisted of 2 shoots, the Para Cup which involvedeveryone on the team and the Machine Gun match for the 2 luckyLSW gunners, namely LCpl Gray and LCpl Sampson. The ParaCup was first, which involved a casualty extraction and a greatdeal of movement along our lanes. The LSW gunners then hadtheir MG match to contend with pepper potting along their lanesand at one stage having to run 100m and fire 16 rounds at thetarget in 30seconds, which was no mean feat. All in all it was ‘abit of a lick out’ all with 7.5kg in our webbing, wearing bodyarmour and helmets!

The final competition day was Friday where we completed theRoupel Cup before 0900, with all of our firers performingparticularly well. It was then on to the Falling Plates match,which is an extremely competitive ‘knock-out’ competition. Itinvolves running 100m with your helmet and rifle and engagingten targets as quick as possible. Each Regt enters a team of 4,usually the four best shots. Our team was 2Lt Bryant, Cpl Cook,

LCpl Gray and Cfn Silvera. Our team made it through the firststage but were knocked out at the next round.

After the shooting finished we gave our rifles a good clean andmade our way over to the prize giving. Once the prize givingfinally started there was no surprise to find that the Ghurkha’spretty much won everything. LCpl Gray came 8th out of all theLSW Gunners in the Machine Gun match and 2Lt Bryant mayhave picked up some silverware if he hadn’t scored lower thanhalf of the average on his first shoot!! Overall our team didn’t dotoo badly considering our Regtl tempo had made it difficult toconduct as much training as we would have liked. All in all theteam had a thoroughly enjoyable week and had learned a lot.Hopefully now we can follow the team captains ‘3 year plan’; getsome time on the ranges, do better next year and hopefully bringhome some silverware for the mighty Iron Division!

3DSR CORPS RUGBY 7’s – 12 MAY 2010

- by SSgt Giddens

0700 Wed 12 May we set off in 2 full minibuses to Blandford forthe Corps Rugby 7’s. It had been a tough ask to find 20 playersto field 2 teams given the current tempo of the Regt but 2 teamswe entered with a mixture of experience from Cpl ‘Batesy’ Bates

(Corps level) to 2Lt Bryant who, up until training the week before,had never even picked the oval ball up.

Our illustrious leader, Capt Cox, who 3 hours earlier had returnedfrom the Corps dinner, selected the teams in the car park with ourmore experienced players making up the ‘A’ Team, and the oldknackers and newbies, led by the Provo Sgt Sgt Annetts makingup the ‘B’ Team.

The A Team got off to a good start with convincing wins over 10Sig Regt, 30 Sig Regt and 11 Sig Regt B Team amongst others.The B Team however were more shaky and despite losing to 1ADSR put in a reasonable performance to blow the cobwebsaway and get us all in the right mindset for our next matchagainst 18 Sig Regt, who blew us away as did 21 Sig Regt andthe 11 Sig Regt A Team. However, despite our inexperiencemorale remained high and we fought tooth and nail to the end inevery game!

The A team started well in the cup semi final against 11 Sig RegtA Team with Sgt Andy Ackers going over with a great catch anddrive. However they were narrowly beaten with a couple of latetries. The B Team, despite the heavy losses earlier, reorganisedfor the Plate semi-final against 11 Sig Regt B Team but werenarrowly massacred.

Losses aside, a great day was had by all. The injury list washigh; Sig Briggs – head, LCpl ‘Mac’ McKay – hand, LCpl

‘Benjy’ Benjamin – jaw, SSgt ‘Guido’ Giddens – entire body!!,but we can hold our heads high when the neck and back painsfinally subside. SSgt Giddens has definitely now retired fromrugby.

206 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj LC Westerman

SSM WO2 (SSM) M Witham

Congratulations to the OC who has been selected for promotion.A huge well done from the Sqn!

BCIP 5.4 - by Sig Stephens

The Bowman uplift for 206 Sig Sqn started in March when theSqn sent its radios and terminals to Ashchurch to be uplifted from4f to the latest version of 5.4. Easter leave had started and theBowman was returned but rapidly needed to be fitted back in thedetachments for the Sqn to be trained by the Bowtag team.

The 5.4 course was two weeks long and started like all courseswith an opening brief. It was the quickest I’ve ever sat in butprovided an overview on what Bowman used to be like and thechanges it has now. For starters, the UDTs are touch screen.This is perfect for a guy like me with sausage fingers! Theprocessors in the terminals are larger, which means initializing istwice as quick. Before you could return from NAAFI break andfind the terminal was still logging on!

3 DSR B Team – Rugby elite!


Over the first week we all got hands on the Bowman manpackradios and had tasks to complete with the kit. Cpl Burgess, theTp’s ‘future Yeoman’ helped to give everyone who was strugglinga push in the right direction. In the second week the Sqn’s fleetwas outside in the blazing heat. Here we learnt to initialise theBNAU’s and start up Combat. There was also a multi guess finaltest paper which everyone successfully passed.

Now that 206 Sqn has been uplifted and trained on 5.4 we aecurrently on a 2 week PACEX in preparation for Ex RED TRICORN10/2. We’re looking forward to see how the Bowman will workalongside the Cormorant that has recently been received from 2Sig Regt.

CORMORANT - by Cpl ‘Cooky’ Cook

With the formation of the new Campaign Signal Regiment, 206Sig Sqn was tasked to take on both the 3 (UK) Div Fwd HQ andthe 3 (UK) Div Main HQ. With the new formation cameCormorant which arrived from 2 Sig Regt, and Mons Tp were theones relied upon to provide the strategic level comms for the IronDivision. It would be an understatement to say Mons Tp had abusy couple of months preparing for the arrival as lots of changesto manning and garage layout were required. Many of the newTp immediately attended Cormorant courses and quickly had toadjust to the new way of life. Straight after the arrival came thedreaded CES and all the det comds proceeded to check thevehicles. Many hours were spent testing the new equipment andchecking for missing and damaged items. The superb supportfrom USSO, based at Blandford, and EADS, the civiliancontractors, was priceless and our sincere gratitude goes out tothose that helped. However the testing brought out many faultsand resulted in hours spent searching to resolve such issues.One of the Dets even managed to catch fire when it’s UPSdecided to catch fire. This caused obvious panic and confusionand sent everyone scurrying for cover. The fire was thankfullycontained without causing too much damage, but brought biggerproblems to the attention of FofS Burnham as it turned out themajority of the UPS’ had similar issues. Everyone was aware thatBaseline preparation followed by a PACEX was required beforethe inaugural deployment of Cormorant on Ex RED TRICORN.The pace was cranked up in order to keep to these deadlines andthe hours spent in the garages were well appreciated by all theSqn. With everything in place and all the kit in working orderMons Tp were ready to deploy and joined up with the rest of theSqn to set off on the task at hand.

MERCURY 500 - by Sig Pittam

Mercury 500 was a charity endurance event held at Blandford,with all the locations in the world the running track was deemedthe best!! Hopefully this meant no-one would get lost, althoughwe had to keep a close eye on Capt McMillan. 206 Sig Sqnentered a team of 10 who were ‘voluntold’ to take part. Theevent consisted of 50 laps around the track per team membercarrying 30lbs, with WO2 (SSM) Matt Witham as our illustrious

leader and Capt McMillan as our 2IC. The event started at2100hrs Thursday evening and was to take place overnight,finishing sometime the next afternoon. We decided to splitourselves into two teams and complete 20 laps each beforeswapping with the next team. LCpl ‘Wardy’ Ward started offwhich put us in good stead for the event. SSgt Parkinson

started off extremely quickly, having reached the 200m point shesoon slowed down and the team had some doubts that shewould complete the lap! After having a quick snack of pastaduring the evening Sig ‘Reidy ‘ Reid misjudged how big hisstomach was and promptly decided to ‘feed the birds’. Theevent would not have run smoothly without the assistance ofSSgt (SQMS) Nat Butler and LCpl Sophie Potter who were onhand to feed us with chocolate bars and juice throughout the 17hours it took to complete. Overall the event was a success as weall completed our 50 laps with no injuries although we were allwalking like old men by the end.

258 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj JR Knight MBE

SSM WO2 (SSM)R Smith

This has been a busy period for the Sqn as we left our old role asan independent Bde Sig Sqn and became a sub-unit of 3 (UK) DivSig Regt. This has occurred as we have been busy conductingMission Specific Training 1 in preparation for Op HERRICK 14. Inaddition, there are 22 members currently deployed on OpHERRICK 12 with 204 Sig Sqn and the RLD’s. Along withcommitments to the HQ in Edinburgh and Brockdale atAshchurch, the Sqn has certainly been spread to the 4 winds butthere have still been plenty of opportunities for military training,sport and AT.

BRIGADE DISBANDMENT PARADE

The disbandment parade for 52 Inf Bde was marked by a Beatingthe Retreat, held in Edinburgh Castle. The last responsibility forthe Sqn was to ensure the smooth running of the ceremony. Cpl

Ritchie, LCpl Hardie and Sig Campbell were burdened with theresponsibility of ensuring that Commander Field Army, Lt Gen

White-Spunner CBE and GOC 1st (UK) Armd Div, Maj Gen

Bradshaw CB OBE and a fashionably late Brig Lawrence MBE

were collected and dropped off. The event started in the GreatHall, where Col Vandeleur delivered the opening address whichwas closely followed by the GOC’s commemorative speech. Allpersonnel then moved outside into the courtyard to watch themilitary bands display. After an impressive finale and with severalindividuals suffering from hyperthermia, the night came to a verysuccessful close. The members of the Sqn quickly made a moveto the Royal Mile to ‘warm up’; 52 Inf Bde was no more, leavingSgt Nessling and his team to drawdown and pack up theremnants of the HQ.

MERCURY 500 - by LCpl Gary Eland

When you hear the title, what does it mean to you - not much?To be honest, it didn’t mean that much to our team before thecompetition. However, now it’s a totally different matter. Firstly,let me tell you what the competition is all about. Five hundredlaps of a 400m track; completed by a team of ten and carrying aBergen weighing 30lbs.

We had a very good training programme before the competitionwith one of the last training sessions being ten laps of a 400mtrack where we were averaging 1 minute 40 seconds and all ofthe team did the session with ease, thinking the competition wasgoing to be a breeze.

It was the start at 9 o’clock at night and the team were raring togo. Our first man, LCpl ‘Ches’ MacDonald stepped up to thestart line, the horn blew, and he was neck and neck with 209 SigSqn all the way round managing a 1.09 lap. Then I was up for myfirst lap and because we were level with 209, I knew I was goingto have to put in a good lap. I managed to get us into the leadand pull out a 1:11 lap. Bearing in mind that in training we were

Sig Chambers mastering Comms


all running 1:40 laps, we were going a lot faster than before. Wemanaged to keep a really good pace all the way through untilabout the 200th lap. By this point we had a massive lead over allof the other competing teams. Then our times started to slip, therapid start had begun to take its toll, however they had onlyslipped to 1:30 laps. There were a lot of different tactics beingused and ours was one lap on, 9 laps rest, and we were tocomplete the whole competition using this tactic.

By the 350th lap the team were exhausted, morale was at an alltime low and no-one seemed to have anything left in them. Westill had a massive lead so we knew that we could all take a fewextra seconds on our laps. At around the 400th lap the team IC,SSgt Paul Chamberlain, went into the admin tent to check up onour times and at that point realized that we could beat the recordas long as we kept our times under 1:40. The team weredetermined to beat the record, although at this point our bodiesand minds were exhausted. We had to put everything we hadinto every lap and we were all eating Haribo and drinkinglemonade just for a bit of energy.

At the beginning of the competition all the teams were verycompetitive, however at this point in the race everyone was justcheering us on, even when we were overtaking them. The sunwas now up and the competition was close to an end. 258 hadjust one lap each left to complete and every team member put ina blinding effort, getting 1:25 laps over 12 hours into thecompetition. Every team was cheering us on from the sidelinesand people were already coming over to congratulate us on whatwe were about to accomplish.

Finishing our last laps was the best feeling in the world. Whenour last man had crossed the line and finished the competition forus, the team dived on top of him. We had beaten the record by 6minutes and got a finishing time of 13h 02min. None of the teamrealized how hard Mercury 500 was going to be, but we alldefinitely realize now.

SOinC(A) VISIT - by SSgt Medcraft

I had only been in the unit for a week and then it hit me! I hadthat sense of realisation that I was posted to a unit that was notonly due to deploy on Ops but that my time with 258 Sig Sqnwas certainly going to be busy.

This became evident when after a week had passed I was taskedwith getting my guys to change the IS Cell from an IT suite usedfor training individuals on the intricacies of JOCS as well as otherapplications into a Forward Operating Base similar to that seen inAfghanistan. I was not the only individual that had been givensuch taskings as other members of the Sqn were also assignedprojects in order to prepare for the forthcoming SOinC(A)’s visit.Given that the Sqn had recently re-rolled from a Bde Sig Sqn intoa part of the new Campaign Sig Regt, there was a lot to explain.First stop were the garages where all the BOWMAN vehicles andcrews were on show giving Brig Flint an opportunity to chat to

the troops and have a quick cup of tea with biscuits beforeheading off for the OC’s brief. After the brief, the SOinC wasbrought to FOB Gamecock (IS Cell). It was here that I gave anintroduction to the various technologies, databases andapplications that are currently being used out in theatre. Thisincluded a looped video feed of a UAV (Unmanned AirborneVehicle). The SOinC(A) was keen to exploit the interoperability ofIT systems in particular coalition systems and the ability of dataexchange. Other applications that were on show were CIDNEand a JChat equivalent as well as some BOWMAN PDTs whichadded to the overall FOB effect. Sgt Watts and Sig Francis

provided some light entertainment using the JChat facility utilising2 webcams interconnected between 2 offices.

After a final coffee with the OC, the SOinC departed, leavingbehind his 3 pronged message: - Skills, Friends and Standards.

EXERCISE BEARS PROWL - by Sig Sheard

On Mon 17 May, the Sqn paraded at the armoury to drawweapons for a week of dry training. This was to refresh us on ourbasic skills in preparation for the upcoming range package, wherewe would conduct LFTT. After the formalities of safety briefs andweapon handling tests, we headed off to the Windbreaks forsome fun and games.

The initial training focussed on important objectives such ascasualty extraction, Op BARMA and vehicle convoy drills, thehighlight being Cpl ‘Scotty’ Corsor displaying his artistic natureconstructing “Vallon” out of cam spreaders, cam poles and aliberal dose of green tape. After the initial training and practising,we were thrown in at the deep end with vehicles, patrol routesand a plentiful supply of blank ammunition. We were to patrol,come under contact and withdraw as the first vehicle was hit byan IED. For some reason, Sgt Jimmy Bond decided this wasn’tenough, throwing in multiple casualties as well. As the DS werefond of reminding us, “targets WILL fall when hit!”

On the final day we completed weapon training on GPMGand pistol, before the joy of several hours rifle cleaning andan inspirational speech from WO2 (SSM) Rob Smith. Theweek was very productive and equipped us well for thescenarios on the range package at Lydd and Hythe.

EXERCISE BEARS SHOT - by LCpls Hutton and Jackson

A well planned live firing package, led by SSgt Ross

Gleave, was organised for the Sqn to prepare them for theforthcoming deployment in 2011. The troops gathered onthe square in the early hours of Sun 23 May, abandoningany prospect of a lie-in. A boost to morale came in theform of the 1960s style coach, lacking the basics such asair conditioning for our trip to St Martin’s Plain Camp onthe hottest day of the year so far.

The first day was a straightforward grouping and zeroingpractice followed by the ACMT, where a few standoutmarksmen came to the fore. In particular, Cpl ‘Commando

Ken’ Lawson went for a record-breaking 22 attempts over thenext two days, followed by Sgt ‘Deadeye’ Knowles who alsotook an obscene number of attempts and quantity of ammunitionto pass a basic test! As the week progressed we enjoyed avariety of shoots ranging from FOB defence and top cover toIBSR and GPMG. As the weekend drew in, a change to drytraining was adopted for vehicle anti-ambush drills. Cpl ‘Bish’

Bishop was glad of this change as he failed to tell his left fromright, and ended up in a Mexican standoff across the bonnet withhis vehicle commander, Cpl ‘Cheshire’ Bibby.

As the package drew to a close, competition for the Best Shotwas still up for grabs, with half a dozen people in the running. Inthe end the spoils went to Cpl Nige Foulkes, with Sig ‘Lofty’

Loftus taking Best Individual and Sig Dave Bowie MostImproved Soldier. On behalf of the Sqn, we would like to thankSSgt Gleave and the team who organised such an enjoyablepackage, and the weather for the fact that it only rained twice!

The mighty 258!!!


7th SIGNAL REGIMENTELMPT

CO Lt Col A Long

RSM WO1 (RSM) R Heynes

ANZAC DAY 2010 - by Sig Ben Taylor

In keeping with tradition, 25 April 2010 saw 7 Sig Regtcommemorate ANZAC Day, a day of remembrance for Australian& New Zealand Army Corps that fought and fell in Gallipoli duringWorld War One.

The day began at 0500 with “gunfire” (a concoction of tea mixedwith rum), followed by a service held in ANZAC Cove with eachsoldier being given a candle to read the song sheets as first lightdid not appear for some time! Wreaths were then laid, with ourAustralian Exchange NCO, Cpl Mike Farber laying the firstwreath for the Australian Army, followed by Sig Hurdus (theyoungest soldier in the Regt) representing the New Zealand Army,and finally Comd 1 Sig Bde, Brig Hooper, laying the wreath forthe British Army.

Speeches were then given by various personalities, includingFather Pascal Hanrahan, who lead the service. The Regt wasthen treated to breakfast which lead into a morning of Aussie-themed games such as “Shrimp on the Barbie”! Moving into theafternoon the Regt and their families were invited to the fun dayon Archie’s field. Games throughout the day including thetraditional Australian game of ‘two up’ and also bucking bronco,and sumo wrestling.

The BBQ and beer tent kept everyone fuelled throughout – Cpl

Kelly Berry was tasked with games for the children, howeverwhen faced with the prospect of working with children shedecided it would be easier all round if sweets were handed out

and games were foregone! Additional entertainment was providedin the form of a local band, “The Duty Rumour”, consisting ofCapt Tom Robinson, Sgt Dawn Bailey and Sig Ben Taylor. Theband performed two sets during the afternoon keeping the crowdsuitably entertained.

ANZAC Day is a day for remembrance and reflection however inline with Australian tradition it is also a day for fun and festivity,both of which were certainly achieved in our celebrations thisyear. All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable day for all whoattended.

NAAFI BRUGGEN 10 MILE ROAD RACE - by Lt Craig Tee

One of the recent highlights for the Regt was the hosting of theannual Bruggen 10 mile road race which takes place here onElmpt Station. The day was full of activities laid on for familiesand children, as well as a number of races for people of all agesand abilities who were not up to the challenge of running the full10 miles! The day was about more than just simply running; afete full of stalls and stands also added to the entertainment, inparticular the dunk tank where senior members of staffvolunteered to sit in a pool of water and have people throwsponges at a bucket to soak them. Special note goes to Capt

Dale Taft who took one for the team on the tank and spent 20minutes sitting in freezing cold water. Whilst all this washappening the shorter races for children were taking place, andall the station families were showing fantastic support for childrenof all age groups competing in their respective races.

The main event for the day was the 10 mile road race which linedup at 1400 hrs on the runway. The favourite to win the race wasthe station’s dentist Capt Tony ‘Aussie’ Craig, our Australianexchange Officer currently attached on Ex LONGLOOK. Therewas a strong representation from across the Regt and widerstation competing in the event as well as many people fromHolland and Germany. Military Units travelled from far and wideto compete, in particular a large number of RAF units travelledfrom the UK in order to participate in the race that first beganwhen Elmpt was an RAF station. Once the race got under way itwas very clear that there was a large mix of running abilitythroughout crowd and people began to spread out quickly. Capt

Taft led the way for 7 Sig Regt, being the fastest member,however he wasn’t able to keep pace with Capt Tony Craig whowas the fastest runner of the day completing the event in anoutstanding 53 minutes. Everyone who competed said it was agruelling course but they were all determined throughout andpleased they had made the effort to finish it.

The day was rounded off nicely with a ‘Hanger Bash’ with a localband Fahrenheit performing prior to a DJ taking over for theremainder of the evening. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the eventand the whole day which brought the families of Elmpt stationtogether at a time where 16 Sig Regt are still deployed.

ELMPT STATION CADRE 2010 - by Sig Rathbone

After being selected for the Elmpt Station Cadre this year I hadfeelings of both excitement and worry. I had heard all the NAAFIstories, including rumors of horrendous PT, sleepless nights andthe self-induced pressure to do well. I said to myself I wouldprepare the best I could and then whatever happened after that Iwould just have to deal with!

On the first day (a Sunday!), we met all the Training Staff who puton a buffet lunch as a meet and greet. Everyone was slightlynervous as the Training Staff went around the tables meeting thestudents. I was glad to speak to the other students and realise itwasn’t just me that was a little nervous!

Members of 231 Sqn Compete in the ANZAC Day Games

Lt Col A Long present the ANZAC Trophy to Sp Sqn who won the

days events


After the streaming run we were put into our sections. I was in 1section with Cpl Louis Simpkins as my Section Commander - hespoke to us all and said how he wasn’t interested in the fittest orthe un-fittest student, all he wanted to see was the person thattried to the hardest. This was a relief because I definitely wasn’tthe fittest in the section.

After the first week the in-course section rivalry was brilliant, oursection had come first on the log run and 2nd on the burdenretrieval in a close battle, competing closely with 3 section all theway to the end. If the PT wasn’t enough to tire us out everyday,the learning curve from the lectures and lessons throughout theday was exhausting. All conversations during the breaks turnedto what was coming up next, including the exercise phase. Afterthe RTO inspection I was glad my pre-course preparation didn’tgo unnoticed even though I was picked up for a few items. I wasstood next to Sig ‘Webtex’ Webster who had a list of items tofind that was a lot longer than anyone else’s!

Come the exercise phase I was selected to be the first 2IC from 1section and after a quick brief from Cpl Simpkins I was throwninto the appointment with a list of things to get done, then left toit! That night and the next day flew by as I was either preppingmyself, organising the section or trying to remember everythingtaught to me to make sure I had done everything a 2IC shoulddo. Cpl Simpkins told the section as 2IC if we were busy thenwe were probably doing something right … he was definitelyright! The patrols were often long and tiring, the weight of all theequipment and the Bowman radio was tough but everyone(despite the 2 hours sleep a night) had high morale and with eachlong cold night and what seemed an even colder morning gonewe began to enjoy ourselves more and more. Each sectionmember was rotated through the 2IC appointment until it cametime for the Final Attack.

All week the orders and patrols had been building up to this andthere was a buzz about the section. Cpl Simpkins came backfrom orders and told me I had been selected to be Section 2ICfor the final attack - I had been nervous before but this time I feltdifferent, more relaxed about the thought of what was expected.The Platoon Commanders orders the following morningconfirmed a Deliberate Attack on an enemy position, and I setabout organising the section. The attack was forecast to last anhour from H hour at 0800, but due to the aggression and speedof the platoon, the Platoon Commander called the Re-Org 18minutes after the first shots. We had successfully taken theenemy position. To me it was a blur of adrenalin… from 2Section opening up and 1 Section assaulting the first position, tome having to dispatch Sig ‘Ginge’ Armstrong to re-supply theother sections with ammunition, 18 minutes actually seemed liketwo. An amazing feeling and end to a hard but rewarding week.

The 3rd week was a live shooting package and with it a welcomechange of accommodation from cold hesco to warm beds. Theembedded sectionhierarchy had nowbecome RangeSafety Staff and weprogressed fromgrouping and zeroingour rifles to fire teamassaults, includinghaving GPMGsproviding supportfire. My favouriterange was a nighttime Sanger shoot,the dark night skiesand flares wereexciting andsomething I hadn’tdone before.

The end of coursemeal was somethingI hadn’t had the

experience of before, the silverware on the tables and the toastsby Mr.Vice were really enjoyable. Throughout the night some ofthe students and guests were moved around the tables and I wasmoved onto the Top Table, sat between the CO and the RTO.When the awards were called out by the CO, he called out TopField Soldier… “Sig Rathbone” I couldn’t believe it! Me? I wasso happy! Sig Cook from 2 Section was awarded Top Studentand then to top off the night 1 Section were awarded TopSection! What a night, and what an experience.

OPERATIONAL SHOOTING COMPETITION - by LCpl Searle

As a keen shooter myself, you can imagine my unbridled joy atfinding out that I was to take two weeks away from duties to trainand compete as one of Lt Rob Carnegie’s elite eight-manOperational Shooting Team. Further reading of the AdminInstruction revealed a less-favourable nugget of information:“Parade with range kit at cookhouse, 0545 Monday.” All thebetter, given that I had just returned from leave late that Sunday.

We headed off to Haltern for some German sun-soaked shootingtraining under the keen skilled guidance of SSgt ‘Wilf’ Williams

and Cpl ‘G’ Gurung – for some, it was the first time they had gottheir hands on pistols, not to mention SUSATs. This wasespecially apparent when Sig Mee, who was advised uponattempting to zero that “25 clicks left should do it”. Pistol shootsmade for interesting practice with LCpl Lalor, Sig Drury and Sig

Mee showed off their pistol shooting experience – all of which isthanks to their northern roots and proclaimed history of drive byshootings. After the three days’ practice the team was lockedand loaded and ready to rumble in the direction of Pirbright withmorale and banter at maximum levels.

The Friday before the competition gave us a chance to recceranges and rehearse some further shoots so we had a crack atthe Henry Whitehead Cup. We shortly learned afterwards thatwhoever Henry Whitehead was, he loved free phys in bodyarmour. The LSW ‘gun run’ made for a particularly surprisingrehearsal; LCpl Rich Searle and Sig Karl Drury were made tocomplete a series of 100m sprints with the legs of the mighty‘crow cannon’ merrily swinging away. Sig Drury came in for afair amount of stick when it transpired that upon eventuallyarriving at the 300m point and adopting the prone position, hewas too late to fire off any rounds and had to up and move onceagain!

After a weekend of varying successes, the four-day competitionkicked off in earnest. The week consisted of some carried andinteresting shoots – and some particularly varied performancesfrom 7 Sig Regt. LCpl Ben Seru became famous for hislegendary sprinting to the firing point but equally infamous for hisbarn-door shooting. Sig Luke Rogers only narrowly avoidedWire notes duties after displaying a penchant for preparing to firewith everyone else running forwards to the next firing point. Incontrast, Sig Mee eagerly ran forward towards the 200m firingpoint on a later shoot while everyone else took aim from the300m point – a selfless, though unnecessary, act of bravery in theextreme. Throughout the week’s madness however, lay some fineshooting – Cfn Jon Warrior picked up silverware for the Corps’Fire and Manoeuvre on the Station Cadre

LCpls Lalor and Searle get down and dirty on the approach to the

Combat Snap Shoot


top non-R SIGNALS shot and Sig Mee for being the top YoungSoldier in a number of shoots. Though not formally recognised,the team firmly believed that LCpl Damian Smart deserved anaward for the top admin NCO.

The week culminated some more glamorous shoots, including theobstacle-ridden Combat Snap and the casevacs and ammoreplens that constitute the famous Parachute Cup. LCpl Brendan

Lalor made up for his wonky rifle shooting with a strong pistolperformance, making the Corps final (thanks no doubt to sometop helpful but unintended cross-lane firing), only to be pipped atthe end by a handful of the Royal Signals’ pistol ninjas. Wefinished 5th in the Corps, a result we were very happy with.

Come the end of the competition the team had bondedimmensely, shot at a higher level than we had ever before andhad something to show for it all. Brig Pope, former Comd 1 SigBde, summed it all up very well when presenting medals to theteam for coming second in the moving targets match saying, “Ah

7 Sigs! Good to see you here – great Regiment!

7 SIGNAL REGIMENT ORIENTEERING TEAM

- by Capt Tony Grainger

Whilst the bulk of the Regt was deployed on Op HERRICK 10 ascratch team of 6 runners returned to Upavon for the RoyalSignals Orienteering Championships over the 25/26 Mar. Thoughthey brought no prizes back to BFG but a respectable third wasgained in the team event but more importantly the seeds weresown for the forthcoming season.

The BFG season opened 6 Nov 09 with an event run at Achmerduring Ex ARRCADE FUSION 09. A great opportunity to get offexercise was taken by a staggering 26 personnel from the Regt –not usual for a unit team – and the flag went down on the season.It was a mixed bag of ranks and experience; 18 of the runnershad never participated in an orienteering event before so after a30 minute map ‘walk and talk’ from team coach Capt Tony

Grainger they started a season that would last 5 months andentail several thousand kilometres of minibus journeys!

Christmas arrived and much of the team had missed the 2nd and3rd events due to extended leave following the Regts deploymentand exercise commitments, the team sat 8th behind teams fromthe Paderborn and surrounding areas.

The New Year started briskly with the addition of planner andquality runner SSgt Williams; the unit organised, planned andcontrolled the 6th league event and provided the league witharguably the best orienteering event of the season, admittedly in4 inches of snow! 1 (UK) ADSR stood between the Mighty 7thand victory and following the 7th event the teams were separatedby just 6 points but with growing strength within the 7 Signal

Regt Squad. The Individual Championships and event 9 sawCapt Grainger pipped to second by one minute and 30 secondsand Lt Lois Exell failed to seal the Individual Championship toher W21 class victory due to being on course but saw the teamstill managed to top of the league by 18 points. The resultsshowed that a combination of coaching and shear determinationwas paying off as the results got steadily better as the seasondrew to a close.

The league was sealed at the last event and 7 Sig Regt won theMajor League by a clear 52 points. Capt Grainger won the M40class and placed second overall in the individual league, and Lt

Exell won the W21 class overall.

The BFG Team event was run on the 26 Mar and consisted of aHarris relay. Following coaching on Javelin Barracks andparticipation in a training event at JHQ the team entered 2 Majorand 2 Minor unit teams into the championships. The minor unitteams both came from the LAD and consisted of 6 under 25 yearold runners (3 per team), a good sign for the future of RoyalSignals and REME orienteering. During the wettest event thisseason, the team having badly planned the Harris, dug out blindand won by a mere 14 seconds with a time of 1:18:15 adding theTeam championships to their league title.

The Army championships was the culmination of the seasonefforts; 4 of the 6 that completed the basic skills course attendedthe championships (2 missing due to injury), a new kit and a greatteam spirit saw the championships entered with a air ofconfidence. The final results speak for themselves; 4th in theoverall championships behind 3 UK units: Artillery Centre, RMASand Royal Anglian’s, confirming our status as the best team inGermany able to compete with the best the UK has to offer. TheU25 team came third and 2 spare runners came second on the Bcourse as part of an adhoc team; every runner had success.

It has been a team effort from start to finish; from pack lunches tominibuses through to planning and controlling league, unit andtraining events. It has not only enhanced operationaleffectiveness through fitness, navigation and decision makingwithout young soldiers being aware but - as sport can do so well– has helped breakdown some of the barriers that exist acrossthe Regt and build unit cohesion.

7 SIGNAL REGIMENT CROSS COUNTRY TEAM

- by Capt Dean Whitworth

Following the Regts successful deployment on OP HERRICK, theUnit Welfare Officer Capt Dean Whitworth was keen to benefitfrom the hard training and physical fitness that the soldiers hadspent six months developing. So, on a cold and windySeptember afternoon the Regimental Cross Country teamcompeted in its first race of the 2009/10 season. A combinationof tact, diplomacy and the odd use of rank ensured that therequired number of runners jumped on the minibus to make thealmost weekly drive from Elmpt to the countless other training

7th Signal Regiment Shooting Team

The 7th Signal Regiment Winning Orienteering Team


10th SIGNAL REGIMENTCORSHAM

REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS

CO Lt Col SL Copley

RSM WO1 (RSM) A Watkins

A hectic yet sublimely productive period for the Regt withongoing surge deployments to Afghanistan from 241 Sig Sqnalong with the steady roulemont of manpower through the theatreproviding ECM FP support to British Forces. The Londonsummer ceremonial season is now in full flow with yet anotherflawless Trooping the Colour conducted by 251 Sig Sqn whilstsimultaneously supporting a Technical Response Force exerciseand the Counter-IED Task Force MRX; the latter in conjunctionwith 225 Sig Sqn. 243 Sig Sqn are now truly in contact with theHQLF move to Andover from Wilton and are up to their pits,ducts and application migration in support.

The Regt now begins to turn its focus towards organising theLanyard Trophy Competition which is just around the corner;more to follow in the next edition I’m sure.

225 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj B Bingham

SSM WO2 (SSM) S Kenny

CHARLIE TROOP - by Cpl Brown

It has been a very busy start to this year with new faces floodinginto the Sqn. With deployments, surge taskings and the ever-growing need for man power the Sqn has grown substantially andchanged for the better with a third troop being born. The newlyformed “Charlie” troop saw a mixture of new and old faces,marking its birth with a good old fashioned SSM’s parade. Therewas an abundance of nervous faces but it was just not just inCharlie troop, Bravo and Alpha were also in the mix.

Bravo Tp welcomes Cpl Taylor, LCpl Blackwood and Cpl Hill toname just a few and all the fresh (for now) faces from Blandford.Ever competitive, I’m sure this will add new challenges to intertroop competitions.

THE MORRISON CUP - by LCpl Rose

The Morrison Cup was held on 18 - 19 May 2010 at BlandfordCamp. I had competed last year representing 11 Sig Regt, so I

knew what to expect, but this year was different as I wasrepresenting my first real Regt.

The proceedings started out on a hectic note as good old MountEyjafjallajokull (yes I did use Google for that!!) had recentlyerupted and had caused delayed and cancelled flights, meaningthe 6 of us travelling from 225 had to book a ferry at the lastminute. 225 is based in Northern Ireland and with Blandfordbeing on the other side of the water this was going to be a longjourney, so with the qualifiers looming the next day we set off forthe overnight crossing from Dublin.

Arriving in Corsham at about 6am on the morning of qualifiers wemet up with the remainder of the athletes representing 10 SigRegt from 241 and 251 Sig Sqns and made our way from there toBlandford for 8am in a sleep deprived state! My first impressionthis year was that the organisers had put in a lot of effort with theevent, the large stage where the party in the park was going to beheld was most noticeable and the rest of the facilities looked topnotch.

I was competing in the long jump and 4 x 100m relay, of whichmy first event wasn’t until after lunch. This gave me a chance tochill out in the glorious sunshine that for some unknown reasonseems to accompany the Morrison Cup. My first event was thelong jump, a straight final on the first day. I finished secondoverall in the event dipping out by 20 cm to the winner.

The next event for me was the 4 x 100m relay qualification race.I was picked to run the first leg and we were drawn in lane 6, anasty lane! We came 2nd in this event, needing a bit more workon our changeovers for the final.

Wednesday came and the weather had cooled down a lot; todaywas the day for the finals of all the track and field events, the onlyevent left for me was the 4 x 100m final in the afternoon so themajority of the day was spent enjoying the athletics and catchingup with a few mates from other units. In the afternoon our 4 x100m team, after a bit of handover training, competed in the finalcoming 4th overall concluding my Morrison cup experience for2010.

Overall 10 Sig Regt came 4th in the major unit competition and5th in the ladies event. The highlight for myself was being askedto represent the Corps in the inter-corps event being held inTidworth 2 weeks later.

areas within BFG. The team has a good blend of young and oldblood with a backup of crusty LE Officers, without which therewould be nobody able to drive the minibus, good old‘Grandfather rights’.

The team has achieved notable successes including runner up inthe Royal Corps of Signals Championships, fourth Major Unit inthe BA(G) League, and BA(G) team champions 2010. There havebeen many individual successes in both the league and teamchampionships, LCpl Al Murray has been a consistent runnerthroughout the season, lifting individual medals in all of thecompetitions. Unfortunately for us he leaves the Corps in June tojoin the PT Corps, we wish him the very best of luck. The TOT,Capt Steve Ruxton has lifted a number of medals in the Veteranscategory and regularly beats the youngsters competing. Sig

‘Steppers’ Stepney and LCpl ‘Woody’ Allen have improveddramatically throughout the season with Sig Stepney lifting thejuniors medal at the BA(G) championships.

With the season almost finished the team will turn its efforts topreparing well for the next season where it hopes to win theBA(G) league and compete in UK at the Army championships. 7th Signal Regiment Cross Country Team

LISBURN SWIMMING COMPETITION - by LCpl Terrett

On Wednesday 26 May the Sqn entered into the Lisburn Garrisonswimming competition. There were 5 participating teams, 225Sig Sqn, 19 Lt Bde HQ and Sig Sqn, 40 Regt RA, NIGSU and 38Bde, making the overall competition quite tough.

The 225 Sig Sqn team comprised SSgt Reid, Cpl Duncan, Cpl

Royal, Cpl Perks, Cpl Harpham, LCpl Biyau, LCpl Terrett, LCpl

O’Shea and LCpl Johnston, all who had trained significantly forthis event, or something to that effect.

SSgt Reid’s event was the 50m butterfly, in which he came first.Cpl Duncan competed at breaststroke, gaining another first forthe Sqn. Cpl Harpham’s backstroke win brought us a hat trick offirst places. Finally Cpl Royal’s front crawl added a respectablesecond place to our dominance of the individual events.

Next the breaststoke relay team consisting of Cpl Perks, LCpl

Biyau, LCpl Johnston and myself added a third place to our haulof wins. Following this Cpl Royal, Cpl Perks, LCpl Biyau andLCpl O’Shea competed in the front crawl relay adding anothersecond place to the bag.

The third relay team consisting of Cpl Harpham, LCpl O’Shea,LCpl Johnston and myself did the backstroke coming 4th. Thefinal relay team consisted of the winners of the other events,SSgt Reid, Cpl Duncan, Cpl Harpham and Cpl Royal bagging225 Sig Sqn another unsurprising first place and the win.

Loaded down with the winners shield and our winner’s medals weretired back to the Sqn lines tired but very happy! That will showthe Artillery who is boss in Thiepval!

ADVENTURE TRAINING - by LCpl Shevill

On Sunday 09 May the Sqn deployed for Adventure Training toCastlemartin in Pembokeshire, Wales. Deploying from Lisburn at0300hrs we were stuck in a minibus for the journey to our ferry atRosslare, Ireland. Upon arriving at the port it was the usual ‘hurryup and wait’ that can be associated with Ferry or Air Travel.

After the ferry crossing to Fishguard it was a short drive to ouraccommodation located at Castlemartin. Upon our arrival wewere all looking forward to our prearranged late lunch.Unfortunately the contractors in their wisdom had already closedbut after some clever diplomacy by Sgt Baulch the scoff housereopened to provide us with food after taking over ouraccommodation.

Day one of the AT began with the break down of groups. Therewere three groups, two groups who were hiking and one groupkayaking. The two hiking groups were lead by Sgt Muers andSgt Allen and Sgt Muers group comprised the PatrolCompetition and Lanyard Trophy hopefuls, who hoped to utilise

the AT as additional training for their upcoming events. Thekayaking group was lead by the chief instructor of CastlemartinSSgt Gary Craig and LCpl Mark Smith, assisted by Sgt Baulch.The kayaking group carried out the Kayak Foundation Course(KFC) as distributed training to gain their 2 Star British CanoeUnion (BCU) award. I, however, was luckily enough to be a partof the patrol competition team and our group began the weekwith a nice 12 mile walk with a little doubling towards the end.

Our groups 2nd day of training was to carry out a 30km coastalwalk that turned out to be a little bit more cheeky than firstthought. Our finish point for the days walking was a car parkwhere our minibus was parked. Sgt Allen had kindly parked it inplain view and it could be seen from about 5km away. At onepoint it felt like a bit of a losing battle as it just did not seem toget any bigger, however, luckily upon arriving at our destinationthere was an ice cream van packed up ready to leave and theowner kindly reopened for us. I can safely say ice cream nevertasted so good. Day 3 was significantly easier, beginning with ashort hike and finishing with a visit to Tenby.

On day 4 our group was joined by Capt Day, who had travelledup with the OC and SSM, for a leisurely days walking along theWelsh coastal path. During this final day of walking, whilst I wasleading, I decided to take a short cut and cut across a bay. I hadseen from the map that it had what I thought were very smallstreams running into the sea through the bay, however, it turnedout that there were streams, but they weren’t that small. Notwanting to look like I had made a wrong decision I ploddedstraight through them. Luckily for me, nobody else was tooenthusiastic about crossing the water and they decided to turnaround and go the long way round. This gave me the perfectmoment to get some food down my neck and chill out for a bit.

After our final day walking, all three groups along with Maj

Bingham, Capt Day and WO2 (SSM) Kenny headed for the barwhere after a few formalities we enjoyed a few well deserveddrinks.

On the morning of Friday 14 May it was time to pack up, handover the accommodation and make our way to the ferry port forour crossing back over to Rosslare. After the busy ferry crossingit was back on the bus for the final leg of our journey to Lisburn.After almost 12 hours travelling we finally arrived home. I cansafely say I haven’t seen bags being unloaded that fast for sometime as everyone was looking forward to getting their headsdown for a well deserved nights sleep.

The 225 Sig Sqn Swiming Team

225 Sig Sqn Kayaking



241 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj S Ing

SSM WO2 (SSM) P Belcher

REGIMENTAL SPORTSPERSON’’S DINNER

The Regt held its annual Sportsperson of the Year Dinner in May.For a consecutive year, Bath Rugby Club kindly played host toover a 100 members of the Regt assembled from its fourlocations across the UK. 241 Sig Sqn had the unenviable tasksof pulling this all together led by SSgt Billy Stennett. Manymonths of preparation culminated in a fantastic eveningcelebrating the Regts sporting prowess over the last 12 months.The entire evening gave those assembled a chance to enjoy andreflect on the many sporting achievements that the Regt hasachieved and acknowledge those who contributed. The Regtalso uses this event as its main fundraising event in support ofthe ABF_The Soldiers’ Charity. Special guests to the eveningwere headlined by Miss Amy Williams (recent GB SkeletonOlympic Gold Medal winner), LCpl Katrina Hodge (aka MissEngland) and Col Tony Moorby, regional representative for ABF.

Special mention at this stage should go to the organising teamand SSgt Micky Lake who volunteered his services andknowledge form having put on last year’s event. As build up tothis notable event in the calendar saw many members of the Regtcamped outside training grounds across the country collectingautographs and memorabilia and out with buckets in Bath Towncentre and bag-packing in Chippenham Sainsbury’s. Before theevening had kicked off (no pun intended) the Regt had alreadyraised some £6k in cash with the Charity Auction yet to takeplace.

After 3 courses and much merriment the CO began formalproceedings by way of a short introduction and then awardedRegt sporting half-colours. These went to sportsmen and womenfrom across the whole sporting spectrum including Rugby,Football, Hockey and Orienteering. Miss Amy Williams kindlypresented Full Colours to Maj Alun Crapper (Orienteering), Sgt

Del Farr (ToW/Hockey), SSgt Lake (Football/Hockey), LCpl

Michelle Smith (ToW) and Sig Osling (Rugby).

The hotly contested Regtl Team of the Year was up for grabsnext. In the frame for the award were the Winter sports team,Orienteering and Hockey. Maj Simon Ing, OC 241 Sig Sqn,collected the Team award as OIC Orienteering and on behalf ofthe Orienteering team and all those who competed this season.Maj Ing and the team were selected for this award for thededication that the team has shown, over the season that hasjust finished, for training and competing including the Army TeamO Champs in Germany. This is not because he dragged anyonenot playing representative sport in 241 Sig Sqn with him everyWed. ‘Its Mil Training not a sport!’

The final award for the night was 10 Sig Regt Sportsperson of theYear. From a number of possible contenders the one thatoutshone all others was LCpl ‘Tommo’ Thomas. Awarded thisprize for his outstanding services on the Rugby pitch both to theRegt and Corps but also in selection to professional sides. (Howelse do you think the Regt could use Bath Rugby Club – Ed).Miss Amy Williams presented this prize much to the evidentamazement of LCpl Thomas.

To round off the celebrations of Regtl sporting prowess theorganising team finished with the raffle and the event thateveryone had really been waiting for. SSgt Stennett banged thegavel, SSgt Lake pestered, coerced and persuaded bids up andup and Miss England kindly paraded or wore the various lots,depending on which was more appropriate. How you display lotsand bid is a mystery but she achieved it by outbidding allassembled for a signed Tottenham Hotspur shirt. Theauctioneer’s voice broke during proceedings after having to shoutdown a certain JNCO let loose with a Didgeridoo, nothing a Kwik-fit beer could not sort.

At the time of writing, 10 Sig Regt Sportspersons’ Dinner hasraised in excess of £10,000 for the ABF. Come On, 10!

243 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj N Smikle

SSM WO2 (SSM) A Alford

It has been a busy month for all at 243 Sig Sqn. Project Hyperionis well underway with the Sqn currently split between twogeographic locations. Those members that have made the moveto Andover are settling in as part of the newly formed 605 Sig Tp.

The huge job of cabling infrastructure has dominated the LineSections working week. The department has had to work longdays and draught in additional support from 241 Sig Sqn toensure the job gets done.

Ops & Exercise department has been busy developing theAndover Sharepoint Portal which is expected to be a maininformation point for the users at Marlborough Lines. The site willhost contact numbers, forms and other support documentationfor those settling in at Andover. The project has been led by Sgt

Craig Law and is making good progress.

Test & Reference Section have had to get out from behind theirMicrosoft safety net this month and learn a “chunk” of Linuxcommands for a ROLF install. Once the job was completed, theteam were very happy to move on to the various Lambtonprojects which subsequently fell into their inboxes. Cpl Richie

Cole has made his way across to Andover and is pretending tobe an Installation Technician for the rest of the month, a job hecertainly seems to be enjoying; although reports that he is to

Maj Simon Ing receiving the Regimental Team of the Year Award

from GB Gold Medallist Miss Amy Williams

10 Sig Regt Sportsperson of the Year LCpl 'Tommo' Thomas

receives his award from GB Gold Medallist Miss Amy Williams


shun the role of CS Eng and earn his fortune with BT remainunsubstantiated. Sgt Des Simpson has decided to swap Wiltonfor Afghanistan, beginning his Pre-Deployment Training thismonth. Everyone from 243 Sig Sqn wishes him the very best ofluck, although we are still not quite sure how his Scottishcomplexion will react to all that sun…don’t forget to pack thelotion!

The LAND Enterprise team have been busy with firmware updatesand preparation ahead of the move to Andover. LCpl Tony

Luckman has chosen to re-trade as a “bouncer” to best supportthose already at Marlborough lines. With his additional duties asdoor staff to the server rooms, his words “if your names not onthe list, you’re not coming in!” are repeated daily like a mantra.This month Cpl Dooks decision to play racing driver has alsoseen his car written off. Having lost his pride and joy he is nowresorting to transport “the old fashioned way” not by walking butby asking for a lift every 10 minutes!

With the imminent departure of WO1 FofS (IS) Yvonne Austin,who is due (well and truly!) for maternity leave; the Ops teamhave had a new arrival as SSgt FofS (IS) Martin Kennie joins usfrom Blandford.

Helping to fulfilnetworkingrequirements withinHQLF, Cpl Stephen

‘Gucci’ Lawrence

and Cpl Peter Mellor

have been deliveringCisco training acrossall IS-roleddepartments. Lessonone was a bigsuccess with manyknowing at leastsome CLI commandsas they left. Lesson 2is keenly anticipatedas it will hopefully beoffering even more ofa “hands-on”approach. Promiseshave been made thatCisco produce robustenough equipment towithstand even themost eager and heavy handed of CS Engineers. I certainly hopeso for the Foreman’s sake!

The Army VS Navy rugby match saw both a disappointing end forits Army supporters and for the members of the Sqn who madethe trip to Twickenham. Sgt Simpson fell asleep in a Londontube station until being rudely awakened by the Tannoy systemasking him to find somewhere else, thank god for bus stops! Cpl

Dooks on the other hand made great progress in getting home,so great in fact that he went straight past Salisbury and ended upin the New Forest. It took one very expensive taxi ride until hefinally found his bed.

The past two months have seen a number of departures. Mostnotably, Sqn 2i/c Capt (Retd) Bob Wright who, after a servicetotalling more than 50 years, has finally made the decision toretire and brush up on his golf. The farewell function took placeat The Rose and Crown, Harnham and saw both military andcivilian staff in their Sunday best for a sit down meal. Threecourses and many drinks later the decision was made to go intoSalisbury where those attending stayed until the early hours. Itwasn’t until the next day that the scale of the function wasrealised with some either waking still dressed in their suits or notwaking in their beds at all. So once more we bid a fond farewellto Capt Wright, he will undoubtedly be missed by all here atHQLF. Capt Wright was awarded the Commander in ChiefsCertificate for Meritorious Service on the Queen’s BirthdayHonours List 2010.

251 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj A Crapper

SSM WO2(SSM) S Gronn

STATE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT 23-25 MAY 2010

- by Cpl Sanders

638(London) Tp deployed to Wellington Barracks at 2200 onSunday the 23 May to attend the rehearsal of the State Openingof Parliament. Thankfully it was a clear night and a quiet streetexcept for the sound of the military heel of 638 street linersmarching out to their positions. The rehearsal went well exceptfor the unfortunate decision Cpl Gailey took to fight with thefloor! The brave operator was quickly replaced by keentechnician and PTI LCpl Jolley.

25 May, the day of the event, saw thousands of members of thepublic enjoy a glorious summers day accompanied by a flawlessceremony. As the Queen arrived at the Palace of Westminster,the guns of Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery sounded a 21 gunsalute, signifying the Queens arrival at Westminster, and thesuccessful timing given from Lt Wallis to SSgt Owen and Cpl

Gurung, giving the order to fire. In all the day was a greatsuccess and 638(L) Tp were praised for their outstandingperformance.

MOUNTAIN LEADER TRAINING AT CAPEL CURIG 26-30

APRIL 2010 - by LCpl Brereton

The week started off well after discovering that our group were farsuperior to the previous week’s lot, we were upgraded from SMPto MLT.

On day one of the course LCpl Sam Walmsley accepted everybit of the available issued kit including a fine pair of walkingchinos, he was mocked until the DS noticed LCpl Luke

Brereton’s fine walking footwear which appeared more suitableto sunny walks along the seafront – he was soon to find out thelimitations of these shoes.

LCpl Brereton lasted almost a mile before coming to the sameconclusion as the DS in that his choice of footwear wassomewhat misguided. This was to set the tone of his day untilwe finished and he shot down town to get a more suitable pair ofboots.

Day 2 started almost exactly the same for LCpl Brereton onlythis time he got a good few miles before realising that his brandnew, all singing all dancing boots were “knackered”. The rest ofthe day passed almost without any incident except for LCpl

Walmsley deciding that he didn’t fancy walking 800m down a hill,instead he decided that the best way to retrieve his falling issueddaysack was with a banzai jump off the edge whilst maintaininghis grip on his issued flask and not spilling a drop. Luckily he

LCpl Shaw, taking advantage of the

beautiful May sun?

The MLT Team


recovered his daysack along with his sandwiches. The only otherincident of any note was Sgt Andy Moffat’s perfectly timed calftwinge as we were about to scale a rock face, he still maintainshe isn’t scared of heights!

Day 2 ended much in the same way as day one with LCpl

Brereton having a mad dash down town for boots number 3.Three days walking and 3 different pairs of boots.

The rest of the week went without any major events it was just acase of watching our 2 resident mountain goats competing; LCpl

Ranjit Singh and LCpl Rob Felters.

The course was all but finished; the only part to do was the watercrossing which no one actually believed we were going to do anhour before leaving for Aldershot. However, we did do it andSSgt John Roberts took the brunt of the deep (2ft) wateralthough Sgt Moffat wasn’t much better off.

KAYAK FOUNDATION COURSE AT CAPEL CURIG 26-30

APRIL 2010 - by Sig Abbott

At the start of the week LCpl Eldridge and Cpl Hayes alreadyhad 2 stars and were used to demonstrate most of thetechniques by our instructor Sgt Wilson-Cochrane. Cpl Weller

had also kayaked many times before, however the rest of us Lt

Graham, Cpl Sanders and Sig Abbott had very little experience.

On the first day we chose our Kayaks and got them adjusted toourselves and using the extra broken kayaks managed to get 6working ones! We then had our daily weather briefing beforesetting off into Capel Curig. We got on the water and straightaway I was the first person to capsize, which wasn’t a surprise tome as I have absolutely no balance at all.

On Tuesday we learnt how to rescue each other when wecapsized, how to be rescued and what to do when your entiregroup capsizes.

The best day by far was Wednesday when we went to “4 milebridge” and were shown some more experienced stuff which sawall of us capsize except for Cpl Sanders. Cpl Hayes and LCpl

Eldridge nearly managed to paddle out of the eddy and throughthe bridge trying to show off their silky skills but ended upfloating away upside down! But throughout the week it was theboss who capsized the most, so much so that on the fourth dayhe learnt how to flip himself back over.

The Kayak Course all the right way up

11th SIGNAL REGIMENTBLANDFORD

CO Lt Col JAL Vosper

RSM WO1 (RSM) Mickey Yendell

1 (OUSTON) SQUADRON

OC Capt JF Godfrey

SSM WO2 (SSM) A Doe

EXERCISE HOLTON LEE - by Sig Corps

We arrived at Holton Lee at 1000 hrs on Sat 8 May 10, moralewas high but the weather was grim. We began with a briefingfrom Matt the Park Ranger and were then split into groups, theweaker ones going inside to paint with Cpl Bloy, the rest going tohump and dump trees – the first time we’d ever done a log run!At the lake 6 stayed to load up the vehicles and 4 to unload andstart pegging them in place. Stewart, who is one of the disabledpeople that volunteer their time, was driving one vehicle and Sig

Davies driving the other – Stewart being the better driver of thetwo.

Sigs Hearne and Kernohan were unloading the vehicles whilstSigs Pepper and Edgar were making the log barrier around theisland. Pepper, being as accurate as he is, managed to hit hisshin with the mallet, instead of hitting the pegs being used tostabilise the logs; what a Muppet! The first day seemed to passrather quickly, probably because of the hard work and everybodygetting stuck in, followed by Sig Wilson cooking a mean BBQ tofinish off a good day.

On day 2 the Painters & Decorators (Sigs Leslie, Storey, Budge

and Julian) went off to touch up their previous days efforts. Therest of us split into teams to start digging the 2m by 4m allotmentplots which turned into 4m by 8m plots!!! At lunch Chefs Edgar

and Pepper plucked up the courage (more like saw their

opportunity) to take it in turns to sit by the BBQ and “watch thefood cooking” and couldn’t possibly be digging at the same time.Being slowed down by the 10m concrete slab that neededdigging out of the plots we managed to dig over 6 out of the 8planned plots with quote of the day coming from Phillips – “Itried digging but am no good with the shovel so I’ll just push thewheel barrow all day”. We finished and made it back in time forthe football.

Two hard days worth of work which will hopefully make life easierfor the less able people in the community was completed; it hasgiven all involved a great sense of well being and is something I’djump at the chance of doing again.

Holton Lee


MERCURY 500 - by Sig Funghang Limbu

As we know there are many sporting events and competitionstaking place in the military and when my Tp SSgt came out andasked for 10 volunteers for an endurance event I thought ‘whynot, let’s give it a go’. When we were given the Admin InstructionI thought ‘what have I let myself into?’ I had entered an eventcalled Mercury 500, which was 500 laps of a 400m running trackdone by a team of 10 carrying 30lb each; this had to be done in24 hours.

On the 22 Apr 10 at 1600hrs the whistle was blown on theathletics track at Blandford camp and all 11 teams that hadentered from various units set off on their 500 laps. Every teamhad different strategies and we had decided to try and do 2 lapsper person, but what we had thought would be a tab round thetrack very quickly turned into a one lap run if we were ever goingto keep up with the pace of the other units.

As the evening went on and it started to get dark we looked atthe lap timer and it was showing we had only done 80 laps but tolook at us you would have thought we had nearly finished the500; however we were sitting in 3rd overall which felt good.Daylight came and the feet were sore but we kept on running,counting down lap by lap. With only about an hour to go wedropped our 3rd place and finally finished a very respectable 4thoverall with a time of about 17 hours.

After the last team finished the winning team was awarded atrophy by SOinC(A) Brig EM Flint, which was great as it showedus all how important the competition was viewed by the Corps. Iwould like to thank the admin group, on behalf of the team, forsupporting us; they laid on food and much needed energy drinksthroughout the night and worked as hard as we did to achievethat 4th place. On a personal note I felt I had really achievedsomething after completing this race and, although it was hard,would definitely do it again.

EXERCISE OUSTON VENTURE - by Sig Anthony

Our adventure training weekend at Penhale Camp in Cornwallwas my first experience of this kind with the Armed Forces, and Iwas excited! It was quite a long drive to get there fromBlandford, but the coach journey was a laugh and helped passthe time. When we arrived we received our rota for the weekend,seeing that the next day was going to be rock climbing sent meto bed full of anticipation!

The next morning we set off with our lunch packs (though theywere more like snack packs with very little food) ready toexperience our first activity. When we arrived, the instructorstaught us the necessary safety procedures and techniquesneeded; this gave us time to practice our belaying and tying offigure of eight knots to prevent us from accidentally dying. Thenoff we went!

We started off on the climbing wall so that the instructors couldsee that we were capable of doing the task and that we were safewhilst doing it. We then got to go on real rock. We abseileddown and I had a bit of a scary moment where I nearly filled mypants; this was purely due to the shape of the rock face and notmy awful abseiling skills! Once at the bottom I realised we wereon a nudist beach with two OAPs being at one with nature; not apretty sight! It was a good day though and when we all got tothe bottom some of the lads decided to go into the sea. Mindyou this was only for about 10 seconds as it was Baltic. What abunch of women!

The next day I tried something new – Coasteering! This was thefirst time I had ever worn a wetsuit and let me tell you it will bethe last time as well! Let’s just say that they ‘restrict’ yourmovements ever so slightly. It was a gorgeous sunny day andwhen we got to the first jump it looked alright, it wasn’t too highso I went for it. On landing in the water however I realised itdidn’t matter how warm the day was, the water was still freezing!We then had to swim to the next jump which wasn’t that bad as itgot us used to the water, apart from the fact that I made theschool boy error of not wearing any gloves. The next jump wasthree times the size of the first and it wasn’t until I got to the topuntil I realised exactly how high it was. There I am stood on a 40foot jump pretending not to be as scared as everyone was deepdown; but I swallowed hard and just went for it! Once I emergedfrom the water I swam as fast as I could to get out and haveanother go, it was such a rush, but I got told I wasn’t allowed.Gutted!

We swam around a little more and did a few more jumps andeventually ended up back at the minibuses. On arriving thoughwe saw something that made us all smile; all of the buses hadparking tickets; bad times! Overall it was a fantastic weekendand an amazing experience; I can’t wait to do something like thatagain!

Mercury 500 – SSgt McGrory

Mercury 500 Team

Capt Ross doing his best skydiving pose


2 (CATTERICK) SQUADRON

OC Maj J Maynard MBE

SSM WO2 (SSM) A Fraser

REGIMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO GARRISON EVENTS:

BLANDFORD SPORTS FC - by Sgt Smiejkowski

11 Sig Regt supports 2 football teams, the Regtl team andBlandford Sports FC who play in the Dorset County FootballLeagues. I took over as manager and secretary of BlandfordSports FC in March 09 as the club sat mid table in LeagueDivision 3. Through hard work and support from all players andcoaching staff, the team won most of their remaining games andmanaged to attain promotion into Division 2.

With the new season approaching the club had full support andsponsorship from the Regt who purchased new equipment andplaying strips. Under the unnerving management of Sgt Rob

Smiejkowski and the skills from WO2 Daz Kidd as Head Coachthe team was ready for the fight in a very difficult new league.

Throughout the season the club registered some 70 players intotal, but saw many great individuals come through and mature,although too many to name, special mention must go to Sam

Agar, Luke Flanagan, Myles Gorey, Ashley Gill, Anthony

Roman and Luke Howard who were selected into both the fullCorps team or the Corps under 23s team.

The team also had great support from Permanent Staff andUpgraders, especially Sgt Stuart Wood, Sgt John Fielding, Cpl

Mike Arnold, Cpl Graham Baily and LCpl John Reid. It wasthese players who provided the foundation and stability whenthings didn’t always go the way the management wanted. Theseplayers committed, supported and believed in the teamthroughout the season.

All players and coaching staff are to be congratulated on theseason’s achievements of not only finishing second and winningpromotion into the Premier League but also walked away with theDorset Intermediate Cup. Very well done indeed!

GARRISON VISIT TO FOUNDERS DAY ROYAL HOSPITAL

CHELSEA – 10 Jun 10 - by Capt Jim Boyden

Plato once wrote that “The nation that forgets it’s defenders willitself be forgotten” and with that thought (and not being the kindof chap to pass up an opportunity for a day out), I happily jumpedin with a group of SNCOs from across Blandford Camp to travelup to the Royal Hospital in Chelsea to watch the annual FoundersDay parade and visit our resident R SIGNALS ChelseaPensioners, Mal and Les, who had so kindly invited us up for theday. I was grateful to be accompanied by WO1 (RSM) Yendell,WO1 (GSM) Gutteridge, WO1 (FofS) Riley and Miss L Hodges,

WO2 (SSM) Nicholls, WO2 (SSM) Butler and Miss T Broom,

WO2 and Mrs Soward, Sgt Bate and Sgt Crump RAF, all ofwhom promised a fantastic day out and maybe – just maybe – abeer at the end.

Founders Day, as the name suggests, commemorates thefounding of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. Until the 17th Centurythe state made no specific provision for old and injured soldiersand care for the poor and sick was provided by the religiousfoundations and much of this provision ended following thedissolution of the monasteries in 1536.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I it became recognised thatprovision needed to be made for the poor and for sick anddisabled soldiers. This led to an Act of Parliament, passed in1593, that levied a weekly tax (not exceeding 6d in the pound) onparishes for the relief of soldiers and sailors. In 1692 work wasfinally completed, and the first In-Pensioners were admitted inFebruary 1692 and by the end of March the full complement of476 were in.

It was an exceptional honour to be able to view the parade andspeak with the In Pensioners and should anyone reading this everget the opportunity to attend such a day, I wholeheartedlyrecommend it to you all.

CO’S CHARITY FUN RUN - by Capt Jim Boyden

There is an old saying that goes “You don’t have to be mad towork here, but it helps”, and nowhere is this more true that at themighty 11 Sig Regt. With the monthly CO’s Run (long, arduous,sweaty) being replaced once a year by the CO’s Charity FancyDress Fun Run (shorter, still arduous, still sweaty) in support ofthe ABF, it is a testament to the spirit of the Regt that we can runthough the leafy streets of Blandford Garrison dressed as JohnLennon (Lt Col Vosper), gladiators (WO1 (RSM) Yendell) and infull 4 Romeo NBC suits (complete lunatics) and no-one will bat aneyelid.

Cpl Chaitanyakumar and LCpl Thapa-Magar enjoying the scenery

The Blandford Contingent

WO2 (SSM) Nicholls and Mal


Of course, running in fancy dress itself wouldn’t generate any

money for the ABF, so it was with a sense of curiosity that Iapproached the start point with my wallet (dressed as Batman),wondering how I would be relieved of my hard earned pay. Isoon found out, as at the start line by the Cradock, I wasambushed by some smiling Phase 2 soldiers armed with big RedABF buckets.

“Here sir, it’s a pound to run in fancy dress” they cheerfullyinformed me.

“A pound?” I said, outraged. “That’s half a pint. What’s thealternative?”

“You can run in your issued PT kit” they informed me smiling.

I put a pound in the bucket.

And then, from all over the Regt, the runners assembled and whata sight to behold that was. There were pirates, ninjas, farmyardanimals and superheroes, there were firemen and Greeks andeven Mr Blobby made a guest appearance. The big red ABFbuckets were soon filled to overflowing with shiny pound coins asthe option to run in issued PT kit clearly wasn’t a popular one andafter a quick brief by the Gym staff (who were being suspiciouslynice for charity) we were off. And then, the heavens opened.Really opened.

Now, running in the rain is never a pleasant pastime, and I wouldimagine it’s even less pleasant if you’re dressed in a sumo suitthat can hold upwards of thirty gallons of rainwater (as one braveman was), so any excuse to escape would have been leapedupon – and lo and behold, when I turned the corner by theairfield, an “escape route” had been set up, again manned bysome smiling, Gore-Tex clad Phase 2 soldiers with the obligatorybig red ABF bucket.

“How much to escape?” I ventured in my best haggling-at-the-sales voice.

“Five pounds, sir” came the reply.

I looked at the remaining two miles. I looked at the sky. I put fivepounds in the bucket.

Hey, I had to – it was for charity! All in all, the day was a fantasticsuccess, and under the organisation of our new MAA, Capt

Jayne Ecott, the Regt managed to raise a total of £1200 for theABF, adding to our already impressive total of donations for theyear.

RHINO TROOP - by Sig Prest

Tp OC WO1 G Padfield

Tp SSgt SSgt Riste

Rhino Tp’s Cadre has seen quite a few changes recently. WO1

Jase Lawer has now left to become RSM, his replacement WO1

Guy Padfield is now in post. SSgt Steve Riste has beenappointed Tp SSgt and we say goodbye to SSgt Shaun Hutson

who has taken on the role of CSBR Course Co-Ord.

The Tp also welcomes Sgt Tony Ingoe, Cpl Scott Hawkes andCpl Bernie Wilson and says farewell to Cpl Ben Carter who isoff to swear at 22 Sig Regt, giving us all a break from his pottymouth and his constant stories of his beloved football team –Liverpool FC.

Rhino Tp has had a very busy few months and recently deployedon Ex CATTERICK COHESION, a military skills exercise where weenhanced our skills in BCDT, fieldcraft, map reading andshooting. The Tp especially enjoyed working in FOB Thorpe,learning counter IED and Patrolling skills.

It was also Gordon’s Cup time again and the mighty Rhino Tp putin a valiant effort, helping 2 (Catterick) Sqn gain 3rd place in theRegt, with special thanks to the Upgrader course who suppliedSection Mentors for this event.

IRON TROOP - by Sig Learmonth

OC Lt Wilmore

Tp SSgt SSgt Grainger

During the past month there have been a lot of changes in theIron Tp office. The OC, Lt Willmore, has left to be a civvi. The Tphas also lost Cpl Bishwa who has been posted to 30 Sig Regt,but have gained another 2 Ghurkha soldiers, Cpl Dipendra from30 Sigs and Sgt Indra from Cormorant Section. Cpl Chadwick

has also been posted in from 2 Sigs.

The Tp has worked hard on their military skills during syndicatetraining which they showed during Ex CATTERICK COMPASSthat took place on the 8/9 May. On exercise they practised theirmap reading and navigation skills, BCD, shooting and field craft.

Iron Tp performed well at the Morrison Cup, taking part in mostof the events. Sig Gray came 2nd in the 3000m steeple chaseand Sig Smith came in 3rd just behind him. Sig Walkinshaw

came 1st in the 100m sprint for the female team. Sig Carr, aboxer that joined the Tp in February as a home National Boxerhaving gained silver in the 5 Nationals has now been selected forthe Army team.

BOWMAN OPERATOR TROOP - by Sgt Nix

HIO Mr Graham Reynolds

Tp SSgt SSgt Hudson

The Tp has been very busy over the last couple of months, notonly continuing to provide top class training to Phase 2 and 3soldiers but also carrying out the BCIP 5.4 uplift which involvedstripping, boxing, and sending all the old equipment away so itcould be uplifted then re-installing it upon its return. Many thanksto all the instructors for their patience whilst this was carried outas resources were limited during this period.

Arranged by Mr Ezard, the Tp were involved in a ‘bonding day’which entailed us all thoroughly enjoying ourselves racing aroundthe Camp Go Karting track, then playing (badly) 9 holes of Golf atDorsets Little Gem. Special mention to Sgt George for managingto become the first ever person to go ‘Airborne’ on the GoKarting Track!

We have to say a HUGE goodbye to Mr Dave Spurr, and also amassive thanks for his hard work and great instruction over thelast 2 years. He will be sorely missed.

The CO and RSM running in style


We would like to say a big hello to Sgt Helen Tweed, Cpl John

Russell, Cpl Lee Bruin, Mr Bob Sizeland, Mrs Louise Ezard

and last but not least Mr Dom Rowe

Congratulations to Sgt Si Hogg on the birth of his new baby boy.We all hope is going well!

3 (HARROGATE) SQUADRON

OC Maj Emma Bruce

SSM WO2 (SSM) Rob Luke

ULSTER TROOP

OC WO1 Sean McIlroy

Tp SSgt SSgt Flo Watts

EXERCISE HARROGATE INITIATIVE - by Sig Timms

Over the period 7 - 9 May, Phase 2 and Phase 3 soldiers fromUlster and Lightning Tp were sent out on ex in teams of 3 aroundthe South West and South East of England for 48 hours. Theywere set the task of competing against each other and by usingtheir initiative to complete as many of the tasks that were set forthem. There was a cut off time of 10am Sunday morning. All ofthe teams were very nervous and unsure what to expect, due torumours of SF style interrogation and full cavity searches. Noone was allowed to take any money, credit cards or a mobilephone. All they were allowed was an MOD 90, one issued mobilephone and paperwork which explained what they were doing andthe tasks they had to try and complete. There was also anemergency fund of £10.30.

On the Friday morning all the teams had a brief from SSgt Flo

Watts and Capt Copeland. After the brief all the teams werethen swiftly, thoroughly and sometimes intimately searched bySSgt Watts and Cpl Paul Gardner (who seemed to enjoy it) tomake sure no one had hidden money or trying to take mobilephones, any of the teams found with any forbidden items werededucted points. All the teams were then sent into a holdingroom to wait for transport to take them to the start locations.None of the teams knew where they were going or where theywere going to be dropped off.

All of the teams were dropped off somewhere in the southern partof England and were not allowed to go any further than the northside of the M25. Once the teams were dropped off they had toreally start using their initiative, confidence and the art of blaggingitems and some kind of transport. Most teams managed to usethe train whether this would have been 2nd class or eventravelling by 1st class all the way to London and (even one teammanaged to get the bus redirected from Salisbury to Stonehenge,try explaining to everyone on the bus why it’s getting redirected).Teams also managed to get free usage of the Londonunderground. No teams wanted to go hungry for the weekend somany teams managed to blag a McDonalds as well as a fancyrestaurant meal (like Nandos). Finding places to spend the twonights proved quite difficult, whether it was ending up sleeping ina train station or someone’s house, to ending up sleeping in a 5star hotel penthouse.

Here are some of things the guys got up to over the 48 hour ex:

Sig Steve Timms and his team managed to meet the nowappointed Deputy Prime Minster, Nick Clegg. Now normalpeople shake hands but a member of his team Sig Aaron Dyke,decided he didn’t want to shake his hand, and stepped on hisfoot instead.

Sig ‘Georgie’ Atkins and his team completed the task “to drive acar worth at least £100,000”. As well as just a test drive theythen decided to buy the car. The car in question was a BentleyContinental GT.

Sig Anthony Cole and his team managed to get some nice girlsto drive them round all night to complete tasks, but then it came

to a sudden halt when the car broke down on a country lane, afew miles away from Blandford Camp.

Sig Rachael Carwardine wishing to remain smart andpresentable and heeding her parents’ advice acquired newunderwear in the form of a pair of granny knickers.

Cpl Phil Johnson and his team found themselves sleeping in thetrain station due to lack of hotels around London, but then theirnight brightened up as some kind police officers bought them acouple of cans of beer.

In the eyes of the trainee the weekend was a huge success: itwas extremely enjoyable and everyone worked extremely wellwhilst building loads of confidence within themselves. In the eyesof the training staff the aims of the exercise “to score more pointsthan any other team whilst developing self-reliance, selfconfidence and initiative” were fully achieved.

MORRISON CUP - by Sig Dickson

This was my first experience of the Morrison Cup so I didn’t reallyknow what to expect. I had heard stories of previouscompetitions and how it was a good opportunity to competeagainst different members of the Corps and catch up with oldfriends.

The build up for me started on the Monday night when we hadour last training session and team briefing to finalize the eventsand timings in which we would be competing in. I was one of thelucky phase 2 soldiers to have been given the Tuesday off tradeand would not have to compete in my event and return to class.

Out of all the sports I have taken part in during my time inBlandford this was by far the most nervous I have been prior tocompeting. I think this was partly due to competing in events Ihad never competed in before and not knowing how manyspectators there was going to be. Once I realised on the Tuesdayit was mostly competitors that were watching and had my firstrace out of the way I started to enjoy the day.

Harrogate Initiative Team with Frank Lampard

Harrogate Initiative Team with the Deputy PM


There was of course the added bonus that the weather for theheats on Tuesday was glorious, I’m sure the long distancecompetitors felt differently, but for short distance and spectatorsit was perfect. It promised to be a good day on the Wednesdayfor 11 Sig Regt after a good start getting some points on theboard in those longer distances that were a straight final and thefield events, also making the finals in all other events.

Wednesday had a good vibe with all the extra spectators, a fullbar and all the phase 2 soldiers sat on the banking happy to havea day off trade. It wasn’t as sunny, but perhaps that was betterfor the athletes. 11 Sig Regt had a brilliant second day,particularly the male team who finished first overall with thefemales finishing third, narrowly missing out on a medal. Thismeant having a few photo’s taken at the end of the day! I reallyenjoyed being a part in this event and would recommend peoplehave a go next year, even if they don’t really think they likeathletics.

I look forward to coming back to Blandford next year to compete.

I-SPORT INITIATIVE - by Sig Moore

After winning the Gordon’s Cup, our section won a day out to seethe I-Sport GP2 team. After an early start we managed to getgoing by 5:40am and set off on our four and a half hour journeyto Thetford, Norfolk. We arrived at 11:00am and instead ofwalking out of the van onto a glamorous track that resembledMonaco like we were all expecting, we were greeted by the sightof, “a shed in the middle of nowhere”. Some of us were thinkingthis might be a bit of a naff day but proceeded into the I-SportHQ hoping we were wrong.

We were shown through the reception, into the workshop andthere we were greeted by the I-Sport director and given a briefoverview of what they do. We were then shown through to the‘other’ workshop. Here were two GP2 race cars side by side,one raised with the shells off so we could see the internals andthe other completely good to go, including spare wheels andtools ready for the changes. All our doubts went out the windowand we now were looking forward to a really good day, especiallyas we were then shown to the racing simulator which was thefront half of a real race car and a screen which showed the trackfrom the drivers view.

Once the guided tour was over we were split into two teams andit was definitely the experienced against the un-experienced, oneteam would be doing the tyre changes while the other would bein the simulator, then we would swap. The rivalry started and weall began to boast how fast we would be in the pits and on the‘track’. Being in the un-experienced team I definitely felt I had anadvantage as none of my team mates had a driving licence. Sig

Moorby started off the simulator and he appeared to enjoy doingdonuts, either that or he just couldn’t drive in a straight line, butstill managed a decent time. Then Sig Brown and Sig Wright

both put in good effort but Sig Brown ended up with the time tobeat. I then stepped up and finally feeling the pressure of sittingin the driving seat, managed to just beat Sig Brown’s time byonly a few seconds, which is quite shocking as I was the only onewho had a licence!

In the meantime our rival team made up of Cpl Cole, Sig’s

Brown, Mann, Sawyer and Berry were blitzing the tyre changes;they were setting some extremely quick times to beat. We couldhear the banging of the wheels being whipped on and off, andthe loud whizzing of the air gun working the wheel nut. Individualtyre changes were also going well for them, Cpl’s Mann andSawyer both had equal times of 8.4 seconds which was alsogoing to be extremely hard to crack.

Our un-experienced team started off a bit slow to get the hang ofthe tyre changes but we were soon coming up to the requiredstandard, and soon were challenging for the quickest time.Unfortunately we couldn’t beat the team time but achieved arespectable 4.9 seconds. Experience definitely came into it asthey were hammering the ‘track’ as if we hadn’t even set any

times to beat. Cpl Cole took us all to school by getting the besttime of the day which reflected in the overall standings. Once wewere all done the I-Sport team decided to show us how its reallydone and put on an impressive display of professionally quicktyre changes, including one attempt that went slightly wrong(much to our delight) as their air gun disconnected before theycould get the wheel back on.

The day ended with some prize giving with Cpl Cole winningoverall and coming away with a trophy and champagne, also wehad our own prize giving ceremony as the I-Sport team werepresented with an 11 Sig Regt plaque by Sig Moorby.

All in all the day was a complete success and enjoyed by all.

LIGHTNING TROOP

OC WO1 Pete Watson

Tp SSgt SSgt Kev Young

STURMINSTER NEWTON RAFT RACE 2010 - by Cpl Kennealy

The Annual Sturminster Raft Race is organised by Sturcrazy andruns on a course covering 5km, 3 weirs and one low bridge (3ft)on the Stour River starting at Cutt Mill, Hinton St Mary andfinishing at The Bull Tavern, Sturminster Newton. This year it wasall in aid of Help for Heroes and the Dorset and Somerset AirAmbulance, in which Lightning Tp entered two vessels and raiseda massive £575.

Of course when I convinced seven other NCO’s from the troop tojoin in, what I failed to mention was the distance of the race orthe effort required! The weekend started on Friday with LCpl

Kirsty Wint and myself collecting stores (oil drums, old pallets,rope, black nasty) whilst Sgt Phil Smith organised the troops andpower tools. Together we then constructed two classic rafts,worthy of our team name: The Royal Army Floating Team.

Everyone then reconvened at the start line for 0900hrs on Sunday(or 0945 if you were still having breakfast – sorry!), where finalpreparations were made and the competition was sussed out. Atotal of 27 rafts took part and included such team names as ‘Maythe Oars be With You’ (A raft of Storm troopers), ‘HMS Inebriated’(The RBL entry) and ‘HMS Fester’ (an upturned Transit van roof!).Setting off at one minute intervals crafts where launched fromCutt Mill and immediately had to navigate over two weirs, one ofwhich was deceptively deep, as Cpl Steve Henderson and LCpl

Wint found out. The course then headed toward Sturminster andoffered ample opportunity to overtake / take on water / sinkdepending on raft design! Local crowds, families and friendslined the route in support. Our rafts finished respectfully in 1hr20mins and 1hr 29mins, achieving 11th and 13th placing, whilstthe winners beat the previous record and finished in 58 minutes,the losers were still paddling after 3hrs!

After drying off and a change of clothing we headed to The BullTavern for a BBQ and the prize giving ceremony by local dignitaryWO1 (RSM) Micky Yendall. Then over a pint or several westarted to plan our design for next year!

A BOOTNECK PERSPECTIVE OF THE HARROGATE

INITIATIVE - by Cpl Phil Johnson RM

For those of you who don’t know what the Ex HARROGATEINITIATIVE entails, it’s basically a competition where recruits aresplit into teams of three and dropped off in the middle of nowhereand have to complete a multitude of tasks from meeting theprime minister to feeding a lion, the team with the most pointswins. Simple!

So early one Friday morning we all stood there looking forward tothe weekend activities dressed in smart civvies (I, being a leadingtrendsetter in fashion, do not have that attire in my wardrobe, so Ihad to beg borrow and steal). As well as being slightly older andlooking like Angus out of AC/DC, which Staff Flo Watts was sokind to point out.


Once the initial proceedings were dealt with (body search, teams,and task books) off we went on our merry 48hr adventures. It isnot my job in this article to write about what every team got up toor what we ourselves did, that has been done in another article Iwas asked to write on reflection of what I think Ex HARROGATEINITIATIVE brings to the table for the recruits of 3 Sqn, so heregoes.

It has been a concern of mine for the 9 very enjoyable monthsserving with 3 Sqn that whilst the soldiers in 3 Sqn are veryintelligent and amazing when it comes to technology they aresomewhat lacking in confidence and people skill. The experiencethese young ladies and gentlemen have gained in a weekend wassignificant. None of us are born NCO’s, it comes withexperience, and with experience comes confidence. Whilstwatching everyone’s presentation and seeing what they achievedand what they learnt good or bad it became very apparent that allthe groups learnt to improvise and push boundaries. Boundariesthey probably would never believed they could, to the pointwhere I was sitting there saying “why did I not think of that”.

Also watching their confidence grow standing in front of theirpeers and superiors whilst giving their presentations, going fromnervously fidgeting with cotton mouth, you could visibly see theirconfidence grow with every laugh they received from theaudience including the CO. To the point where they suddenlythought they were Jack Dee live at the Apollo and trying to dragthem off after 20 mins.

All these experiences will leave them in good stead for theirhopefully long and fruitful careers in the Royal Signals. Withevents coming up very shortly such as PNCO, where lack ofconfidence is a major reason where recruits fail, to future eventswhere they will be asked to work within the tri-services wherethey will find out the meaning of “no cuff to tuff”. Most of allthough it teaches them the meaning of comradeship, somethingthat they have done together that will never be forgotten, we haveall been there, when bumping into an old mucker you haven’tseen in years as careers take different paths, enjoying a pint, thefirst thing that is often said is “remember when”.

4 (MIL TRG) SQUADRON

OC Capt J Swindell

SSM WO2 (SSM) Love

EXERCISE JUNIOR SURF - by Sgt Ward

Adventure Training season is upon us and even in the busy worldof 4 (Mil Trg) Sqn some personnel managed to escape therigorous demands of CLM training. So on the morning of Tues 8Jun, the Junior Command Training Team (JCTT) deployed toNewquay (a little late thanks to the MT) on Ex JUNIOR SURF, anAT package organised by Sgt Craig Sykes.

Day one started off with a body boarding lesson on Fistral beach,now known as Nostril beach due to the amount of water inhaledby the team. After half an hour the team decided to stop using

flippers as they hurt like hell, but more importantly, made us looklike idiots walking into the sea! This change of tactic didn’t seemto hinder the practical ability of the team in anyway – we werejust as bad with them as without.

In the afternoon, something a little different awaited us, in theform of Coasteering – also known as ‘pointlessly throwingyourself off rocks in to the sea’. The session went well and wasenjoyed by nearly all - the only exception being Sgt Ali Sabiston,

who developed a bad case of what is commonly known as ‘discoleg’ and had to be helped down the cliff by an instructor ratherthan jumping into the sea. At least that goes to show that wewere operating out of our comfort zones!

The next activity attempted by the team was surfing and as weapproached the beach, the waves seemed nice and small.However as the wind built up, so did the waves, until it appearedto resemble a scene from the ‘Poseidon Adventure’. We had alesson on Nostril beach first of all and then we were let loose onthe sea - where the first challenge was getting out far enoughwithout catching a surfboard in the face. Then came the big test- who can stand up? Needless to say there were bodies andboards everywhere, and the short answer is ‘no-one’, butthankfully there were no major injuries.

This was all followed by the usual bit of hill walking, led by Sgt

Carl Shackleton around the coastal path of Newquays headland.Whilst somewhat less enjoyable than the waterborne activities itwas certainly challenging and everyone returned to the campsitethat night absolutely shattered looking forward a quiet earlynight….

At the end of a frantic couple of days everyone agreed that wehad had a great time, challenged ourselves and learnt somethingnew. And more importantly we were all thankful we didn’t go toBrecon instead!

Shaun Ryder and his ‘groupies’

16th SIGNAL REGIMENTELMPT

CO Lt Col AM Fallows

RSM WO1 (RSM) G Sinclair

HQ JFCIS(A) - by Capt Sam Harris

After finally relocating in Bastion, much to the dismay of HICSSS,the R&R plot is in full swing and with the new instalment of IAs,the Chuff Charts are regularly out for everyone to see. Anothershift of personnel has seen ‘the Adjt aka SO3 Co-ord, Capt Pete

Wright and Capt Bob Pace eventually make it out to theatre.

Sgt Al Keenan also fought to move to JFCIS into the muchcoveted position of Watchkeeper.

The runners amongst JFCIS (A) took part in the eagerlyanticipated Bastion 10 road race and although joking on thesurface, ‘competitive dad’ streaks came out between all.

As an attempt to tear individuals away from their computers, themonthly range package went ahead seeing the majority of thestaff only having to conduct confirmatory shoots. Capt Al


Campbell was particularly excited by this as due to his continuedefforts and hard work within JFCIS(A) it is difficult to tell if he hasbeen in the desert for the past 3 months from the colour of hisskin alone.

Under the pretence of ‘kestrel recces’ Capt Steve Bharat hasmanaged to do his fair share of travelling, anything to get out ofthe office. A last minute decisions saw him accompanying Capt

Sam Harris to FOB JUNO whilst she got out visiting her Tp.Keen to get a full insight into Det life they both helped climbingthe mast, meeting the pets (including monkeys!) and even tookpart in some of the unbelievable phys sessions they have.

DAVID BECKHAM - by Cpl Dave Abbott

Former England captain David Beckham visited Afghanistan thismonth. He enthusiastically made his way round Camp Bastionmeeting as many service personnel as possible. He only had twodays here but they were two days that seemed to make a realdifference around camp.

Five members of JFCIS (A), Lt Col Fallows, Capt Campbell,WO1 White, WO2 Woodall and Cpl Abbott were lucky enoughto attend a specially laid on evening meal with him.

It’s fair to say that Beckham is a nice guy, he signed countlessautographs and posed for even more photos, he even got in onthe joke and helped Cpl Abbott mock Sig Shackleton for beingon R&R during his visit.

HELMAND ICS SIGNAL SQUADRON

HICSSS OC Maj Hervey Scott

SSM WO2 (SSM) Dave Wheeler

Now past the half way point, the pace of life shows no signs ofslowing for HICSSS. The last few weeks have seen the Sqn

busily continuing to provide communications in support ofoperations across Helmand Province. The deployment of 9 newmobile satellite capabilities (ORAS) to theatre has provided theBastion ICS Tp with an opportunity to see lots of Afghanistanduring their installation. Providing Mission Secretcommunications (Laptops & VoIP Phones) to Coy Headquartersrepresents a huge step forward in capability which is helping toimprove the passage of information around theatre.

R&R remains in full swing despite the Icelandic Volcano’s bestefforts to cancel it and everyone looks forward to their break fromthe unrelenting heat of an Afghanistan summer. The next fewmonths will see the Sqn heavily involved with the delivery ofincreased bandwidth across Helmand in the form of ProjectKESTREL and with light now at the end of the tunnel, planning forthe handover to 246 Sig Sqn, 2 Sig Regt in August.

THE CP - by Pte Dunham

May has been a busy month for the HICSSS CP with the move ofJFCIS to Bastion and the departure of S03 Projects W02 Clarke

who has moved to RC (S) over in Kandahar.

Capt Moody has taken the reigns for a couple of weeks whilstMaj Scott takes two weeks well earned rest. As the pictureshows, there has been no impact on the team’s operationaleffectiveness.

SSgt Jim O’Mahony (aka the Ops Cpl) has settled in well overthe past month, fulfilling his job as the best paid man in charge ofthree printers, (one of which he decided to move – “Big Bertha”and broke).

W02 (SSM) Wheeler has been rushing around for the past coupleof weeks trying to organise everything for the Bruggen 10 whicheverybody enjoyed and was a great success. He is now on hisR&R after it being delayed for a day due to a rather large fire overat the American base, Camp Leatherneck, and is due to return inthe next couple of days.

In a couple of weeks we will be saying a big goodbye to Pte

Dunham who will be returning to Elmpt due to her Class 1 andposting. She has recently been in hospital but thankfully she isback in work now and preparing to hand over to Pte McArthur

who will be arriving at Camp Bastion in a couple of days.

We are well over half way into the tour now and everyone iscontinuing to work hard and looking forward to the challengesahead.

BASTION ICS TROOP HQ

OC Lt Sam Brinkworth

Tp SSgt SSgt Rob Shubert

It has been a busy month for the ICS Tp, we have said goodbyeto LCpl Webb who has returned to Elmpt and we have welcomed

Capt Sam Harris and Capt Steve Bharat in FOB JUNO

Cpl Dave Abbott a little bit impressed with who he got to meet

The HICSSS Ops Team


LCpl Raikoso and Sig Brodie who have been thrust into theMech Section. We have also seen the Tp strength rise to astaggering level of 66 Soldiers with one officer thanks to theaddition of a small force of RAF. They have been re-allocatedfrom Kandahar and have settled into the Tp well, although thelook on their faces when told that PT was at 0600 three times aweek was pure comedy genius!

Halfway through the tour and the tempo has not faltered, taskscontinue to flow through Tp HQ down to the sections in aseemingly never ending stream. Lt ‘Schmuli’ Brinkworth, as heis sometimes called, is constantly throwing himself into the workof all the sections; he has even completed his training as a Class4 Mech and can be sent on supervised jobs with the otherMechlets.

Amongst the busy schedule, the annual military training that isrequired has been started. This ensures that the Tps are at thepeak of operational effectiveness! The PFT was slightly emotionalbut the Tp endured the warmer temperature and dust to completeit; it was also nice to see the SSM take part. The Tp now readiesthemselves for the upcoming onslaught of work for the nextmonth and glimmer of hope that is the continuance of R&R.

LKG ICS TROOP - by Lt O’Toole

OC Lt O’Toole

Tp SSgt SSgt Paddy Briggs

At this stage in our time in Lashkar Gah we find ourselves busierthan ever as 4 Mech Bde looks to build on the tremendousmomentum generated in Helmand province by the highlysuccessful Op MOSHTARAK. Arriving immediately prior to thisoperation, we undoubtedly benefitted from some serious deep-end learning; we had almost no time at all to get a firm grip of ournew role as it became abundantly clear that we faced significantpressure to deliver amidst an extremely high operational tempo.

Now some months removed from this baptism of fire, we see thatthe Main Operating base in which we live and work hasundergone a tremendous amount of change since our arrival inearly February, and far more is on the way with the impendingarrival of the Marine Expeditionary Force Light Headquarters.Key to all of this is the strategic communications provided by ourTp, which allows for effective command and control throughoutboth the camp and the wider region. The deployment hasprovided us with a number of significant challenges, some ofwhich have been overcome and others that still remain to beconquered. Without question the most significant difficulties weface are the environmental conditions found in this part of theworld; searing heat and regular dust storms do their absolutebest to disrupt communications, but with dedication, attention todetail and sometimes more than a little inventiveness we are ableto keep these forces of nature at bay…most of the time.

Our main effort remains delivery of direct communicationssupport to Task Force Helmand HQ, and the high pressureworking environment of the Bde staff ensures that we areconstantly in demand. Additional to this we support bothCombined Force Lashkar Gah and the Police DevelopmentAdvisory and Training Team, both of which have come into beingduring our tenure. The operational significance of our role is asource of constant motivation as we strive to achieve the criticalbalance of providing new communications capability for the ever-growing requirements in our location, and maintaining the highstandards that are already in place.

I am pleased to say that despite, or, as is far more likely, becauseof the highly demanding environment in which we work, moralehas remained extremely high throughout; every member of the Tphas been utterly essential during our tour and will unquestionablycontinue to be so. At time of writing we are approaching the endof May and, just occasionally, we catch ourselves looking totowards our handover to 2 Sig Regt in August. The reality is thatwe still have much to achieve during our time; I guarantee we willlook to do so with gusto.

FOB SANGIN - by LCpl Kott

Det IC Sgt Ian Robson

Sangin’s ICS crew consists of Sgt ‘Robbo’ Robson the detcommander and general Mr Fix It, LCpl ‘Dougie’ Douglas theonly man I know who can manage to install back up power forthe backup power, LCpl ‘Legend’ Kott, the geek who onlymanages to see daylight 3 times a day and last but not least Sig

‘Reacher Boy’ Hobson whose technical knowledge on theequipment even surprises the Reacher maintenance team (nothard seeing as they broke it when they were here last).

It’s been an extremely busy period for the det, with the handoverfrom 3 Rifles to 40 Cdo occurring in April where the usualinexperience of operating the kit saw Sgt Robson deploying toPatrol Base WHISTAN an as an unexpected birthday treat to fix afaulty coax.

Other random acts of God have kept the crew working late onseveral occasions such as when our Reacher Antenna wasslammed into the side of an ISO container by an over enthusiasticdriver! Whilst we were sweeping up these pieces, the firstSWE=DISH satellite was successful engineered in Helmandprovince by Sgt Kenny Pybus and Sig Hobson as a backup linkto the UK. Then, just as the antenna was fixed, it was brokenagain courtesy of an American Osprey Aircraft which lifted theantenna through 90 degrees.

In preparation for US forces taking command of Sangin, ourOvertask equipment has recently been replaced with the newestcapability to arrive in theatre. This has given the Battle Group fourtimes the bandwidth they used to have and will undoubtedlyassist them with their Ops in this notoriously challenging part ofAfghanistan. Hopefully the equipment and the crew are now fullyprepared for whatever challenges the US forces throw at us (aslong as it’s not directed at the Reacher dish as it already has onebullet hole in it).

SSgt Briggs (hanging) with the Troop

LCpl Douglas trying to convince everyone that he knows what he

is doing


THE BRUGGEN 10 AT CAMP BASTION - by LCpl Gurung

The Bruggen 10 is a charity run which takes place every year inJavelin Barracks. This year, it was also run here in Camp Bastion,organised by WO2 (SSM) Dave Wheeler, on the 15 May 2010.In theatre we ran to raise money to help the orphans ofAfghanistan.

Before the run started, the CO, Lt Col Fallows gave the openingbrief in which he included a brief history of what Bruggen 10 wasall about and welcomed all the runners.

There were more than 400 runners who took part includingsoldiers from the US, Estonia and Denmark. The run started fromthe cookhouse, then to Bastion 2, and then 2 more laps aroundBastion 1 and finished at the point where the run had started.The fastest runtime was 56 mins by 1LT Adam Crandall from theUS Army with Capt Moody the first Brit home in 1hr 4 minutes.The slowest time was 1hr 56. There were a huge number ofparticipants from HICSSS with the remainder helping with theevent admin. On completion of the run, the prizes were given toall the winners from the CO of Camp Bastion and all theparticipants were given a Bruggen 10 t-shirt. Finally, the COthanked all the runners and the organising team for hosting sucha big event in the theatre.

SOUTER FORCE PROTECTION & TRANSPORT COMPANY -

KABUL - OP HERRICK 12

OC Maj Bruce Scott

SSM WO2 (SSM) Philip Korba

Since arriving the lads have settled into routine and into the wayof life here in Kabul. At last the rain and cold weather has goneand been replaced with long days of sun and a lot of red-lookingsoldiers. Everyday involves the Multiples being either out on theroad conducting driving details, escorting VIPs or on patrolaround the local villages. The vehicle patrols allow our Signallersto get further away from Camp Souter and to experience the localdriving talent in full, which is non-existent. Apparently looking leftand right before pulling out at a junction is not a requirement topass the local driving test. The long laborious duties in Sangersis the Multiples’ home for 48 hours; 6 hours on, 6 hours off for 48hrs every 6 days. The task itself means everyone stays out of theway of SSM Phil Korba to avoid some AGAI action.

Over the past couple of months many of the patrols have beenaimed at the hearts and minds and relations with the civilians wholive in the area surrounding Camp Souter. When out on patrol itis common for the guys to have a day sack containing water,chocolate or other goodies that they can give out to the childrenwho gather around them. The locals are friendly andapproachable which makes the job more enjoyable and a loteasier. One of the bigger projects the Multiples are involved in isMilitary Aid for Civilian Effect (MACE) led by Lt Andy Fitchett.Projects have included humanitarian aid drops of food andclothing to the locals. SSgt Steve Carroll of the KSU LAD, gladlyvolunteered his guys to build a playground for the local school.This turned a dusty rubble area into a place that the childrencould actually play. They have also constructed 40 blackboardsand numerous desks for the local schools.

HRH PRINCE OF WALES VISIT TO AFGHANISTAN

Souter Force Protection Company was requested to be forwardmounted at the British Embassy (BEK) in support of the VIP visitof HRH The Prince of Wales. After much discussion the MultipleCommander of K10, Sgt Stu McCrone decided on the team.This was made up of Cpl Pete Roberts, Sigs Koli Naulago, Spik

Williams, Mick Upton, Sam Orme and Alex Henderson.

On arrival at BEK, the head of security briefed the QRF, whoserole was to assist any of the ground mounted agencies ifrequested. By mid afternoon HRH had landed at the BEK and asthe staff gathered in the embassy garden, K10 slipped into theVIP area and tried to blend in with the group of military personnelwho work in the Embassy. On arriving at the garden, HRHheaded straight to those in uniform for an in-depth chat aboutequipment assets and our role within Kabul. This amused K10 asthey should not really have been there in the first place and gotsome envious looks off some of the disgruntled Embassy staff.

BRUGGEN 10 AT CAMP SOUTER

It was that time of year again and the slight hurdle of being onOperations was not stopping members of the Regt based inKabul participating in this prestigious annual event. After manyhours of planning and preparation, the day was upon us and aftera good nights sleep (only 2 hours for some) and with the sunpeering over the mountains, runners from all over NorthernAfghanistan, varying in nationality, gathered at the start line inCamp Souter (05:00hrs!). After a not so quick brief from the raceorganiser, SSgt (SQMS) Andy McMullan, they were off!

An early lead was established by a Locally Employed Civilian yethe was soon cut down by a couple of ISAF members and ourvery own SSgt Steve Carroll. Surprisingly Sgt Mickey Keers,who had been let out of the Ops Room for a couple of hours, wasup with the leading pack fighting it out with Sgt Chris Callaghan

and a few other members of the Regt.

Approximately two thirds into the race a clear favourite wasemerging. A Belgian officer was starting to pull away with eachlap and was looking unbelievably comfortable. A race within arace was starting to develop as the honour of ‘first from the Regt’

The breaking of dawn saw the start of the Bastion 10


started to enter the runners’ minds. SSgt Carroll and Sgt

Callaghan were starting to battle it out between themselves forfirst place. The Belgian Officer crossed the finishing line in a timeof 60 mins and 42 secs followed by the first member of the Regt,SSgt Carroll in a respectable time of 64 mins destroying Sgt

‘PTI’ Callaghan.

No such battle was fought in the female competition as Sig Amy

Mason blasted home in first place, with a staggering time of78mins and lapping all the PTI wannabes (well done Amy, betterluck next time lads). SSgt McMullan seemed to take greatpleasure using the mega phone to remind individuals of howmany laps they had remaining.

RC (S) SIGNAL SQUADRON DEPLOYABLE TROOP

OC Lt David Samuel Hoare Malortie

Tp SSgt SSgt Richie Savage

Better late than never a big welcome to Cpl Dave Burford, Sig

Gaz Fortune, Sig Toni Turner and Sgt Steve McNally. Havingbeen stuck at Brize Norton for a week they managed toeventually arrive in KAF. The Tp is well spread amongst the AOand with the start of the R&R plot many people are movingaround. Sig Craig Metcalfe has arrived back from Budwan andis freezing in the aircon as he hasn’t had any for two months.With his long hair and dark tan he is looking like one of the locals,minus only the beard. At this point the Tp are half way throughtheir 6 month tour and are still busy supporting the Multi National,Quadlat Sig Sqn, HQ RC (S).

FAX TESTING FOR THE ANA - by Cpl D Button

Sgt Ryan and Cpl Button have been out and about testing faxmachines for the ANA. This has involved travelling fromKandahar throughout Afghanistan. There have been manyreports of 2 locals wearing British uniforms as the pair of themhave been sunbathing at every helipad trying to get a lift to theirnext location.

Sgt Ryan has been heard to say “when the war is over I wouldlike to take the lads on an Exped over some of the mountains ofAfghanistan because it’s a very pretty country”. Ok John, but becareful of those land mines and you might be a bit too old bythen?

TECHNICAL SUPPORT TEAM COMD - Sgt ‘Jai’ Falinski

Contrary to popular belief the Technical Support Team has had abusy few months in Afghanistan. When we arrived we realisedthat the Server, Exchange and Promina courses we had allattended before deployment were going to be very beneficial toour team. We discovered that our main focus for the next 6months would be to install and maintain the BFBS network onHQ RC(S). We have now perfected our skills in scaling laddersand making wire loop antennas. We have renamed the TST toTelevision Support Team.

Sgt Falinski, Sgt Scott and LCpl ‘Johno’ Johnston have shareddeployments to LKG, FOB Walton and ‘Holiday’ Camp NathanSmith to set up comms for General Hodges and his team. On anarduous trip to Camp Nathan Smith the team even had anopportunity to test out the swimming pool. Much to LCpl

Johnston’s dismay Sgt Falinski did a no show, which meant hecould not go into the pool as you had to have a minimum of 2people before you were allowed in. LCpl Masterson is prettymuch always in the Command Joint Operations Centre fixingcables and getting things up and running again; this has givenhim plenty of late working nights.

With just under half of the tour left, we look forward to much ofthe same as the last 3 months, only hotter, and probably morecleaning (as I imagine with the heat will come dust and this willirritate Sgt Falinski to no end).

SST LKG

SST Comd Cpl Jenifer Blackburn

This month we said farewell to Sgt Liza Neary and welcomedCpl Jenny Blackburn. Despite the vicious rumours we hadheard about her ‘nasty side’, she maintained her ‘cool’ as long aswe were always on time!

Each week ‘the idiot of the week’ is organised by the 230 ICSDet. Cpl Blackburn started a campaign to put Sig Dave

Patterson up for this prestigious award. However, she ended upgetting a little bit excited about the whole thing and beinglabelled ‘idiot of the week’ herself!!

We also had to say another farewell to LCpl Stevie Baxter whenhe left for his R&R, leaving only myself and Cpl Blackburn on ourown to tackle the demanding tasks we have on here at SST4LKG. To date, however, we haven’t found ourselves in anysituation that my IS expertise couldn’t get us out of. We werenot alone for long though as Cpl Dave Burford soon arrived withSig Toni Turner.

SST TARIN KOWT

SST Comd LCpl Richie Kearney

As we draw close to the end of the month and the end of my timein TK, all equipment is actually working as it should for the firsttime since I arrived. I take this time to climb on top of the office,as I have done a few times now, and take in the amazing view. Inevery direction I look there are mountains; some of the tallest inthe far distance have now lost their white dusting of snow at thevery peak, but they still look magnificent nonetheless. I then facein a north-westerly direction and have a great view of the town ofTarin Kowt itself that is in the green zone surrounding the riverthat flows down from the mountains and trails off into the

In order for Sgt ‘Jai’ Falinski and Sgt ‘Scotty’ Scott to keep tabs

on the baby Techs they have wired up the Camp CCTV to track

them down


distance towards the north. I start to find it a shame leaving thislocation knowing that back down in the south the best view toexpect is barren desert!

HAMAL TROOP – ICS KABUL

OC Capt Emma Thomas

Tp SSgt SSgt Ian Wells

The Tp has now endured 3 months of ICS support in Kabul,maintaining Comms in 3 different HQs around the city. We arenow in the throes of a well deserved R & R period, with somesoldiers benefiting from the act of God, which was the ash cloud.SSgt Kenny Bryan and LCpl Carla Sims are now confirmed asback in theatre after a few days in a 5 star hotel in Cyprus, abusiness class flight from Cyprus to Spain, a luxury cruise fromSpain to the UK and chauffeur driven limo to the destination oftheir choice; they arrived home late, but in good spirits.

The weather is heating up nicely in Kabul, still 10 degrees lowerthan Helmand, and no better excuse than Reacher maintenanceto grab a couple of hours in the sun, out of sight and out of mind.With the better weather upon us a BBQ was organised by theSOF on KAIA (N) and was welcomed with open arms by Sgt Baz

Lawes, Cpl Mike Paynter and Cpl Bhupal Gurung. Surprisinglyjust about the whole British community of KAIA turned up for theevent even though it was on the same day as the Army v Navyrugby game. This resulted in everyone turning up for the burntcardboard flavoured food, before heading straight off to catch thegame on BFBS. The organised non-alcoholic drinking games hadconsequently been abandoned.

LCpl Kat Beaver has taken it upon herself to run spinningclasses twice a week during her down time after we received 10new spinning bikes which needed to squeeze inside thegymnasium at camp Souter. Interest in spinning diminishedsomewhat this past week though, as all eyes were on theBruggen 10 road race which encompassed 11 laps around theISO park on Souter. Thirteen of the Tp competed in the race with LCpl John Dickson heading the pack with a very reputable 26thplace.

Injuries are a worry out here, not through contact situations, butrather football matches instead. LCpl Russell Ward is currentlyon crutches as he fell over playing football and damaged theligaments in his ankle. He claimed he was tackled but we believehe couldn’t handle any more Sangar duties. One person who hasparticularly enjoyed the last couple of weeks is Sig Griffiths. Hehas had a hard time squeezing everything in recently, first hefinds himself on a Multi-National range day with SSgt Ian Wells

firing all sorts of foreign weapons, then he went off on ahelicopter ride with the Australian SF boys for his birthday, whichincidentally isn’t until August. Oh and when you see him, ask himto tell you the correct way his weapon should point on a chopper!

The ICS detachment continue to excel in the Saturday night quizat HQ ISAF, coming first or second most weeks, apart from oneweek recently which we need not mention. The OC ICS Det Capt

Emma ‘Trekkie’ Thomas really came into her own when the StarTrek questions rolled out.

Comms are pretty solid and morale is high. HOTO notes arestarting to be written and we look forward to finding out thenames of our replacements in 2 Sig Regt, more so to be able toanswer any questions they may have regarding their forthcomingtour than to feel closer to the light at the end of the tunnel.

SOinC VISITS 16 SIGNAL REGIMENT REAR PARTY

- by Lt Osabwa

16 Sig Regt had the pleasure of hosting the SOinC(A), Brigadier

Ted Flint, during his final visit to BFG troops as the Head of theRoyal Corps of Signals.

The SOinC spent time in the welfare office, where he wasintroduced to the welfare staff and their roles. Capt Shaun

Wilson gave a detailed brief of the unit’s welfare policies and itsrole within the Regt. Work of particular interest was that of Sgt

Elaine Witcomb who has developed a Regtl website and SMSservice which allows families to keep in touch with their lovedones. While talking to Mrs Dallene Lowes, the SOinC spoke ofhis understanding about the extra work that comes with adeployment. With a cup of tea and a slice of cake, he was givena breakdown of upcoming functions & trips planned for thefamilies until the Regts return in August.

Bruggen 10 the KBL way

SOinC with 16 Sig Regt Welfare staff

The Welfare Officer Capt Wilson briefing the big boss!!


The visit also allowed the Brigadier to meet soldiers from theGermany Based Element while they were conducting pre-deployment training. The 9 personnel were about to join the restof the Regt on Op HERRICK 12 as part of a Surge Team. He alsomet and spoke to soldiers who had recently returned from OpHERRICK while attached to 1 (UK) Armd Div HQ and Sig Regt.The Brigadier took a keen interest in what the soldiers had beendoing, speaking at length to both those who had recentlyreturned from tour, as well as those who had been left behind.

The SOinC commented on the importance of a well-balanced andfocused rear party, whose hard work and achievements can easilybe forgotten and overshadowed by the activities of the deployedtroops. He reminded the soldiers of the importance and need tomaintain high standards not only within the Corps but across allArms.

Before leaving the Tp the SOinC had time to quiz 2Lt Kate

Flecchia on her knowledge of bird species; which was found tobe wanting. It was apparent that she needed to take up thehobby!! Everyone was encouraged by the Brigadier’s visit and welook forward to seeing how they develop and progress over thecoming months.

52ND INTERNATIONAL MILITARY PILGRIMAGE

- by Lt Osabwa

LOURDES, France — Led by Lt Pristone Osabwa, soldiersfrom 16 Sig Regt Germany Based Element joined Father

Pascal Hanrahan for the 52nd International MilitaryPilgrimage to Lourdes. More than 15,000 military personnelfrom over 30 nations descended upon this village in southernFrance from 19 - 24 May 10. They had at least 2 things incommon; their Catholic faith and an affiliation with militaryservice.

During this annual event service members, veterans and theirfamilies travel to Lourdes to worship and to visit the site wheremany believe a young girl, Bernadette, was visited by anapparition of the Virgin Mary in 1858.

As the story goes, the apparition came to Bernadette in theGrotto and told the girl to pray, repent, drink from and bathe inthe waters of the spring. Many believe the waters of thespring have healing powers and make the pilgrimage toexperience a healing of their own. It was the wounds of theSecond World War which the French and German forcessought to heal in the very first International Military Pilgrimage.

We met the German troop train at Koln station. It was fittedwith sleeping compartments ideal for the 26 hour journey. Themeandering route through the scenic south of France provideda picture-perfect backdrop for stories of past pilgrimages,making new friends (or plenty of acquaintances in the case ofSig Vrioni-Hymonas) and seeing the blur of town names onboards in the stations. Late on the second day, we arrived inLourdes.

Coaches waited in straight lines for the short journey to our four-star hotel which was well located in the town of colourful touristshops, street cafes and smiling strollers heading to or returningfrom the holy sites.

The Military band sounded in the distance, preparing the Britishcontingent for its march to the grotto. Croatian swordsmen in fulldress followed their bishop, while Spanish soldiers proudlydisplayed their feathered caps in formation. The Procession forMary got under way with the singing of the de facto anthem ofLourdes, “Ave Maria”.

The three-day pilgrimage included an International Mass, anEnglish language outdoor Mass led by US Archdiocese for theMilitary Services, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, and a candlelightprocession attended by most of the pilgrims. Other eventsfeatured colour guards and ceremonial units from eachparticipating country. The AGC Band represented the Britishdelegation during daily ceremonies.

On the trip back, there were more stories to tell, uniforms andcap badges to exchange, experiences to share and vows toreturn in the future. It was a wonderful trip — so consider nextyears’. The miracle of Lourdes is worth it.

Even though Cpl McGinley tried her hardest, the SOinC could still

see her

The spirit of the Lord!! - Sig VH with his French mates

16 Sig Regt soldiers keeping in step with the help of the AGC band


CO Lt Col G N Addley

RSM WO1 (RSM) A McBean

The Regt is now well into the training phase for deploying as aCampaign Sig Regit in June next year and we are seeing plentyof welcome new arrivals here at Colerne. This doesn’t mean thatthe fun has stopped and we have seen soldiers and officersgetting away on sport and AT on a regular basis and in March wecelebrated some of these achievements at our AnnualSportsperson’s Dinner. We have also had time to support the AirFormation Signals Association with whom we are proud to havesuch a strong and enduring relationship. We look forward overthe next few months to honing our military and communicationsskills whilst still making time to enjoy Army life!

43 (WESSEX) SIGNAL SQUADRON (V)

OC Maj KRJ Smith

SSM WO2 (SSM) S Shanahan

Over the last few months all the management newbie’s havetransited in and started life in the hectic land of 43 Sqn, 21 SigRegt - get used to it as nothing will change for the next 2 years!!

Welcomes to the following:

OC – Major Kev Smith from 71 (Y) Sig Regt , no more blanketsto count! PSAO – Captain John Ledgister from 1 Rifles. Wealways knew you secretly wanted to be in the Signals! SSM –WO2 Sean Shanahan from one floor above in FAC Tp. Is it trueyou spend more time in the TA Centre than you do at work?

On the horizon we have got Armed Forces Weekends, recruitingcampaigns, PT and more PT, followed by PT. As for the future,well more PT I say!! A final word of thank you for all your effortsmust go to WO2 John Cameron who has swapped posts withWO2 Shanahan, more to follow below.

BRIGADIER BEACOM VISIT - by LCpl Lye

A familiarisation lesson on the PRC 346 radio was on the Sqn’sagenda for drill night on Wednesday 14 April 2010. The trainingas usual was thorough, interesting and practical with lots ofopportunity to get hands on the kit. Following the theory lessonwe began the practical using headsets and handsets and beforelong a special visitor came to oversee us, Brig Beacom, seniorTA Royal Signals Officer. After a presentation and a tour of theTA centre, Brig Beacom was brought down to the garages towitness the evening’s training. Imagine talking into the radiowhilst a Brigadier looks on! It was a little daunting to say theleast. We needn’t have worried though as afterwards the Brigspoke to us all, taking an interest inour role and what we do outside ofthe TA.

The end of evening parade saw amedal presentation: Maj Al White

(OC FAC Tp), Cpl Salter (FAC) andCpl Curtis received medals for OpHerrick and a VRSM. The highlightwas WO2 (RQMS) Beeley receiving aCommander JHC commendation.Never has it been so easy to get acrate out of him! Thanks RQ.

The evening ended with a sumptuouscurry buffet, giving us a chance totalk to the Brig in a more relaxedenvironment.

OP TOSCA - by Sig Richards

A month has passed since myself, Sig Richards, plus Sig Collett

and Sig Parish arrived here in sunny Cyprus with West Tp as partof the 40 Sig Regt (V) deployment. We are based at the LedraPalace Hotel in Nicosia (believe me, it is no palace, but could beworse!) We have each settled well into our respective sectionsand routine and are enjoying the patrols we are on. In our AOswe are lucky enough to have a lot of spectacular views of theopen countryside. There have not been many incidents to dealwith as of yet from our AO’s of Bengal and Falcon but we arecertainly looking forward to putting the hard training weunderwent back in Magilligan, Northern Ireland into practice.

The area we patrol is known for having incidents that involve,amongst other things, joy riding, hunting, fly tipping, constructionviolations, over-manning of OPFOR OP’s, land grabbing,unauthorised access to the BZ - even unauthorised asparaguspickers, and recently while on patrol I came across two elderlygentlemen collecting snails to eat... When out patrolling, otherthan when on foot, we use four wheel drive vehicles or bikes –the latter need new seats as after a 4-hour patrol you end upwalking like John Wayne.

We have just passed The Chief of Staff, Col Hughes’ inspectionwith flying colours and so a traditional barbeque and party wasour reward. A band has been formed whilst we have been hereand they provided our entertainment for the night. About halfwaythrough the night the heavens opened and this resulted in toplessdancing (males only) and all out silliness. A good night was hadand it was just what we all needed, though there were a few soreheads the next day.

Recently there have been elections in the north of Cyprus and theprevious president Mehmet Ali Talat has been replaced by DerviþEroðlu of the TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus), so weare waiting to see if this change will have any visible effects in thearea.

We are currently working towards the Force Commander Rear

Admiral M D Sanchez’s inspection - if we pass this we will beable to go out into town at night!

We are not allowed to take photographs as we patrol the BufferZone, but hope to gather some photos for our next report.

EXERCISE LOST PATROL - by Sgt Ives

After completing a six hour navex on foot across Salisbury Plainin full CEFO and CBA (thank you for that SSgt Jackson), we hadour final location in sight and reflected on the events of the day

as we tabbed in the last few hundredmeters. We had faced RPG attacks,treated several casualties and assistedin the recovery of a broken down LandRover, as well as sending constantsitreps to HQ. The biggest battle wehad won was against the weather:although the wind was building up andthe clouds were black with the threat ofrain, we had been spared. Looking atthe barn ahead we could only imaginewhat delights awaited us, as thatevening we were dining out ouroutgoing Sergeant-Major WO2 (SSM)

John Cameron. In the middle of ourfine venue for the night, a disused barn,were several tables topped with crispwhite table cloths and silver

21st SIGNAL REGIMENT (AIR SUPPORT)COLERNE

Brig Beacom presenting WO2 (RQMS) Beeley with his

Commander JHC commendation


candelabras, each holding three cyalumes (nice touch SSgt

Kendall). We were all seated for our three course meal of soup,lamb or chicken curry with rice, naan bread and poppadomsfollowed by dessert of profiteroles and coffee with mints (SSgt

Rowlands, as always your food out-performed most restaurants).After some kind words from OC 43 Sig Sqn it was time for SSM

Cameron to say goodbye to the troops that he had served withfor 6 years. We wish him all the best in his new role as FAC SSM.

RUGBY CORPS 7’S - by LCpl James Young

The Regt had been entered into the corps 7 this year in anattempt to retain the Cup. LCpl Kyle Routley and I were asked toform a team and organise some training which can be quite hardwhen 4 people turn up due to other commitments, but at suchshort notice can be expected. Nevertheless after some diggingwe gathered a team and travelled to Blandford to defend our title.

Our first match was against 11 Sig Regt A side, a team of youngwhipper snappers who gave us a little scare and made the teamwork hard for the win. A team talk from player/coach SSgt Jase

Wood and Sgt Sean Thomas gave us the little kick we deservedand we went into the next game more confident and turned overa very inexperienced 1 Div. The pick of the try in the game camefrom Sig Daz Brown who, when over the line in the corner for acertain score, decided to make the kicking duties easier forhimself pirouetting round 2 would be tacklers to go over underthe sticks. The move was that good it should have been in aWestend production of the Sugarplum Fairy. Our third gamecame against 3 Div and again the team pull off anotherconvincing win, Sig Navlivou using his silky slick skills to toy withthe 3 Div defence and score a couple of trys. In addition, our bigunit Cpl Symington, who after our own kick off gathered the balland set off in what can only be described as “galloping” finishunder the posts. The final group game was against a strong 18Sigs Regt side, our team was in the zone at this point and killedoff the threat quite quickly through some good individual skillsfrom Sgt Mike Secker and Sig Lloyd with his barnstorming runsfrom the flanks.

The group stages had finished and the semis were now on thecards, our opposition was 10 Sig Regt. Time was off the essenceto get this game played as one of our players, Lt Andy McGrane,had a very important “meeting” to attend around about the timethe game was about to finish. 10 Sig Regt gave us our toughesttest and in one particular moment I gave the best hospital pass toSgt Secker whose ribs were exposed to a very grateful Fijian. Inow owe him a beer for that. 10 Sig Regt did have us against theropes and battled well but again after another great half time talkwe got back to our best and won, though saying that Lt

McGrane thought he was playing rugby league 7’s at times, butwith the ball in his hands was playing like a back not a forward.

We were in the final and again pitted against the 11 Sig Regt Aside, whom we beat in the group stages. With the touch linepacked with supporters we turned on the skill and some amazingdarting runs from LCpl Qasevatni finished off our opponents.Towards the end of the game we thought it would be a goodidea to sub Sgt Secker as he ran his socks off and deserved arest with myself coming on as his replacement I was on the fieldfor no longer than 20 seconds and was subbed back again by theman himself. I think he wanted the glory for himself. The finalwhistle went and again we retained our title.

The whole day was a huge success and we made a point onreaching the final from the word go and did that to a very highstandard. Some great rugby was played and some greatindividual skill was also on display to see. Every player didthemselves proud on the day and we look forward to going backnext year to win the competition again.

EXERCISE DESERT VORTEX (JORDAN) - by Lt J Mortimer

Bravo Tp deployed to Jordan on Ex DESERT VORTEX 10 insupport of JHC. The main aim of the ex was to complete terrainspecific training for the Merlin and Chinook aircrews. Upon

arrival at King Faisel Air Base the detachment quickly set aboutinstalling the communications infrastructure for the HQ Staff andthe Ground to Air communications capability.

As with a number of other overseas ex’s that the Sqn iscommitted to in support of JHC, Ex DESERT VORTEX gave BravoTp an insight to and good practice for their deployment toAfghanistan early next year. While many had deployed on asimilar ex to Kenya, for those who didn’t, Cpl Bevan gaveguidance on the subtle changes in voice and flight followingprocedure required when working with the RAF. Cpl Grimes tookthe lead in providing comms to the training areas out of reachfrom the HQ by deploying a 2 man remote link with satcommsback to HQ to overcome the difficult terrain. SSgt ‘Scotty’

Robinson and Cpl ‘Busta’ Grimes valiantly stepped forward towork outdoors in the great tanning weather but their enthusiasmwas curbed by a number of near miss nights out in the desertdue to grounded aircraft.

In addition to providing the flight following capability, the Tpdeployed with Sgt ‘Dolly’ Parton, attached from 22 Sig Regt, toprovide J1/J4 support. He was kept busy with the inevitableteething problems in such a climate. During the sustainmentphase there was scope for the men to ride in the aircraft. Cpl

Roberts was the first to volunteer, getting the chance to fire theChinook’s chain guns on the ranges. Hearing how much fun itwas, Sig Jamie Young volunteered, but soon regretted it once itchanged it’s course to the valleys to practice low flying at speedwhere he spent the majority of the journey with his head in a sickbag.

The Tp had some time off, enjoying day trips to Aqaba and Petra,one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Both trips provided anexcellent opportunity to unwind. Sig McNulty was on the firstvisit and he returned with the thoughtful review of “it’s just somerocks and stuff. Once you’ve seen one rock you’ve seen themall”. Overall, however, it was an excellent opportunity that wasenjoyed by most.

With Bravo Tp starting pre-deployment training in September, thisexercise has been entirely beneficial for the development andtraining of the Tp and developing the working relationshipbetween RAF Benson, RAF Odiham and 244 Sig Sqn.

EXERCISE BEAUFIGHTER THUNDER - by Sgt J Binnie

Ex Beaufighter Thunder, the Regtl Battle Camp took placebetween the 20 - 28 May 2010. The first 2 days of the ex saw allRegtl personnel take part in classroom based lessons in order toremind and revise some of the military skills that may not havebeen as fresh in the minds as they could have been. TheSaturday morning saw all exercising troops deploy to Caerwentto start developing some of those newly refreshed skills in a fieldtraining environment, a programme that proved to be particularlytesting due to the sudden heat wave that swept over SouthWales.


On completion of the 2 day training and consolidation phases theexercising troops were split into two groups for the FTX, halfremaining at Caerwent under the direction of the Training Officer,Capt Markendale, with the remainder packing up and moving toLongmoor Training Area under the watchful eye of the RTWO,WO2 Robinson.

The FTX provided a chance to not only test the troops on theground in the skills and drills they had practised over the previousfew days, but also gave an opportunity to exercise an Ops teamwithin each location. Everything from FOB routine anddeployment of patrols, to incident management and IDF attackdrills were managed from within the FOB’s, ensuring maximumtraining benefit was gained across all ranks.

The ex as a whole gave an opportunity to assess the currentstandard of military skills across the whole Regt prior to movinginto the role of a CSR. The high level of enthusiasm and hardwork, combined undoubtedly with the good weather conditionsled to a successful and enjoyable ex.

REGIMENTAL SPORTSPERSON’S DINNER - by Cpl Binnie

21 Sig Regt (AS) held a formal dinner on 31 March 2010 in theWO & Sgt’s Mess to honour the sporting achievements within theRegt over the last two years. The evening began with welcomedrinks and the usual fire and “don’t go there” briefs. Once theCO, Lt Col Addley arrived the top table took their placesfollowed by everyone else. After grace the meal began. Inbetween courses, SSgt (SSI) Blake used various clips of sportingmusic for us to guess the sport and to see whether or not theOIC’s were paying attention. At the same time there was a raffle(with superb prizes) and a sport quiz being played between thetables.

Each OIC sport highlighted the achievements of individuals/teamover the last two years handing out Regimental Colours to thosewho had excelled. A good number of the Regt now have a bluerunning jacket which will be awesome for PT in the winter.

After a short break, the Corps Marches were played and SSgt

(SSI) Blake showed us how the PT Corps stand up for theirs withsome lovely gymnastics on his chair! Each OIC Sport put forwardtheir nomination for Sportsperson of the Year. As always the COgave his speech and congratulated all those awarded theirRegimental Colours and then went on to announce the winner.The runner up was Cpl Chris Day, who had excelled at the CorpsSkiing Championships held in 2009 and the previous year. Thewinner of Regimental Sportsperson of the Year 2010 went to aperson who had finally achieved their ambition of becomingCaptain of an Army sports team and continuing to represent theCombined Services at Basketball. They also represented theRegt at various sports throughout the year. This person wasnone other than the author of these notes, Cpl Lou Binnie. Nowords can explain winning this award and the only words I couldmuster were “if you work hard at your goals you will achievethem”. Overall the evening was a success and enjoyed by allthose who attended, lets hope things are as good or if not betternext year and lets bring home another win for the ladies.

AIR FORMATION SIGNALS ASSOCIATION REUNION

- by LCpl Reynolds

On Saturday 9 May, Sgt Phil Eaves, LCpl James Young, LCpl

Ash Reynolds and Sig Mark Washington represented the Regtat the Air Formation Signals Association reunion dinner inSouthport. The affectionately dubbed ‘Old Boys’ made us verywelcome from the moment we arrived. The Chairman, Dr David

Vickers, had invited us to attend their AGM and we gladlyaccepted. This gave us an insight into their activities over thepast year and their plans for the year ahead. It was here that weaccepted the invite to join their charity ‘Everyone’s a Winner’raffle, where each person buys and receives a present (to thevalue of £5). Ten minutes and one high street sweep later, wereturned with an assortment of treasures, each of us convincedthat ours would be picked first!

Twenty minutes and one change parade later we were in No.2’sdress stood in the hotel bar having pre-dinner drinks. It was herethat we got a real flavour of what the association was about, asthe Vice Chairman Dennis ‘Johnny’ Elgan told us the first ofmany entertaining stories from his time in the Corps. During thedinner the Association presented the Regt with a beautiful SilverChinook to commemorate the unit’s safe return from OP TELIC.Sig Washington, one of the Regts last soldiers to leave Iraq,received the presentation piece and Sgt Eaves graciouslythanked our hosts while pitching his talents as an after dinnerspeaker.

After the meal came the raffle; Sgt Eaves was pleased to see his£5 worth of scratch cards chosen first, LCpl Reynolds helpedout LCpl Young by selecting his ‘giant TV remote’ but it was Sig

Washington who couldn’t quite comprehend how nobody sawthe attraction in his shot glass chess game! Wine flowed andstories continued in to what we collectively agreed to be fantasticnight. Many thanks to our hosts, the Air Formation SignalsAssociation.

FOB Harry (Longmoor Training Area)

Sgt Lafferty debriefs the Immediate Response Team

Regimental Sportsperson of the Year – Cpl Lou Binnie – receives

her award from the Commanding Officer


4 DIV SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010 - by LCpl Campbell

The 11 and 12 May 2010 saw the 4 Div Swimming and WaterPolo Championships take place at the Aldershot Garrison SportsCentre. 21 Sig Regt had entered male and female teams withhigh hopes of qualifying for the Army Inter Unit Championships.

Tuesday morning started with a wake up call for the not so readySig Sharman, who decided he was too good to walk to the minibus pick up point and that he might swim better with an extra fewminutes shut eye. Once all members were accounted for it wasoff to Aldershot, where a few of the team members were stunned

at the sight of the formidable 50m pool(yes it really is more daunting than themodest 25m pool we used for training).

The male team, captained by the everinspirational Sgt Beckett finished arespectable 7th overall despite beingdisqualified from the 4 x 50m MedleyRelay, Sig Sharman being cruelly judgedto have started too early. Fine individualperformances from Cfn Bodley (100mBackstroke) and LCpl Caan Berry (4 x50m IM), both finishing 3rd in theirevents helped rescue some pride for theteam.

With the Adjt Capt Shipley leading thefemale team, they were destined forglory, and they did not disappoint.Superb individual swims from LCpl

Backhouse (50m Backstroke) whofinished first and Capt Shipley (50mFreestyle) and LCpl Delauro (50mBreaststroke) who both finished second,along with good all round relay swimssaw the female team finish second

overall to qualify for the Army Inter Unit Championships. Specialmention must go to Cpl Jude Rawlyk for stepping in at the lastmoment and swimming the gruelling 4 x 50m Individual Medley,much to the relief of LCpl Backhouse.

Wednesday the 12th saw the inexperienced male water polo teamtake to the pool, with only LCpl Vale, Cfn Bodley and LCpl

Berry ever having played before. The competition was split into 3pools of three teams, with the winner of each pool going into awinners’ pool. We were drawn against 2 very good teams andour first game saw us play 3 RSME, narrowly losing 4-3, LCpl

Vale scoring all 3 of our goals. Those of us that were new to thesport left the pool wondering where ournext breath would come from, realisingthat water polo is not for the faint hearted.3 RSME then lost 2-4 to AMD, whichmeant we needed to win our second gameagainst AMD by two goals in order toprogress to the winners’ pool. Sadly thiswas not to be and we were beaten 3-1 in alively game by the team that would go onto a winner takes all game in the winners’pool against 11 Sig Regt. 11 Sig Regt wenton to win that game 5-3 and ourcongratulations go to them.

A truly exhausting 2 days were enjoyed byall those who took part and the male waterpolo team and female swimming teamhave it all to look forward to again in Juneat the Army Inter Unit Championships.

Sig Washington receives the Silver Chinook on behalf of the Regt

The 21 Sig Regt (AS) Swimming & Water Polo Teams

The 21 Sig Regt (AS) Female Swimming Team – 4 Div Runners Up

Sgt Philip Eves, Sig Mark Washington, Sig Ash Reynolds and LCpl James Young with Chairman

(Dr David Vickers) and Secretary (Mr Dennis Egan)


CO Lt Col S Nesmith

RSM WO1 (RSM) Pritchard

217 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj Byfield

SSM WO2 (SSM) Preece

EXERCISE HOPTON CENTAUR 1 - by Sig Amrit Ale

Ex HOPTON CENTAUR 1 was a Tp level FTX, based on RoyalSignals Collective Training Level One (CT1) for Alpha Troop 217Sig Sqn. The ex was conducted over the period of 17 - 21 May2010 at MOD Stafford and Swynerton Training Area (STA). Theaim of the ex was to train and test individuals as well as the tp onCT1 Training Objectives (TOs).

Comprehensively coordinated by Sgt Gyanendra, the exs wereconducted in 4 phases. Phase one was the trg on both Commseqpts and BCCS. On day one all detachments (Bowman andRICHELIEU) were tested, and the theory lessons as well aspractical lessons were delivered by the Det Comds. The secondday involved the tp embarking upon all manners of BCCS lessonsand demonstrations, which were mainly conducted within theSwynerton Training Area. The main lessons ranged from localdefence, vehicle anti-ambush drills and C-IED drills, to deployedhealth force protection, managing a medical scene and detaininga captured person.

The second phase was deployment and establishment of the HQ,ICS and Defence. On the third day of the ex as soon as theweapons and Crypto were collected, Sgt Gyanendra delivered acomprehensive Ex Order to the tps, followed by a tactical moveto the ex location (STA). Once the objective was secured,Section One under command of Cpl Shagar, established commsand built elements of HQ (SWE, helpdesk, life support, CP). Atthe same time Section Two under command of Cpl Judbir

established the local defence around the HQ utilizing availabledefence stores. By the end of the day, the HQ was fullyestablished with ICS facilities and defence elements i.e. gunpositions, VCP, obstacles etc.

The third phase, on day 4 was the main ex play day, where thesections went through various scenario based ex serials. Theseserials were designed to test individuals on both comms andmilitary skills. This phase proved to be of real value to JNCOsand PNCOs as they all had the opportunity to lead the section oneach ex serial. During the day, the tps were visited by the CO Lt

Col SPM Nesmith, RSM and OC Sqn Maj Byfield.

The final phase was recovery. As soon as the main ex play wasconcluded and endex was called, the tps carried out correctclose down procedure and recovered back to camp beforecompleting a full turn around.

All in all everyone worked hard and each individual played a vitalrole to make this exercise a success. At the same time everyonelearnt new things and gained more experience. More importantly,all the training delivered was relevant to the Royal Corps ofSignals and focused on the contemporary operationalenvironment.

EXERCISE DANDA CHADNE DRAGON (YORKSHIRE 3 PEAKS)

On a sunny 27 April, personnel from 217 Sig Sqn departedBeacon Barracks for a spot of hill walking in the Dales. The walkwas based on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge, which involvesreaching the summit’s of Pen Y Gent (694m), Whernside (728m)and Ingleborough (723m). On arrival at Halton Training Camp (ourbase for the trip) we met up with the WO2 (SSM) Preece. Hebriefed us on the finer details of camp admin and the next day’sactivity, after which the time was our own.

The morning of the 28th was an early one, breakfast at 0600 andon the road by 0630. After an hour drive we arrived at the start ofour 18 mile walk, Horton in Ribblesdale. The first peak Pen-Y-Gent was in view. At 0735 we set off on what was to be quite aphysically demanding day. Sig Yogesh set the pace and withthighs burning, everyone reached the summit within an hour (theestimate was 90 mins). After a short break and the obligatorysummit photo we headed back down to Horton.

22nd SIGNAL REGIMENTSTAFFORD

The Troop briefs the CO and RSM

Alpha Troop, 217 Signal Squadron

A rest on the summit


After a short drive we arrived at the start of the ascent ofWhernside. This was the longest of the 3 to complete; the slowsteady climb is 6km to the top. After another photo it was a nicewalk downhill to an Inn at Chapel-le-Dale. We had a break for anhour, time enough for some food and drink. Then it was straightinto the last leg to Ingleborough. Though this was the shortestleg, the walk turned into a climb and was tough going, arriving atthe summit was a great relief.

Having had the final photo we all headed down to the town ofIngleton, found a café, and treated ourselves to coffee and cake.Many thanks to Capt Kedar our now departed OpsO fororganising a fantastic trip. Reflecting on the day’s activity, it wastiring but enjoyable, and the weather was perfect - I for onewould be happy to do it again.

222 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj Rodger

SSM WO2 (SSM) Fraser

EXERCISE WHITE DRAGON - by Sig Thorbinson

Silly o’clock on a perfectly decent weekend, we were made to geton the most uncomfortable minibus to travel to an island north ofFrance known as the Isle of Wight.

My group consisted of Capt ‘Dusty’ Miller, 2Lt ‘Petal’ Rose, Cpl

Jones, LCpl Budgen, LCpl Broxton, Sig Graham, Sig Glasby

and Pte Elwood. The activities started first thing Mondaymorning and off we all went to the rock climbing wall under theinstruction of LCpl Prince and LCpl Nairn. That evening wevisited a SSAFA house which is of the main charities 222 Sig Sqnsupport. They were kind enough to lay on a BBQ and a fewbeers along with a tour of the facilities at the care home. Anumber of the Sqn have now provisionally booked their places atthe home in preparation for later life.

We woke up the next day raring to go, with sea kayaking on theagenda. We arrived at the beach, put on our wetsuits and off wewent into the ocean. Unfortunately paddling in and out of therough seas was too much for Sig Glasby who ‘doesn’t get seasick’. However, with the previous night taking its toll he managedto be sick over himself. His bad luck did not end there, he thenrealised he had been kayaking for 2 hrs with the coat hanger stillin his spray jacket and was duly awarded ‘Div of the Day’ for hisefforts.

The rest of the week consisted of hill walking and mountain bikingand on the Friday a group of us went sea fishing. Burnt to a crispand with a boat full of fish we headed to the bar to cook what wecaught. The chefs had organised a BBQ and Hog Roast for theevening meal which complimented the fish that we had caught.

The next day after some tidying up we handed the camp backand prepared ourselves for that gruelling journey back on the minibuses and a weekend at home.

EXERCISE HOPTON GUARDIAN

On a spring morning, 222 Sig Sqn deployed to Swynertontraining area to conduct a 5 day battle camp. For recentadditions to the Sqn this was a chance to prove their worth andget stuck in to some infantry training. New Tp Comds 2Lts

Aldred and Loots were keen to finally lead their soldiers, havingrecently completed the arduous TC Course in Blandford.

The ex would consist of a 2 day build up package focussing onlow level training and FOB defence drills, with the overall aim tobring the Sqns low level skills and drills up to scratch inpreparation for their deployment to Afghanistan next year. Thelessons covered included Casualty Drills; Radio SOP’s andsection attacks. From the evening of day 2 the ex moved into itstactical phase which began with night recces, one of which,meticulously carried out by G Tp, was of the FOB; our futurelocation.

WO2 (SSM) Preece checks his bearings!

MLT in the Sun

222 Climbing collision

Sig Thorbinson - she’s a beauty


Having cleared the route, the Sqn inserted to the FOB and underthe command of Lt Pain and Sgt Cassee began building up itsdefences, deploying barbed wire, roadblocks and VCP’s so thatthe FOB became a fortress. We also developed a series ofSanger’s out of sandbags, which were filled by the blood, sweatand tears of 222 Sqn, including the OC and SSM, finished offwith a gleaming GPMG. From this point the 14 hour rotation offoot patrols, vehicle patrols and FOB defence could begin. Noneof the 3 rotations involved much down time as the serials werefed through thick and fast from the ex co-ordinator SSgt

McDiarmid who had a knack of arriving just before mayhem wasabout to be unleashed.

The foot patrols encountered enemy positions frequently, puttingthe build up training to the test and pushing the soldiers who hadbeen put in that command appointment. The confusing warren ofbunkers and mounds of the Swynerton training area tested low-level command and control to the limit. Vehicle patrols movedout in order to dominate the area and prevent the enemy gaininga foothold. The Tp Comds took the lead on these patrols, muchto the amusement of G Tp as 2Lt Aldred managed to take thewrong route several times, in the interest of keeping the enemyon their toes of course! This phase also called for 222 Sig Sqn tohelp out our Danish allies in the area, who had a habit of crashingtheir vehicles and sustaining T1 and T2 casualties.

The FOB defence phase saw the designated Tp deal with thebrunt of the enemy’s anger and attacks. FOB guardiansrepeatedly dashed to their stand to positions; donning helmetsand webbing in a flash. Brave Cpl Mcleish deserves a mention(not in dispatches) for being equally quick at getting back into his‘green maggot’ after such attacks. Endex was called after asustained GPMG battle in the early hours of Day 5, whichexhausted our supplies of ammunition. Fearless G Tp once againcleared the route to nearby NATO HQ, which allowed 222 Sig Sqnto evacuate the FOB and for our forces to regroup. Once in allround defence the DS announced Endex in order for the cleanupto begin and for the FOB to return to peaceful normality.

252 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj Scott Steven

SSM WO2 (SSM) Al Watson

252 RE-LOCATE: THE STORY SO FAR…

It has been an extremely busy few months for 252 (Hong Kong)Sig Sqn as we have had to move as part of the Advance Party forARRCADE ODYSSEY. In most cases this has meant leavingfamilies behind in Germany until the end of the school year whilstthe soldiers crack on with the preparations for the HQ ARRC StaffOfficers’ arrival. One of the main challenges has been gettingused to working on a building site and for the first 2 months wewere wearing very fashionable blue plastic boot covers so as notto ruin the carpets! This made the morning parades verycolourful for the SSM! Thankfully the “hard hat” areas werequickly upgraded so nobody had to get out their helmets.

Our initial reception in the area has been positive and we have allenjoyed being back home where you can understand what is onthe supermarket shelves and drive on the sensible side of theroad. We have affiliated ourselves to a local charity, Winston’sWish and are having a lot of fun doing events for them.

CHARITY EVENTS FOR WINSTON’S WISH

252 (Hong Kong) Sig Sqn have recently moved back from ElmptStation, Germany to support the ARRC HQ move back toInnsworth, Gloucestershire. To help advertise the Sqn and ImjinBarracks in our new location, WO2 (YofS) Bailey asked forvolunteers to form a committee to represent a local charity calledWinston’s Wish. This Committee is as follows, Lt Kate Apps,WO2 (YofS) ‘Daz’ Bailey, Sgt ‘Spud’ Williams, Cpl Frankie

Ndegwa, Cpl Lou Walker, LCpl Lee Austin and LCpl ‘Spanish’

Spain.

Winston’s Wish is a National charity, situated close to ImjinBarracks in Cheltenham. It focuses on supporting bereavedchildren who have lost one or both parents. Our aim is toorganise a variety of events over the coming months to show oursupport as a Regt and as part of ARRC HQ.

On 4 Jun 10 WO2 (YofS) Bailey organised a charity quiz night inwhich over 15 teams of 4 participated. There were 11 differentcategories over the night and very cheap booze, (£1.12 per pint!)The winning team consisted of SSgt Anthony Ramsay, Cpl

Sarah Challis, Cpl Walker and LCpl Austin and the quiz was agreat success, raising £204.00.

On a committee meeting soon after this event, Lt Apps came upwith an event she had experienced from colleagues whilst beingon her ‘Troopies’ in Blandford. It was to be known as “Hug-A-Squaddie”, and was organised by LCpl Austin. On Sat 12 Jun10 we set up a stand on Cheltenham Town High Street and oneOfficer, one WO and nine NCO’s were dressed in different militaryattire consisting of CS95, Deserts, CEFO, No 1’s, Mess Dress,CBRN and the most huggable suit of the day despite scaringmost of the kids, the ghillie suit! The public of Cheltenhamgenerously donated their monies, hugs, kisses, and for some,(LCpl Sambou) their telephone numbers to the soldiers andcharity. It was also nice to see comrades who served with theCorps in the 80’s and even as far back as World War 2. The day

The FOB insertion

Taunting from the locals

LCpl Budgen defending the FOB


was a roaring success and we raised just over £2600.00, andwere back in time to watch the England vs USA footie match.

I would like to thank the following personnel for contributing tothe day, LT Apps, WO2 (YofS) Bailey, Sgt Williams (and his silkyspeech throughout the day!) Cpl Walker, LCpl Kirkhope, LCpl

Law, LCpl Longlands, LCpl Lynn, LCpl Sambou, and LCpl

Spain.

SUPPORT SQUADRON

OC Maj Mark Rouse

SSM WO2 (SSM) Pete Mason

EXERCISE DRAGONS TALON - ISLE OF WIGHT

- by Cpl Smith QM Dept

The week started early at 0600hrs on the Sunday for the longdrive down to the Isle of Wight from camp in Stafford for thesecond week of Sp Sqns adventure training. We loaded up theminibuses with the pax and baggage and set off. Most peoplemanaged to get their heads down on the journey in preparationfor what was to come.

Once we arrived at New Jersey Camp we were met by some ofthe DS who were still feeling the effects of being left to their owndevices on the Saturday night. We were shown to our rooms,split into our groups and given all the usual briefings. We werethen given ADMIN time until the morning, which was mainly spentin Newport centre listening to LCpl Mawhinney crucify songs onthe karaoke.

The first activity for my group (group 2) was hill walking, taken byCpl Ward. The group was assured that it would be a nice stroll

and there weren’t many hills on the Isle ofWight. Both of these assurances turned outto be blatant lies as 20km and numeroussteep hills later (all of which we seemed togo up but never seemed to go down) Cpl

Ward was no longer as popular as when wefirst set off. Whilst waiting for the transportto pick us up, myself, Cpl Ward and a coupleof other members of the group decided topartake in a beverage in one of the AleHouses, which we were assured was justdown the lane and turn left, by a friendly oldwoman in a shop. 5km later we finally foundthe ale house, had time for one drink andhad to set off back the 5km to the pick uppoint where we were collected and takenback to camp for evening meal.

The next day our activity was mountainbiking, taken by Sgt Bernie Clifton. Wewere once again assured it would be asteady ride with not many hills, more lies, asCpl ‘Eddie’ Edwards found out as most ofthe day he spent pushing his bike up thehills. Just as we were nearing the end of the

ride we were confronted with the hill from hell, which Sgt Clifton

assured us he could pedal up without the slightest problem. Weset off up the hill while Sgt Clifton gave us a head start. Halfway up the hill, with the majority of us breathing through variousorifices, Sgt Clifton came pedaling past us all, mocking as hewent, until three quarters of the way up the unthinkable happenedand his chain snapped. The distress that this caused him waswell worth the five hours of pain he had just put us through, andthe fact that we made it to the top of hill and he didn’t still bringsa smile to my face now. The evening’s entertainment was a tripto the speedway in Ryde where it was amateur night. It was wellworth going just to see the young lad cream into the safetybarrier and the looks we got off the locals as we all burst outlaughing when it happened.

Wednesday’s event was sea kayaking, which was taken by acivilian instructor at Freshwater Bay. The previous days kayakershad warned us how cold the sea was, so upon arrival, young Sig

Russell was dispatched to the waters edge to find out thetemperature, where he stayed even as myself, Cpl Edwards andSig Davis sprinted towards him and promptly pushed him in fullyclothed. Asked why he didn’t get out of the way, his reply was ‘Ithought you were all running to check how cold the water was!!!’Bless his little cotton socks. A glorious morning was spentkayaking up and down the coastline, in the baking sun, until wewere picked up at midday and returned to camp for a BBQ andgames afternoon.

The events laid on for the games afternoon were, one rule football(that only rule being no hands), apple bobbing, golf pitching andhuman bridge. The teams were the groups that we had been inall week, and the winning team for each event were awarded withan alcoholic jelly per team member. After the fun of the gameswe had a BBQ where there was enough food to feed thethousands, but somehow about 40 of us managed to polish thelot off.

The final day of activities saw us doing rock climbing on aclimbing wall in a local secondary school. This activity was takenby SSgt Baz Sherwin and LCpl Danny Prince. The morningwas spent doing various types of climbs, none of which beat Sig

Phil Davis as he scurried up and down the walls with apparentease. Mid afternoon we returned to the camp and began thepacking up process.

The following morning a final check of everything was done andour accommodation handed back over, before the long journeyhome.

A big thanks must go out to SSgt John Blowes for organizing anexcellent couple of weeks for members of Sp Sqn.


30th SIGNAL REGIMENT BRAMCOTE

250 GURKHA SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj Corkery

SSM WO2 (SSM) Un

EXERCISE UKALO DRAGON - by LCpl Bhim Isbo

Ex UKALO DRAGON was a level 3 Adventurous Training exconducted in the Peak District over 2 weekends this spring, 23-24 April and 7-9 May. The ex was lead by the OC Maj Corkery

along with 2 RLT qualified NCOs LCpl Prakash Gurung and LCpl

Meharsing Gaha. The main aims of this ex were to make bothRLT qualified NCOs prepared for RCL course, to train the other 6junior ranks to prepare for RLT qualification and finally to developand test their teamwork, leadership, administration and courage.

On the first weekend we started our journey early morning ofFriday 23 April. The wheels moved at 0630hrs from Bramcoteand it was nearly a 2 hour journey to the crag. Our first crag ofchoice was Stanage Edge. Once we reached there we started tounload our kit and head towards the crag which looked reallychallenging. This was my second outdoor rock climb, but myfirst confident climb. OC Saheb and the RLTs showed us how toprepare the belay for the climb. They also taught us how to makedifferent knots and when to use them. After the OC Saheb washappy with the belay we started the climb. We did 5 climbs onthat day at different categories of difficulty. In the evening, wewent to Birchen camp site for overnight camping; it wasawesome as it was my first camping.

On the second day we planned to do climbing in Birchen Edgewhich was another challenging crag. Our arms were a bit sorefrom the previous day but when we reached there the pain wasgone. Again on that day we prepared the belay for the climb; thistime we were more involved and got a very good chance to learn.On that day we did about 5 climbs at different difficultycategories followed by abseiling and a short climb without ropeswhich was a bit more like caving. The first weekend of thetraining was complete.

After 2 weeks, on 7 May Friday westarted our second weekend of thetraining. This time it was for 2 nightsand 3 days. Our main aim of the firstday was to set up a camp and takesome lessons from OC Saheb and theRLTs about more knots. We startedour second day with a chilly rush ofwind and drizzle. When we reachedStanage Edge, the wind was growlingbut despite the bad weather wemanaged to setup a belay for theclimb and this time about 90 percentof the setup was done by us led by the2 RLTs. Our OC Saheb was reallyimpressed with our job. Once thebelay was done we started the climb.The rocks were really slippery and wegot lots of cuts. The routes were moredifficult this time but we still managed 5 climbs.

On the last day we went to Birchen Edge. The weather was niceand sunny on that day and there were lots of other climbers. Likewith the previous climbs we prepared the belay and started theclimb without any delay. In the afternoon, we did abseiling and a‘caving’ climb as before but this time on a different route. Oncethis was done we did a final packup and drove back to Bramcotein the late afternoon.

The ex was very satisfying and went according to plan. Theoverall aim was achieved and more importantly we have built ourconfidence on RLT dramatically. Now I can proudly say I have avery good experience and knowledge on rock climbing after thisex and the reward for this goes to our OC Saheb and our 2 RLTJNCOs LCpl Prakash and LCpl Meharsing.

256 SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj Short

SSM WO2 (SSM) Stowell

ALPHA TROOP

OC Lt Barrett

Tp SSgt SSgt Mcdougall

MERCURY 500

30 Sig Regt came 2nd in the mercury 500 event, completing the500 laps of Blandford running track in a stunning time of 13 hours58 minutes. Every member of the team completed 50 laps of the

track with 30Ibs burden, equivalent to12.5 miles at best effort pace withCFT weight over a 14 hour period!

Our start to the race was steady,working in pairs completing 4 lapseach in a one on one off rotation.This allowed about 45 minutesbetween stints on the track and gavethe team some well earned restbetween miles. Whilst other teamsset off for the sprint we were focusedon the long hall and by 0600 after 9hours on the track we were 5thoverall. However, whilst other teamswere gradually grinding down, makingan average pace of 16 or 17 minutesfor 10 laps, our average was gettingquicker as the sun came up.

We took 4th place from 11 Sig Regt B as they slowly burned outand that wet our appetite for further success. The team still feltstrong, so we switched to a fast 1 lap on 9 laps off racingstrategy for our assault on 3rd placed 1 Sqn. Our time for tenlaps went down to 13 minutes and we came from 15 minutesbehind to overtake them. We had earned our cup howeversuddenly there was the possibility to earn a Bramcote Station 1stand 2nd.

Sig Ishwor and OC 250 GSS Maj A E A Corkery nearly at the top

Cpl Bhim, Sig Ishwor and team after setting up a belay


Spurred on by the SSM and 258 Sig Sqn who had by now beatenthe record held by 2nd Bn RRF, the team upped the anti. With 50laps remaining went from 5 laps behind 2nd placed 209 Sig Sqnto 5 laps ahead by the finish. To come back from 5th to finish2nd was a stoic effort by all involved and the team gratefullytucked into breakfast, coffee and energy drinks upon their finish.

The last competitors finished the race around 17 hours and finallyBrig Watts presented 258 with the £1000 silver trophy and the2nd and 3rd placed teams with their Mercury 500 Mugs, at leastthe coffee addicts will be happy!

JFHQ MIL SKILLS

Supporting JFHQ has its perks, members of the Tp deployed insupport of JFHQ military skills ex on Salisbury Plain. Three OLRTteams deployed to support the exercising troops and theremainder of the Tp deployed to act as Civ-Pop. Troops carriedout a number of memorable events, such as harassing recceteams and watching a Platoon of Marines riot against the JFHQsenior officers, stealing their vehicles, weapons, boots andanything else that wasn’t nailed down. During the re-run of thishighly entertaining riot (from a spectators point of view) hearingthe words “get that one with two pips” was a distinctly un-nervingexperience, especially with less than half a magazine left andnobody in immediate support. The second part of this ex isbeing carried out in Cyprus in June and will involve hunting downJFHQ personnel for a week as they conduct their SERE training.

BRAVO TROOP

OC Lt Munn

Tp SSgt SSgt Bithell

EXERCISE KENYAN CHILD - by LCpl Wright

On 3 May Sig Beck, Sig Glasgow, Sig Talbot and I all ran in acharity run consisting of a 137 mile run from Nanyuki to Nairobi.The charity run came about after Sig Talbot and I had visited alocal orphanage. “We saw children without shoes and clothes,bad living facilities and poor quality of life, but yet all of them stillhad lots of morale and a nice smile on their faces.” After the visitwe wanted to give something to the orphanage for the children,that’s when I came up with the idea to arrange a charity run toraise awareness of the local children’s home, but moreimportantly raise money and resources for the orphanage. Withmy direction, Sigs Beck, Glasgow and Talbot started arrangingthe event. It consisted of them going around to all thedepartments and asking for anything they had and they werepleasantly surprised in the generosity. We received money, oldunit t-shirts, civilian clothing, footballs and much more.

The run started on the morning of 3 May at 0650 and finished at1720. We couldn’t run directly from Nanyuki to Nairobi, so thelocal golf course was booked and the team ran laps, each 1.28miles long, which wasn’t made easier by the 28 degrees heat and

being 6000ft above sea level. The team started off with just the 4people from the Commcen, but quickly realised that we wouldneed a little help if we were to complete our goal. That’s whenthe RCMO, RAO and 2 AGC personnel from 5 Scots gave us ahand by completing a numerous amount of laps for us. In totaleach person from the Commcen completed 16 laps which was atotal of 22miles. It was a long and hard day but it was allworthwhile. We raised 10,000 shillings, clothing and lots of foodfor the children. On 4 May we went down to the local orphanageand gave them the donations. The Manager of the Children’sHome was extremely grateful with what we had done. Overall thecharity event was a huge success due to the time and effort putin by all parties concerned.

CHARLIE TROOP

OC Lt Bilney

Tp SSgt SSgt Hopkins

GRAND DAY OUT TO BOSWORTH - by Sig Stubbs

On 27 May 2010 Charlie Tp embarked on a cultural visit toBosworth the site of the battle of Bosworth. It was a joint culturaltrip and a good bye to some of Charlie Tp’s members. To startthe day off we had a brief presentation of what the battle ofBosworth was by the younger members of tp. After a 10 minutepresentation and a lengthy discussion about the relevance of apicture allegedly showing the king being slain, we were off to getenthralled by the wonders of Bosworth.

On our arrival we were met by an elderly man who seemed moreexcited about the visit than we were. First off we looked arounda field that they used to think that battle took place, then a smalltrek to where the battle did take place. It involved some gorydetails of the battle which kept us interested along the way.Once back at the visitor’s centre we had a chance to look aroundthe museum, which to some peoples delight had armour andhelmets to try on. It also gave a chance for members of the tp tobelieve they had become fearsome knights and for someFacebook profile pictures to be taken.

Later on in the day we went for a game of bowling and drinkingwhich is always a good combination. We had a bet on the firstgame, for who ever scored the lowest had to write The Wire

notes…oh dear. After a few games of bowling and seeing ifanyone was better at left handed bowling the tp had finally hadenough fun and decided it was game over and time to go back tocamp.

SUPPORT SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj Griffiths

SSM WO2 (SSM) Hodgskins

EXERCISE SWAN RANGE 2010 - by WO2 (SSM) Hodgskins

The 18th of March saw members of the Regt deploy on Ex SWANRANGE. Following a 0500 start on the Sunday morning, 70members of the Regt boarded buses and headed to Barry

LCpl Wright, Sig Beck, Sig Glasgow and Sig Talbot

Charlie Tp at Bosworth


Buddon Training Centre in Scotland. The training area, which hasnot been used by the Regt before, is located approx 5 miles Eastof Dundee so a 7 hour bus ride from Bramcote gave the tpsplenty of time to worry about what lay ahead! The aim of the exwas to provide participating tps with the opportunity to practicethe skills required to operate as a member of a dismountedinfantry fire team. On arrival the exercising troops were splitdown into 2 platoons led by WO2 (QMSI) Dusty Miller and Lt

Munn. The Pl Sgts were issued their equipment for the week bySSgt SQMS Sheard. The tps then received a safety brief beforebeing allocated their accommodation and getting their headsdown for the night.

PT at 0500 the followingmorning set the routine forthe next 14 days! RangeStaff paraded (somewhatbegrudgingly in some cases)next to the exercising troopsbefore being taken on a‘familiarisation’ tour of thecamp and local surroundingarea by Capt Ken Smith,2IC Sp Sqn.

Day 1 of training consistedof WHTs’ , a check zero andACMT before moving to theIBSR (Static) under thewatchful eye of SSgt Dave

Knowler.

Day 2 of the activity saw thepace increase somewhat astps tabbed out to the IBSR (Moves), MMTT and AutomaticAssessment where some particularly goodscores were recorded by almost all troops.Although the skies remained clear for theduration of the day a bitterly cold wind blewrelentlessly for the duration of the day!

That night the Pl Comds, under the watchfuleye of the Pl Sgts, Sgt Surendra and Sgt

Ryan Booth deployed onto the area to plota route for Ex MIDNIGHT SWAN, a nightnavex planned for the following eveningwith the remainder of the tps receivingWHTs’ on the 9mm pistol, night viewingdevices and the L109 HE genade.

Training began early (again) on theWednesday and, following PT, the Plsmoved on foot to their first ranges of theday. 1 Pl headed to the standard grenaderange followed by the assault course whilst2 Pl moved to the Pairs F&M Range beingrun by SSgt Fred Deas.

At the end of thetraining day, 2 Plreturned to campfor a good nightskip whilst 1 Ploccupied a patrolharbour beforedeploying to FF(N)for a section indefence nightshoot. Planned bySgt Dan Clarke allwent well untilgusting wind +tracer resulted in amassive range fire!Due to the closeproximity of the seawe were told to let

it burn but the resulting fire took a good 2 hours to put out oncethe exercising troops had gone to bed!

The following day saw a reversal of roles as the tps continued toprepare for the final day of live firing which culminated in a PistolCQB Range and Section Quick Attack using L109 HE.

No Range Camp would be complete without the obligatory CFTso to wrap up on the Saturday all those in attendance took part ina CFT prior to a quick change into civvies before departing to

visit the Glen Turret Distellery in Crieff.

In total, over the 2 weeks over 120personnel from the Regt attended the ex.Starting with the basics of marksmanshipall those who attended; managed to passthe new Fire & Movement Test, fired IBSR(Static & Moving), completed the Fire &Movement Range (individually and as apair), passed the Pistol ACMT andadvanced to CQB Pistol. The majority ofthe soldiers who took part also threw HEL109 on both the standard grenade rangeand on the field firing area as part of a FireTeam quick attack. All personnel spenttime ‘roughing it’ in the field, fired a Sectionin Defence night range, competed in theinter Pl night navex and attempted thefiendish assault course. Did we achievethe aim? I think so!

Sig Nir takes aim on the Group and

Zero Range

A lone soldier advances down the IBSR

Lt Barrett in fighting mood

Take Cover!

L-R WO2 (QMSI) Dusty Miller, Lt Kate Bilney, LCpl Bailey and Cpl

Robson set the pace for the CFT


CO Lt Col P T Donegan

RSM WO1 (RSM) B B Newton

This has been yet another busy period for the Regt. Many of theSqns have been training towards IOC and the RHQ staff haveeven had a run out on the 2 (NC) Sig Bde CPX. There have beena few changes recently as the QM Maj Pete McELwee moves onfor his final posting to 21 Sig Regt (Ideally positionedgeographically to allow visits to cider farms!). Also the RSM WO1

Bruce Thornton moves on to his new posting at 2 Sig Regt asthe MTO (good luck on your new career as an Officer).

33 LANCASHIRE SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj R Fitzpatrick

SSM WO2 (SSM) M Hanna

On Tuesday 30 March the Sqn Honorary Colonel visited the newlyformed 892 (Manchester) Sig Tp in Rusholme, Manchester to seehow the team was settling in. Following disbandment of theirprevious units; 33 Sig Regt and 93 Sig Sqn members of the newtroop are now up and running in the newly formed 33 Sig Sqn,the southern most Sqn of 32 Sig Regt.

Whilst the Sqn HQ is based in Liverpool and the Regtl HQ inGlasgow, the Manchester tp has already found some of thebenefits of operating as a satellite tp. As the Honorary Colonelsoon discovered this new tp is getting to grips with poolingknowledge and information and becoming a tight knit tp under its

OC Lt Hazel Ashton. New equipment arriving has meant newskills to be learnt in short time as well as working with a newteam.

The Tp is working hard towards meeting the target of FOC inanticipation of future UK Ops. However, regardless of all that theTp has found time for fund raising for both SSAFA Forces Helpand Help for Heroes. 842 Tp had managed, through means bothfair and devious to source an old 105mm artillery shell. Oncepolished it has been engraved with “Give us your shrapnel in aidof Help for Heroes and SSAFA”. With this the Tp are having anumber of fund raising activities in order to raise cash includingrunning in the recent Great Manchester 10k Run.

The artillery shell is being used as a “baton” with the idea that itis passed onto other groups or individuals, both civilian andmilitary, to raise funds for these charities, each engraving theirnames onto the shell. In these times of recession the slogan“Give us your shrapnel” certainly seems to be a rousing call tosupport charities! If anyone reading this wants to take over thebaton then just contact us!

52 (LOWLAND) SUPPORT SQUADRON

OC Maj T McVey

SSM WO2 (SSM) K Swan

REGIMENTAL SHOOTING TEAM

A training weekend in March was put together in short order toenable the newly formed shooting team to zero and test fire theirnew weapons since the reforming of the Regt. The aim of theweekend was to get eight firers to compete at the CORPS OSCin Pirbright in April. The newest addition to the team was Sig

John Clegg from 33 Sqn in Liverpool and from day one, heshowed good potential.

With the changes the TA R SIGNALS went through in 2009, theteam composition changed this year and the 32 Sig RegtShooting team was made up from a 50% split of former 32 and33 Sig Regt members. In the last 10 years the two teams havebeen friendly rivals but were now competing together at theCORPS OSC for the first time. The team performed well from thebeginning and throughout the day, winning 7 of the 13 trophies.On the Sunday the grand finale saw our team win the RoyalSignals Falling Plate Competition.

We had 4 of the team in the top 6 shoot off on Sunday morning.Congratulations to Sig Clegg who won best Class B soldier andCapt Paul Williams who won the best officer. Sig Clegg alsowon the Roupell Cup, the runner up being Cpl Tommy Harrison

also from 33 Sqn. Capt Williams won the Graham Cup, therunner up being Cpl Mick Carvill who also won the LSW Match.Sig Clegg was runner up in the Association Cup, Capt Williams

runner up in the Pistol CQB, Cpl Carvill runner up in theChampion at Arms and WO1 Paul Corrie runner up in the rifleChampionship.

Team Trophies:

32 Sig Regt A Team, winners of the Roupell Cup.32 Sig Regt B Team, winners of the Graham Trophy.32 Sig Regt B Team, winners of the Falling Plate Competition.32 Sig Regt Champion Team CORPS OSC 2010.

The team are now looking forward to 51 Bde SAAM at BarryBuddon in May, where they are hoping to qualify for TA SAAM inJuly.

32nd (SCOTTISH) SIGNAL REGIMENT (VOLUNTEERS)GLASGOW

WO1 (RSM) Thornton hands the baton / pace-stick to WO1 (RSM)

Newton

Colonel Ian Meadows OBE DL, with Squadron 2IC Captain Bob

Paterson and Troop Commander Lt Hazel Ashton


69 (NORTH IRISH HORSE) SQUADRON

OC Maj S Rankin

SSM WO2 (SSM) Johnston

EXERCISE NORTHERN TROT 21 – 23 MAY 10

On Friday 21 May 10, troops from 69 (NIH) Sig Sqn assembled atboth TAC locations (Clonaver Park in Belfast and Edenmore Rd inLimavady) to prepare the Bowman Platforms for the planneddeployment on Ex NORTHERN TROT at Magilligan TrainingCentre; which is on the North West coast of Northern Ireland.The PACEX was completed and the last equipment was loadedand supervised by Cpls Johnny Booth and Kris Wilson inBelfast and Sgt Paddy Patterson in Limavady. It was then off tobed as it was an early start the next day. On Saturday, alarmclocks sounded around Clonaver Park at 0500 hrs and it wastime for breakfast, line up and then on the road at 0630 hrs to RVwith the rest of 69 (NIH) Sig Sqn at Limavady TAC. After a quickbrief by the Ex Co-ordinator Sgt Maggie McMillan it was bumsin seats for the journey north. After an uneventful journey detssafely arrived at Edenmore Rd TAC to be greeted by Sgt

Patterson who was keen to get the ex underway. After a shortjourney 69 (NIH) Sig Sqn arrived in Magilligan Training Centre tobegin the ex.

The ex scenario was based on the North West region of Colerainesuffering the heaviest rain falls for over 20 years. As a result ofwhich there was severe flooding and the Coleraine City Councilrequired military assistance. The ex took place on the Sat andconcluded at midday on the Sun. Whilst the scenario was basedon rain, gales and thunder the weather on the ground was bakingin 28 degrees - suntans all round! The detachments were keptbusy as Sgt McMillan had an endless supply of drill trafficdelivered to their location by Sgt Billy Herridge who by the endof the ex was to be renamed ‘Postman Pat’. Late on Sat the explay came to an end and all detachments RV’d at one of thelocations to harbour up for the night.

Sunday morning started well until Sgt McMillan, who was theonly deployed female found a MAN in her toilet! She was veryannoyed that someone (a man) was using her toilet, as shestarted to rant and rave, suddenly the door opened, then outwalked LCpl Nick Graham saying in his best feminine voice thatnot to worry “Sarge it’s only me”! Twenty minutes later, afterLCpl Graham had used the toilet brush, sprayed and fully airedthe toilet Sgt McMillan was able to take her throne. The OC,Maj Scottie Rankin, arrived at the ex location mid morningSunday. After the rigors of 2 (NC) Sig Bde CPX he was morethan happy to talk BOWMAN and enjoy the weather – just nomore CPX scenarios! All the while Sgt Herridge continued todelight the Det Comds with his endless deliveries. The exconcluded around midday, after a full debrief the tps formed upto deploy back to their TAC’s.

A good weekend was had by all!

THE ROYAL SIGNALS (NORTHERN) BAND

Director of Music Capt TW Milford BA(Mus) LRSM

Band NRPS WO2 DJ Crowther

The Royal Signals (Northern) Band has had a busy and variedstart to the year with a number of high profile events including avery successful concert at the Gala Theatre, Durham in aid of theABF, The Soldiers Charity. Again the Royal Signals took centrestage and produced a very professional performance along withthe Royal Regiment of Fusiliers TA Band. Highlight of the eveningwas a quartet of Post Horns led by WO2 Dave Crowther andably assisted Drum Major Ian Pattison and two members of theFusiliers TA Band. The piece culminating with a Battle of the PostHorns which ended in a split decision victory to the Signals. Theevening ended with a Proms finale and yet again a huge amountof money was raised for the ABF. In February the band was alsoprivileged to perform at the dining out of the Comd 2 Sig BdeBrig David Hargreaves who has been a huge fan of the bandbeing a former CO 34 Sig Regt and keen singer in the AmateurOperatics world himself. The entire band wishes him well in hisnew appointment.

In March two major events took place the first being the MedalPresentation and Disbandment Parade of 93 Sig Sqn, 38 Sig Regtin Blackburn and a recruiting event at St James’s Park the homeof Newcastle United Football Club at their home game againstBlackpool having just secured promotion to the Premiership.

Finally, for the first time ever the band took part in SOinC’sOpening Show in April along with the Corps Band and all SignalsDisplay teams. Even though the event is too early in the seasonfor the band due to the dark evenings and no rehearsal time they

rose to theoccasion andproduced a verygood show forthe huge crowdsat Blandford.The band wasvery privileged tobe presented aJimmy fromJimmy Wilds atthe event and thepiece now sitspride of place inthe Bandpractice room.

The band is nowlooking forwardto and busypreparing fortheir annualcamp in Cyprusin June and willreport on itsreturn.

The proud and happy team of 32 Signal Regiment (V)

The band on the hallowed turf of St James’ Park!

The SOinC (A) is still taller than the DOM even

though he has his busby on!


CO Lt Col AE Percival

RSM WO1 (RSM) CM Ogg

ADVENTURE TRAINING SNOWDONIA

- by PO Smith and Sig Ellul

On arrival at Capel Currig camp the group was greeted by rowsof accommodation blocks. Funnily enough we weren’t usingthem because they were all full. In the field at the end of theblocks was a nice, green 18x24 tent, this was to be our home forthe first night. It turns out Sgt ‘Macca’ McSween isn’t a fan ofthe cold, or normal conditions as the rest of us call it. Despitewearing most of the clothes he’d brought plus his thermals, hegibbered all night and proclaimed in the morning that the nightwas ‘freezin’, the rest of us wondered where he’d kipped thatnight.

We were split into 4 groups, 2 following one route and 2 followinganother. The first group had 2 climbs for the day, Carnedd MoelSiabod and to the Llyn Edno. We chose the steep way up overrocks, which was quite challenging with our packs, though mostpicked sensible routes until near the summit. This is whereWO2(SSM) Pun decided to go up an almost sheer face. Sig Ellul

was in the wrong place at the wrong time and followed him up. AGurkha thinks nothing of the hills; Sig Ellul’s eyes on the top tolda different story!

After camping on a mossy field that had the consistency of asodden sponge we made our way down the Nantgwynant valleyto our pick up point in the village of Beddgelert.

SSgt Ali Nash led the second route. He decided early on thattheir two-day route could be done in one. This he achieved bysome inventive map work that didn’t always follow the map thatthey were on, or even had. The result was a finish 500m fromtheir pick up point and right next to the Prince Llewellyn pub.

At 08:30 the next morning SSgt Nash had a full breakfast to fuelhim for his bike ride from Storey Arms Centre back to Cardiff TACas part of his training for a John O’ Groats to Lands End CharityBike Ride in aid of Help for Heroes and the Army BenevolentFund.

INTER-CORPS SHOOTING COMPETITION

- by LCpl Shakespeare

It is traditional that at the culmination of the annual Inter-CorpsOperational Shooting Competition (formerly known asCORPSAAM) that the best overall shot from each Corps is placedin a heavy chair and carried, in triumph, on the shoulders of histeam mates. This year the honour fell to WO1 Phil Hall who wontoo many trophies to list them all here, not least best individualrifle, best individual pistol and best individual LSW shots.

He is, however, no small man, and little thought was given to thevarious heights of his bearers when carrying the chair. Thisresulted in Capt Matt Longcake, at six foot three inches, beingludicrously partnered with LCpl Nic Smith (Best attached armrifle shot), at five feet six inches.

WO1 Hall’s parade began well enough with drums rattling andthe sun shining from a cloudless sky as the entire team appliedthemselves to the Army’s traditional method of marching, i.e.putting alternate feet in front of each other until the objective isachieved. As the parade started up the hill, this began to falter.Capt Longcake began to collapse under the weight of the chairuntil he formed the shape of a question mark and Sig O’Neill

(Best young shot, and bizarrely in his forties), on a back corner ofthe chair, had problems reaching up to his pole.

Cresting the hill, the sweating and swearing porters struggled toperform a right-wheel manoeuvre before heading downhill, at arapidly increasing rate, towards the Royal Signals prize givingenclosure. By the time we arrived our passenger had lost hiseasy and confident winner’s smile and replaced it with a death’s-head like grin and a white-knuckled grip on the arms of the chair.

Having gratefully relieved themselves of their burden, thankfully(at least for WO1 Hall) using their last vestiges of muscle control,37 Alpha team were awarded the Royal Corps of SignalsShooting trophy for best team and enough assorted othersilverware to give the impression that they had put their weaponsto use robbing a stately home. Our team captain, WO2(SSM)

Tim Mansell, took the opportunity to wander through the otherteams’ enclosures asking how theyhad fared. 37 Bravo team wereunfortunate not to pick up anysilverware, but they all gainedvaluable experience for next year!

The “Buffoon of the Competition”award went to Sig Hathaway forfainting with heatstroke in the middleof his LSW shoot and then asking thathis team mates keep it a secret,which we have obviously all agreed todo. All that remained was to enjoy aspectacular curry provided by 30 SigRegt and head home.

All in all a very satisfactory weekend,and we look forward to next year anda similarly high standard ofmarksmanship.

The team members would like tothank all those members of the Regtwho made this possible throughrunning ranges for us earlier in theyear, administering us throughout theprocess and even driving us aroundon the weekend itself.

37th SIGNAL REGIMENT (VOLUNTEERS)REDDITCH

The group enjoy a well earned rest at the top


EXERCISE WESTERN APPROACHES MAY 2010

May has proved to be another successful month for the REMEpersonnel of 37 Sig Regt LAD (V), with the winning of theHonorary Colonel’s Trophy at this year’s 5 Div Special-to-Arm(STA) training Exercise, Ex Western Approaches, based atSwynnerton over the period 14-16 May. The Trophy was awardedto the Minor Unit team with the best overall position in all tasksover the duration of the ex. A significant achievement given thatthe ex consisted of 18 teams of both Regular & TA soldiers from adiverse collection of units across the division. The ex tested theteam’s basic military soldiering, trade and navigation skills over aseries of 9 highly demanding (90 minute) stands located acrossSwynnerton training area.

The teams were put through a punishing series of situationswhich tested their ability to remain calm and function effectivelyas events around them changed and became deliberately morecomplex & confusing. The scenarios varied from testing the coreskills of REME personnel by repairing and recovering vehicles tothe manufacture of vital components given a sparse selection oftools & materials and a tight time-frame. All of this beingconducted while being mortared, coming under contact fromenemy forces, carrying out life-saving first-aid on casualties withmajor traumas, casualty extraction while under fire, identifyingand dealing with IED’s, FIBUA, compound clearance and, forgood measure, a CBRN phase. The stand DS piled on thepressure in order to determine the effectiveness of the team as awhole and the commander.

22 SAS provided a weapons familiarisation stand, as way ofbreather, with instruction on the 50 cal. machine-gun and grenadelauncher, followed by a foreign weapons shoot on the 25m range.All good stuff and some useful hands-on training.

In command of the hastily formed team from 37 Sig Regt LADwas Sgt Mark

Reynolds, a relativelynew but very welcomeaddition to the unit.Fresh from leading thewinning team on thisyear’s CO’s challenge inMarch, Sgt Reynolds

relished the opportunityto lead the LAD teamagain. He has quicklyearned the respect offellow members andmade a significantimpact on the unit – theLAD in particular.

The LAD team was awarded a creditable 3rd place for infantryskills and for Sgt Reynolds, 5th place for leadership skills – verycommendable given the short time he has had to get to know theREME personnel in the team and their individual abilities.

Physically drained and exhausted at End-Ex, but with morale stillhigh, the team had nothing but praise for the quality and contentof the exercise and are more than ready for the challenge ofdefending the trophy in 2011 !!

MORRISON CUP TUG OF WAR - by Cpl Montague

9 May 2010 saw the second day of the Morrison Cup final, a veryeventful day for 37 Sig Regt who were competing in the 680kgTug Of War competition led by the Regts very own WO1 (RSM)

Ogg. The rest of the team consisted of SSgt Farnes, SSgt

Overend, Sgt Caswell, Sgt Hine, Cpl Reed, Cpl Montague andCpl Ratcliffe.

On the initial weigh-in it was decided by the event organisers thatSSgt Farnes was outrageously overweight which pushed theteam above the 680 kg limit till the scales stopped at a healthy750kg, this is despite the teams brave last minute attempts tolose 70kg! Due to this a new ‘Catchweight’ category was born, inwhich all the reserve Sig Regts were entered.

A fierce and ferocious battle of pure strength and aggressionensued (with a little skill and expertise). After winning the first pull2-1 against 71 Sig Regt help came along in the form of CSgt

Dougie Douglin of the RRF, a newly trained coach, whomentored our team to a finely tuned tugging machine. Pulling therope with conviction we knocked both 38 and 39 Sig Regts out,leading to the final to be a rematch with 71 Sig Regt.

The final was conducted in front of over a 1000 spectators &distinguished guests. We all lined up ready to pull and afterlosing the first pull we clawed ourselves back with victory in thesecond. For the final and deciding pull we at first held for whatfelt like an eternity until they went high, at which we went lowpulling and pulling till we won.

On behalf of 37 Sig Regt we would like to congratulate 71 SigRegt for a good match and wish them better luck next year and aspecial thanks to CSgt Douglin for his services and soundadvice.

53 (WALES and WEST) SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj Cosgrove

SSM WO2 (SSM) Webb

A great deal has happened within the Sqn; we must firstlycongratulate LCpl Tim Yeo and his wife Rachel on the birth oftheir daughter Isabelle and Sig Matt Thomas and his partnerJade on the birth of their son Mason. We also bid farewell to Sig

Chris Ellul who has left the sqn for the regulars, we wish himgood luck with his basic training.

Winners of Best Minor Unit – Honorary Colonel’s Trophy - 37 Signal

Regiment LAD (V)

Application of life-saving BCDT

Casualty Extraction while under fire!


The Sqn has taken part in various different exercises, but outsideof this Sigs Rebecca Abrahams, Leanne Hall, Liz Isles andSophie Thomas took part in the race for life. The SQMS, SSgt

Ali Nash cycled from John O’ Groats to Lands End for Help for Heroes and now has blisters where he shouldn’t do. Sig

Matt Thomas entered ‘Beat the Boxer’, a race againstprofessional boxers, and while he did well he’ll never make aboxer.

Congratulations goes to members of the Sqn who took part in theRegtl shooting, PO Nick Smith, Sigs Matt Thomas and Leanne

Hall who brought home medals, but no, they cant wear them ontheir 2’s dress!

54 (WORCESTERSHIRE) SUPPORT SQUADRON

OC Maj Gurung

SSM WO2 (SSM) Mansell

WELCOMES, FAREWELLS AND CONGRATULATIONS

Farewell to the QM Maj Gurung and the PSI(T) Sgt Gaz Morris,and welcome to their replacements Capt Tom Lappin and Sgt

Dan Hine. Congratulations also to Capt Russ Bothwick for hisrecent commissioning, which along with the QM’s leaving wasmarked by a fantastic curry lunch followed by a few drinksaround Stratford.

38th SIGNAL REGIMENT (VOLUNTEERS)SHEFFIELD

CO Lt Col A J Parsons

RSM WO1 (RSM) A J Wyatt

FAREWELLS

The time has finally come to say farewell to the QM, Capt Stan

Kelly and ROSO, Capt David Edmunds. Stan, who is infamousfor his wicked sense of humour and fervent support of LiverpoolFC is leaving the Regt and the Corps after 28 years service.Although retiring, Dave will still be involved with the ACF but willtake the chance to practice his golf swing. The CO and all rankswish them all the very best for the future and thank them both forall their loyal service.

WELCOMES

The Regt welcomes two new Officers; Capt Si McGaw as thenew QM and Capt John Hughes as the new ROSO. Both camefrom 33 Signal Regt (V) after it disbanded on 31 March 10.

1 SIGNAL SQUADRON (VOLUNTEERS)

OC Maj M C Fisher

SSM WO2 (SSM) M J Gott

INAUGURAL SQUADRON DINNER NIGHT

- by Captain Duncan Harwood

The Officers’, Warrant Officers’ and Senior Non-CommissionedOfficers’ Mess of the newly re-formed 1 Sig Sqn (V) held itsinaugural dinner night on 8 May. The date was chosen tocoincide with the Battle of Kohima, where members of ourantecedent Regt, the Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry fought.The dinner was attended by the CO Lt Col Parsons and the RSMWO1 Wyatt, members of the Royal Buckinghamshire HussarsAssociation and several previous members of the Mess. Beforedinner the Second-in-Command, Capt Duncan Harwood gavean account of the battle, and the excellent meal wasaccompanied by a string quartet throughout. After dinner theOC, Maj Mo Fisher addressed the audience on the Sqnsachievements to date. Although only recently formed up, part ofthe Sqns ancestry dates back over 200 years; this is a newchapter in its history. After dinner the guests retired to the bar,where the festivities continued into the small hours. Thanks werepassed to the Maitre d’ for the evening, Cpl Gareth Clarke, andmembers of the Sqn who assisted throughout, Cpl Steph

Quantrell and LCpl Sam Kemp, without whose help the eveningcould not have taken place.

RECRUIT TRAINING – WEEKENDS 1- 6 – SOLDIER UNDER

TRAINING (SUT) - by Peter Wood

On 5 Mar 2010, along with 55 other unsuspecting recruits, I, SuT

Peter Wood, along with SuT Gary Anderson, arrived at MaltaBarracks to begin TSC(A), the TA “6 Weekends” as part of Gazala

Cadre. The Royal Signals made up a good proportion of theSuTs and were well represented at the front of runs and tabs, aswell as supplying some of the top shots. We also avoided anymajor embarrassments such as arriving on parade with two leftboots!

The main aim of these initial weekends is to take civilians withlittle or no knowledge of the Army and get them thinking andacting like soldiers; to improve physical fitness and field craftskills, pass the weapon handling test and to cover the othermandatory parts of the syllabus (I think most SuTs could recitethe CDRILS and Health and Hygiene lectures from memory by theend).

The fitness started with a PFT and built up to an abridged CFT onWeekend 6, by way of “strength and conditioning” sessions onSaturdays and “endurance” on Sundays. The intensity increasedsteadily over the course (although it spiked sharply after our skitson weekend 5, which included a rather too accurate depiction ofthe PTIs!) and it became obvious that people needed to train hardbetween the weekends.

Highlights of the training were completing a FIBUA scenario onthe DCCT range and the blank firing “final attack” on Weekend 6,although enthusiasm waned slightly when cleaning the riflesafterwards! Forty of us passed out from Gazala cadre, with SuT

Anderson taking the award for Best Endeavour. We can lookback with a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment at what we’veachieved over the past months, and look forward to joining thetroop and continuing our training.

CHESS - by Captain Duncan Harwood

The new Sqn 2IC, Capt Harwood, rounded off a successfulchess season by being invited to represent England at the WorldAmateur Chess Championships which were held in Chicago,USA, in March. Over 120 competitors took part, coming from asfar afield as Columbia, China, Russia and Europe. Taking placealongside the North American Masters event, many future stars ofthe sport fought it out for a $20,000 prize fund over ten days.Scoring 6 points from 9 games, Capt Harwood came jointtwelfth, and was the top placed player from Europe, despitenarrowly missing out on the prize money. He hopes to return tothe event next year and launch another bid for the title.

Closer to home, the annual Combined Services ChessChampionship was held at HMS Nelson, Portsmouth, over theperiod 29 April – 3 May, and was contested by some 20 playersfrom all 3 Services, the Civil Service, and retired members ofeach. Taking an early lead, Capt Harwood managed to hold offthe challenge of some very talented players to eventually win thetournament with an undefeated score of 5½ points from 7 games.This was the first time a player from the Army had won the title of‘Combined Services Chess Champion’ in over 20 years, after along period of dominance by the RAF. Capt Harwood is now


selected to be part of the 6 man team to represent the UK at theannual NATO Chess Championship which will be held in Denmarkin October.

2 (CITY OF DUNDEE AND HIGHLAND) SIGNAL SQUADRON

(VOLUNTEERS)

OC Maj B Williams

SSM WO2 (SSM) W D Smith

The Sqn recently welcomed back LCpl Maggie Kelly from hertour on Op HERRICK 11. She wasoriginally posted as a CS Engineer to 1 DivHQ but, as with all good plans, thingswere to change. Her duties and locationsin theatre varied on a daily basis. One dayshe would be based in a FOB fixing PCsand administering networks or carrying outradio shifts in the Ops room. This ofcourse was along with all the Sangerduties and other mundane duties withinthe FOB.

LCpl Kelly also took part in CIMIC patrolsout on the ground. With that she was alsoused for driving duties moving troops andequipment to and from camp Bastion.After a brief stint working in the CP atHelmand ICS Sqn LCpl Kelly was sent toLash Kar Gah were she remained for theremainder of the tour establishing IT which was more than thin onthe ground.

TWO GENERATIONS IN 2 SIG SQN (V)

The OC, Maj Bleddyn Williams proudly presents his daughter,OCdt Gemma Williams with her attestation papers. Twogenerations of Welsh serving in a Scottish unit, it must be a Celticthing! Gemma hopes to complete her training with 2 Sig Sqn (V)before moving to Blandford with the family later in the year.

BRUGGEN 10

Six of the fittest and finest (WO2 Castle, SSgt Cowan, SSgt

Hemming, Sgt Forbes, Sgt Davidson and Sig Smith) of 2 SigSqn (V) embarked on a 25 hour mini bus journey through Europeto participate in the Bruggen 10 held at Javelin Barracks in Elmpt,Germany. Although averaging 40 years of age many of the teamwere competing in their first race not to mention their first 10miler. Everyone was more than delighted with the 2 to 3 hourssleep on route to Germany although Sig Smith helped to bumpup the average while claiming the golden maggot award.

The night before the race the team headed out for a pre racemeal. Hilarious attempts to order food at the plush restaurantwere made by the less linguistic members of the team whoreverted to pointing at the menu and asking “what’s this”?Fuelled up and raring to go the team sluggishly made their way tothe start line where we met up with the Ops Major Maj Al

Higgins the 7th member of the team. The conditions were idealfor an endurance race - a little breeze in the sun to keep cool.GO! From the outset the 3 ‘athletes’ of the team burst off thestart line leaving the remaining 4 to concentrate on completing it.After 1 hour and 37 minutes all members of the team hadgracefully crossed the finish line. To our astonishment each of usmade our target times and a massive congratulations to WO2

Castle who finished under an hour placing 14th overall from 467participants. Sgt Glen Davidson was disappointed that he failedto break 1hr 35mins but he did only want to go as the driver, sohe remained reasonably happy. Exhausted the team were stillcapable of sprinting to the beer tent to scoop back a cold onebefore retreating to the showers to prep for the hanger bash. Thehanger bash had decent live music. Later the dancing queens

were up on the dance floor busting moves.

The morning after the night before howeverwas like a scene from a John Wayne movie,everyone in the building was in severe needof a walking stick. Regardless of the achesand pains the trip was full of laughs, drinksand great team effort. The return journeywas even more fun, trying to stretch offaching muscles in a mini-bus whilst drivingdown the motorway was not a pretty sight.

Following this successful endeavour the OCSqn has decided to form a running team toour disbelief. Next up for several members ofthe team is to defend their Larig Ghru title inJune. Maj Higgins OM 38 SR (V) and theteam would like to thank the event organisersfor making their stay a memorable one.

Cdre Laurie Brokenshire RN CBE presents the prize for Army

Chess Champion 2010 to Capt Duncan Harwood as Sqn Ldr

Steve O’Neill RAF, Chairman of the Combined Services Chess

Association looks on

LCpl Maggie Kelly taking a long earned break

with a friend

The team before the race

Top Left: Sgt Glen Davidson, SSgt Malcolm Forbes, SSgt George

Cowan, Maj Al Higgins

Bottom Left: Sig Steve Smith, WO2 Jock Castle, SSgt Si

Hemming


41 (PRINCESS LOUISE’S KENSINGTON) SIGNAL SQUADRON

(VOLUNTEERS)

OC Maj J Fensome

SSM SSgt S May

WELCOMES

The Sqn welcomes its new OC, Maj Tex Bennett. Previouslyserving at HQ 2 Sig Bde in Corsham, Maj Bennett takes up thereins in the run up phase to Annual Camp 2010. Also joining theSqn is our new PSI SSgt Andy Williams. SSgt Williams joins usfrom 1 ADSR and with his previous training based backgroundthe Sqn is privileged to have such a wealth of knowledge in itsmidst!

FAREWELLS

Maj Jason Fensome has now handed over command after abusy 3 years. During this period he was responsible for thecentralisation of our specialist systems under one sub-unit andthe move of the Sqn from a disbanding Regt to a Regt that istaking on a new specialist role. Maj Fensome is moving to 2 Sig Bde and the Sqn wishes him every success in his newpost.

PRINCESS LOUISE’S KENSINGTON REGIMENTAL

ASSOCIATION DINNER 2010

The PLKRA Dinner was held this year at Chelsea Town Hall as itsnormal venue of Kensington Town Hall was inconveniently takenup as a counting station for the general election! Forty officersand soldiers from 41 Sig Sqn (V) joined old comrades fromancestor units, 41 Sig Regt and infantry battalions at the annualdinner held as close as possible to the PLK Regt’s battle honourof Aubers Ridge.

The Town Hall provided an impressive setting for a long eveningof good company and excellent service. The Associations guestsincluded the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington andChelsea and the CO of 38 Sig Regt, Lt Col Andy Parsons.

A NEW TRAINING YEAR MEANS – MORE MATTS TESTING

Kicking off the new training year in top gear the Sqn have set offMATTs training with a vengeance. Under the guidance of SSgt

Andy Williams the Sqn has run two Operational Fitness Tests,Weapon Handling Tests and under Cpl Funmi Osho startedMATTs 3. Unfortunately the First Aid practical training startedearly when Sig Ibrahim placed her hand between a sledgehammer and the top of a mast stake; some people will doanything to get off doing an OFT! All this was running alongsidean FTX and a visit program that included the Dep Comd TheatreTroops, the CO and RSM 38 Sig Regt (V). At one stage the CPtable nearly collapsed under the weight of proper crockery andposh sandwiches! With so much concurrent activity runningalongside trade training and exercises there was definitely noexcuse for not having something to do!

PROMOTIONS

Well done to Lt Amanda Washbrook and SSgt Colin Anderson

on their promotions, both richly deserved.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Sig Dave Misell on the award of his Bar to hisVRSM. Sig Misell joined the Territorial Army in 1983 and hasserved in a number of units and trades during that time includinga tour in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia.

64 (CITY OF SHEFFIELD) SIGNAL SQUADRON (VOLUNTEERS)

64 Sig Sqn undertook the first weekend of FOC (Full OperationalCapability) training over the weekend of 24/25 April atBeckingham training camp. The Regt has recently been re-roled

to Strategic Communications and return to operating fully in thefield with new Bowman equipment.

The intention of the weekend was a slow build up of skills, whichwill be progressively developed and tested over subsequenttraining weekends during the year. Several selected members ofthe Regt had already undertaken IOC (Initial OperationalCapability) training and were on hand to help and advise the restas they built up their skills and knowledge.

The main focus of the weekend was on det drills and det set-upwith the new equipment in the field, the basics of which weretalked through and practiced during the afternoon. This includedactions on arrival at the potential site and the steps and prioritiesrequired to camouflage the vehicles and set up the commsequipment. This was run through a few times to get used to theprocedure and to build skills with the new equipment, with a finalrun though after dusk. Thankfully this was all done in clementweather, unlike the IOC contingent who had battled wind, rainand even snow during their preliminary training! The training itselfproved to be very constructive: by the end of the evening theoperation for all dets was becoming slick, an outcome whichcertainly bodes well for the forthcoming training. Everyone beganto feel confident with the equipment, and so after a successfulday’s training the Sqn returned to camp and the welcomehospitality of the bar.

Along with the new role comes new equipment, and so sometime was spent on Sunday morning conducting familiarisationlessons on elements of the kit, together with other associatedlessons on food hygiene and Haz-Mat training, before a finalinspection of the kit and a return to base.

Overall, the weekend had proved very useful, and the return to‘green’ comms seemed to be rejuvenating the Sqn. Over the restof the training year, these skills will be tested and developed overa series of weekends, such that the Regt will be able to deliverfull operational capability in its new role by April 2011.

46 (HALLAMSHIRE) SUPPORT SQUADRON (VOLUNTEERS)

16 -18 April 2010 saw 46 (Hallamshire) Sp Sqn, 38 Sig Regt (V)deployed to Beckingham Training Camp in Lincolnshire to carryout MATTs training. The weekend started on the evening of the16th with the drive down and preparation. We welcomed our newNRPS SQMS SSgt Geoff Martin who showed his worth byproviding much needed refreshments, and food to order.

Saturday morning the camp had a wake up with the fire alarm;muster parade was not a pretty sight! After breakfast, completewith weapons and webbing, the Sqn was split into groups to goaround the MATTs testing stations. As Sgt Graham Cooke

began his CBRN, he found he had some admirers, namely thecattle who had a knowing expression of what was to come. Onetook a special shine to him and even followed him to the grenaderange! The weather was being kind to us with the sun shiningand just a small breeze. Sgt Steve Kitchen, having just joinedus, was doing Matt 3 BCD testing, and once again there werechanges in CPR. WO2 Barry Baldwin tested on Navigation, andcan’t understand how we can make reading a map so difficult.!

SSgt Graham Roberts took the MATT 1 weapon handling. Themorning appeared to run smoothly and more or less to timings,with our new SQMS keeping us on target by, again, providing therefreshments, assisted by SSgt Shaw. The afternoon began withany Navigation and BCD resits and testing of any behind thescene admin.

Then it was preparation for the CFT, filling pouches andrucksacks with the necessary weight ready for weigh in. Sgt

Kitchen led the Sqn out of the gates ready for the 6 mile jauntalong the quiet country lanes of Beckingham. By 1500hrs thesun was beating down, not an ideal situation for a CFT althoughLincolnshire is the home of flat terrain so it wasn’t too bad. Mostof the team completed and passed before collapsing with a cooldrink of orange whilst trying to do the cool down exercises.


Tea Time was followed by Regtl 2IC Major Andy Powell giving apowerpoint presentation on Values and Standards with a test toend. All but the guard were stood down for the night, though wewere rather too exhausted to take full advantage and were in bedby midnight.

Sunday morning began with another fire alarm. This time Sgt

Ann Gibson had set it off unknowingly during one of her manyguard duties; was it a coincidence that it was shower timeagain?!! Kit packed, then with weapons and webbing it was off

to the ranges with SSgt Roberts who was determined to geteveryone a tick in the box - some were still trying at middaybefore passing. Whilst this was taking place Sgt Kitchen, alongwith his team Sgt Trish Pinches and Sgt Gibson, did furthertesting on BCD by creating a crashed vehicle scenario, and WO

Baldwin did practical navigation.

The weekend proved to be very successful and all the Sqnarrived back home safe and sound although quite exhausted, butwho cares when there are ticks in the relevant boxes.

39th (SKINNERS) SIGNAL REGIMENT (VOLUNTEERS)BRISTOL

CO Lt Col DM Sharkey

RSM WO1 (RSM) SM Lithgow

The RHQ component has been inundated with visits over the lastcouple of months including the Worshipful Company of Skinners,GOC Th Tps Gen Brealey, Ass Comd Th Tps, Brig Beacom aswell as members of SaBRE. Slightly overdue was the CO’s diningin which occurred as the culmination to the Officer trainingweekend in May. The CO has managed to visit all elements ofthe Regt with the car putting in some mileage from Eastbourne inthe Southeast to Windsor, Aylesbury and Bristol.

We welcome back Maj Rik Lock who has started his graduatedreturn to work, although he sometimes has to be forced out theoffice when he is due to go home. Adjt, Capt Jules Corrin hasgiven birth to a baby girl Sophia and we wish her well over thenext few months.

93 (NORTH SOMERSET YEOMANRY) SUPPORT SQUADRON

OC Maj PJ Smith

SSM WO2 (SSM) C Stockwell

Congratulations to the following Sqn personalities on their recentpromotions: Sgt Ken McNally RAMC, Cpl Marie Perry REME,

LCpl Carly Smith and LCpl Emma Turner RLC. We would liketo wish a warm welcome to two new members of the Sqn; SSgt

(SQMS) Baggir – Pun and Sgt Jim Rees. We wish them everysuccess in their new posts and hope they enjoy their time withthe Sqn. We wish farewell to WO2 (SSM) Chris Jones, who hasleft the Sqn due to civilian work pressure to take up a newappointment at JSSU Digby, which will hopefully be lessdemanding in terms of time. We thank him for the time and effortthat he put in while with the Sqn and wish him every success inhis new post.

The last 2 months has been a pretty eventful time for the Sqnwith the arrival of new permanent staff members, some welldeserved promotions, 2 combined exs with other Sqns within 39Sig Regt. Members of the Sqn also manned the G1/G4 desk forthe Regt’s role in Ex HORSESHOE EAGLE 10, the 2 Sig Bde CPX.

EXERCISE WESSEX SOUTHDOWN - by LCpl Alex Tebbitt

A balmy Spring evening saw members of 93 Sp Sqn parade atthe TAC, Horfield Common, eagerly awaiting the start of ExWESSEX SOUTHDOWN, with 2 key objectives for the weekendstraining uppermost in their minds: Firstly, to consolidateindividual corps skills in advance of the 2 Bde FTX later in theyear, and secondly, to get to know our new colleagues from 56Sig Sqn in Eastbourne.

The weekend’s events got off to a good start with LCpl Marie

Perry being awarded her promotion to Cpl by the OC, Maj Phil

Smith. With the formalities complete, all that now stood betweenan introduction to 56 Sig Sqn’s bar and some much needed sleepwas a 4 hour coach journey involving not only an interesting andrather circuitous route by the coach driver, but also an

“interesting” choice of video entertainment that perhaps betrayedthe driver’s lack of recent E & D training!

Reveille for the members of both Sqns was 0630hrs sharp thefollowing morning, and we then assembled in 56 Sig Sqn’s photolined cookhouse for what was surely the best breakfast inEastbourne, provided by WO2 Steve Howell and LCpl Ben

Bracken.

93 Sqn’s cosmopolitan array of different cap badges and trades(Mechanics, Clerks, Medics, Signallers and Electrician Drivers onthis occasion) then dispersed to locations around the TAC andcompound to begin the weekends work. The medics, under thetutelage of Sgt Steve Skerman undertook Team Medic training –with command tasks for the junior soldiers involving at varioustimes the creative use of mannequins and with the usual businessof running around and shouting thrown into the mix as well.

The REME element decamped to the garages under Sgt Tim

McCarthy and proceeded to dismantle, reassemble and fix avariety of green military vehicles, in addition to one unfamiliar anddistinctly un-military looking two wheeled vehicle whichtranspired to be Maj Keiran Francis’s motorbike!

The medics receive group instruction from Sgt Steve Skerman

The REME Team outside the MT Garage at Eastbourne


Representing the Electricians, Cpl John Morris spent his weekendgiving H&S talks to interested parties on the subject of LFG’s, whilethe clerks, grateful that the RAO (V), Capt David Gwilliam, hadmanaged to catch the coach at Horfield by the skin of his teeth,spent the weekend auditing and attempting to get to grips with JPApayment processes. Indeed, the Bristol and Windsor based clerksmarvelled at the grasp of pay procedure shown by SSgt Bob

Shevells, who single-handedly manages the TA pay process within56 Sqn. The OC spent his time initiating the 2I/C Capt Dave

Davies and WO2 Chris Stockwell, into the intricacies of the G4world, in preparation for the forthcoming 2 Bde CPX.

The Sqn’s signallers, not to be left out, were given a refresherlesson on Antennae and Propagation by the SPSI, SSgt Gyn

Ansell.

The evening’s entertainments began to take shape within thehomely confines of the junior ranks mess, with the Bristolcontingent in particular keen to experience some of the sights andwatering holes of Eastbourne. As the evening progressed, and anylingering preconceptions among them about Eastbourne beingpopulated solely by the ‘older generation’ were resoundingly sweptaside in the process!! Without exception, an enjoyable night washad by all, and one or two weary looking faces were spottedaround the TAC the following morning (along with a mysteriously‘bootless’ Maj Keiran Francis trooping around the car park). Afteranother productive mornings work spent by the squadrons andmore important training completed, 93 Sqn began their longjourney back to Bristol after lunch.

Without exception, the members of 93 Sp Sqn who made the longjourney down to Eastbourne to meet their new colleagues wereimpressed with the professionalism and hospitality shown by allranks within 56 Sig Sqn, and the next such training exercise iskeenly anticipated by all.

57 (CITY & COUNTY OF BRISTOL) SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Capt S L Trevelion

SSM WO2 (SSM) R Sharp

It has been another period for 57 Sig Sqn with an array of exs,MATTs training, Ten Tors, promotions and awards keeping usbusy. The Sqn deployed on Ex LYNX BOWMAN 1 over theweekend 9-11 Apr 10, which saw the Regtl assets dispersedbetween Bristol, Blandford and Caerwent. This weekend alsosaw the annual visit to the Regt of the Worshipful Company ofSkinners to present the Skinners Awards to the best male andfemale soldiers in the Regt. Our congratulations go to Sig Carla

Tier for being presented with the Skinners Award for the bestfemale soldier in the Regt. The weekend also saw the promotionby the CO of the Sqn Ops Officer, Lt Andy Doherty to Capt. Hispromotion must have been the worst kept secret in the Regt, withthe Champagne being ordered into the mess in advance, but itwas well overdue and many congratulations to him.

Over our many training events in Apr and May, the OC wasfortunate enough to grant acting rank to several members of the

Sqn. These individuals have been selected on their respectiveboards and are now working hard to attend CLM courses in orderto be granted substantive rank. Our congratulations go toA/WO2 (FofS) Dyer, A/Cpl Haynes, A/Cpl Williamson, A/LCpl

Chapman, A/LCpl Close, A/LCpl Shinett and A/LCpl Willcox.

With a raft of promotions, awards, successful training events andreal time ICS support, the Sqn is in fine fettle and looking forwardto a busy summer preparing for Ex GRIFFIN FOCUS in Sep 10.

EXERCISE WYVERN TOR - by Sig Tier

The minibuses in convoy arrived on Friday night at OkehamptonCamp, Dartmoor. Temperature: freezing cold! We met with 56 and93 Sqns and were briefed up on our designated roles for theweekend. I was to be put on Beardown Tor.

We had to be up, packed and ready with all our kit on thehelicopter pad for 0520, to be flown out to our Tors. However,even though I was in chalk 1, we didn’t actually get flown out until07.30 hours.

When I arrived at my Tor I was greeted by ‘Dave’ and ‘Luke’.Dave was the Tor Commander having taken over from a guycalled ‘Nobby’ last year. Later that day I found out the Tor wascommonly known as ‘Nobby’s Tor’. Nobby’s Tor was famous forthe lawn that surrounds the comms tent, distinguishable by whitetape. Its purpose: to keep out all teams, with only the teamcaptains being allowed onto the lawn to enter the tent.

After breakfast, I was taken to the comms tent where all theteams were to check in and get their cards stamped and log inthrough the Emit system. I was then introduced to the Airwaveradio which was to be my best friend for the next two days. Evennow, I can hear the beeps in my ear!

The first teams weren’t expected until 1015 so we had a fewhours of making sure everything was set up ready before theirarrival. A rota system was worked out to ensure everyonemucked in. The rain came down, the wind came in and it was avery cold day. Warm kit was essential so thank goodness for mysoftie jacket!

At 1015 the first team arrived and they got a very warm welcomefrom all of us. By the time 1300 came, the ground surroundingthe tent was full of different teams all having lunch. Then it dieddown mid afternoon with our next influx due around tea time. OurTor was a stopover Tor, so we knew it was going to be a busynight. And it was……from the moment the teams came in, themedics were working non-stop treating blisters, sore feet andexhaustion. Emotions were running high as the medics ralliedaround doing the best they could.

Finally all the teams were pitched up for the night, having beengiven their briefing. We were just about to retire to the tent for acup of coffee when a late team checking in had a casualty. Theindividuals knee had given way which required a heli lift tohospital.

The next morning teams were leaving at 0600. There were onlyabout a dozen teams to come through our Tor on the Sunday,with Beardown being roughly located in the middle of Dartmoor.The last team which came through was probably the mostemotional. It was approaching 1200 and the team which were onthe 55 mile route had two more Tors to go. Hats off to thecaptain, she was determined to get the team to crack on to thefinish, however, her team had gone against her and decided theyhad had enough, so sadly they were walked off the Tor. Therewere lots of tears from the team, but also lots of Haribo to helplift their spirits.

Once all the teams had passed through it was time for us to closedown and by 1400 we were all ready to be collected. We werethen informed that one of the heli’s had an electrical fault so thatmeant there was only one heli in operation. Having no shelter andbeing left in the cold wind, we had no choice but to wait patiently

LCpls Tom Watson & Emma Robinson practice erecting the 8

metre mast


to be picked up. After nearly 3 hours of waiting, it finally arrived.Never have I been so pleased to see a helicopter andOkehampton Camp!

56 SIGNAL SQUADRON EASTBOURNE

OC Maj K Francis

SSM WO2 (SSM) G Windham

The Sqn welcomes five new recruits who are now attested andkitted out for training. The CO on his first visit to the Sqnpersonally attested three of these recruits, adding to theoccasion. Eleven recruits start their training cycle in Junetogether, so hopefully they will all bond and go through theirrecruits courses together as well.

Congratulations to Sigs Kevin Diton, Melissa Chalmers and

Aaron Jones, who have recently completed their UK Ops tradecourse with 2 Sig Bde. We now have one more R SignalsElectrician and two UK Ops CS Operators.

The Sqn also welcomes back two of our soldiers fresh from theirOperational tours in Afghanistan. The new MP for EastbourneStephen Lloyd will be presenting themwith their medals in early June, so goodto have back LCpls Terry Smith andBen Bracken. SSgt Tony Back will alsobe awarded a bar to his VRSM medal onthis presentation.

The Sqn held a curry supper night aspart of the ABF’s fund raising season andraised £122.53, which was presented toformer OC Maj Trevor Boocock.

Continuing on the charity efforts thePSAO Capt Gary Jennion was at theceremony at the Guards museum inLondon to present a cheque for over£61,000 to Lloyd Honeyghan as part ofthe LONDIST TA and Army Boxing Clubcommittee for various events they haveheld this year. Three other soldiers wereassisting a voluntary collection inNewhaven recently for Help for Heroes which has raised severalthousand pounds. Well done to all in involved.

The first of many joint training weekends with our fellow Sqnsfrom Bristol took place in early April. Trade training for all capbadges and trades worked really well and we had over eightysoldiers staying in the TA centre that weekend. Meals had to besplit into different shifts as there was not enough space foreveryone in one sitting. Plans for enlarging the dining room andother areas are now afoot! Bar profits were up massively and agreat time was had by all, even more so with glorious sun allweekend.

Ten soldiers made the long trek down to Dartmoor to help on theTen Tors competition for the first time in Sqn history (supporting57 Sqn from Bristol). Four soldiers got to fly out on Sea Kinghelicopters and for three of them it was their first ever flight sothey were grinning all the way home. A visit by HRH The Duke of

Edinburgh made it even more enjoyable and interesting.The Bde CPX went very well with a bit of revision on the way. Agood turn out and some very inexperienced faces meant a lotwas learnt as part of the process. We now look forward toapplying these lessons in September on the FTX.

The Sqn looks forward to two visits to Sussex this summer fromthe CGS as he attends an ABF event at Herstmonceux Castleand beating the Retreat. He is also visiting the EastbourneCollege CCF for their bi-annual inspection and field day. The Sqnwill be represented at both events with a stand and hostingduties. The highlight of the summer will be the Airshow inEastbourne and associated recruiting at that event. There will alsobe the summer beach party in the TAC with bouncy castles andbungee runs as well as a sandy beach in the TA centre and a fewmore surprises on the way! The following day the SNCOs’ andWOs’ will play the Officers’ mess at cricket in a “friendly” 20/20match.

Lt Chris Kong is planning ahead with the LANYARD team andgreat work by all so far. He is also now organising a battlefieldtour later on in the year possibly to Poland!! The OC is taking ateam of 10 soldiers from Regt to compete in the “3 PeaksChallenge” in late June too!

94 (BERKSHIRE YEOMANRY) SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj A Hawes

SSM WO2 (SSM) C Dean

With the final changes in the Sqn behind us and a period ofstability upon us, this has been a time of consolidation for theBerkshire Yeomanry. 886 Tp has settled into Windsor and thenew comms dets have been assigned to soldiers keen to get outand do comms again.

EXERCISE CASTLE COMMS - by Sig Foster

Springtime is usually sinuous with the sounds of birds and the presummer breeze rustling through the trees. Instead it had beenreplaced by the sound of hissing HF Bowman Radios, rustle of 12meter masts, whip sections and generator noise.

The first field ex with the new UK Ops comms dets was a greatopportunity to brush away the cobwebs and put what had beenlearnt in the classroom into practical use. Beginning with somebrush-up practical lessons, Cpl Davies took us through HFantenna types for the Bowman radios and SSgt Sterry gave us areminder on generator operation and maintenance. Then it wasoff to practice detachment deployment and establishing comms. With HF and VHF comms in place, we practiced our voiceprocedure with the other deployed detachments; rotating radioThe RCWO WO2 Steve Howell hard at work

Sp Sqn and 56 Sqn


operators within our detachment so we all had a good practiceon running two radios at once. In addition, a number of keydetachment skills, such as camouflage, were tested andassessed for Class 3-2 workbooks.

At the end of the field ex, there was an opportunity for PTfollowed by a very hands on introduction into equipment care forthe new kit. Turning around the detachments, we got ready forinspections by Tp Comds before heading home. This first Bowman field ex was well organised, well paced andvery well received by all. It was exactly the sort of weekendrequired.

FROM RECRUIT TO TROOP MEMBER - by Sig Bosman

Having recently made the transition between Recruit Tp and mychosen tp, I found this was not at all what I expected.

Basic training is fast, challenging and intense. You have to learnall the basics and pretty much remove your civilian frame of mindeach time you attend, because as we all know, civilian life ispretty cushy and very easy in comparison. The physical andemotional strength that I found I needed to draw upon during mybasic training was immensely different to the stresses andpressures I was used to in everyday civilian life. Personal limitshad to be pushed and new inner strengths found! When you aregoing through all this, you start to bond with the like mindedpeople around you who are going through the exact same

experiences and thoughts as you are, and by the time you finishyour weekends and then your CMS(R), you feel like you haveaccomplished so much and you have a large group of newfriends.

Then you get back to your unit and now have to integrate withyour chosen tp and suddenly find yourself at the bottom of thepile again. So begins the next challenge! I was lucky enough tojoin a great tp, 886, and found everyone to be friendly andwelcoming. Initially, I found it fairly difficult to adjust without theconstant alternating weekends. It seemed like the pace hadslowed right down; but as with everything, it is all about what youmake of it, there are always things going on, it is just a case ofgetting involved and being proactive – you get out what you putin.

Since leaving Recruit Tp, I have already been lucky enough toattend a Comms Ex - Ex Castle Comms I. On the ex we wereshown the correct way to erect the masts and then had to do it inpairs, after which we were deployed to various locations to set upcomms, initially I found communicating over the radio verydaunting, but I am really happy I have been able to have thisexperience now as I feel a lot more clued up as to what we doand how some of the kit works.

I am eagerly awaiting my trade course as well as hoping to get ontour as soon as possible to put everything I have learned intopractice.

40th SIGNAL REGIMENT GROUP

PAPAL VISIT TO THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS

- by Cpl Matthew Stanyer

On Monday 5 May Centre Troop Group was formed inanticipation of the forthcoming Pope’s visit to Cyprus and theVatican Embassy which is located within the area of the BufferZone (BZ) controlled by 40 Sig Regt Group. We were tasked withmaintaining the integrity of the BZ during this sensitive time,which bought up many unique opportunities and challenges. Myrole was that of managing a 12 man section in support and actingas liaison to the UN Police and the Vatican Security Team.

We started off with a 2 day training package to get everyone upto speed with the new role, consisting of things such as rules ofengagement, escalation drills, range package, first aid and publicorder training. Once this was complete we all moved down toMaple House, a disused troop house in the BZ. Once there, wehad time for further training and rehearsals alongside the UNPolice. This was interesting as it is a multinational forcecomprising of Police Officers from Ireland, Australia, Italy, India,Slovakia, Hungry and Croatia. After some initial problems withthe language barrier we all started to settle in well. We thenstarted to get to grips with controlling access in and out of thearea, which was to be our primary task for the duration of theoperation.

After all the preparation Friday soon arrived and the anticipationof the Pope’s visit was high with everyone looking to get a goodvantage point to catch a glimpse of him. When he finally arrivedin his car he moved though the BZ and into the Vatican Embassysmoothly. The next day, however, brought a lot more challengesfor us as the Pope was out walking from the Embassy to the HolyCross church located within the BZ. There was also the addedpressure of the press which steadily increased though the day.They were a constant threat trying to gain access with all mannerof stories. There was also the Cameroon choir who had accessto the BZ; being allowed in to sing for the Pope as he left thechurch. I do not think any of us realised quite the impact theywould have on the general mood as the place developed acarnival like atmosphere. The majority of onlookers found it hardnot to get carried away and join in with the singing and dancing.

Sunday was going to be anequally challenging day withan early start and anotherchoir coming in to sing forthe Pope. The Pope alsoconducted a mass atNicosia Stadium wheresome lucky members of theRegt were selected toattend. As the Pope’s visitwas drawing to a close wewere given an extra taskingby the Cyprus Police toassist them in moving him tothe Maronite Cathedral, OurLady of Graces, where hewould conduct his lastservice before leaving theisland. There was also anopportunity for the familiesof the UN staff to comedown and line the route tothe church. Some of the

families with babies had the unique opportunity of having theirinfants blessed by him.

Cpl Stanyer maintains a watch as the Papal entourage moves

through the BZ from the Vatican Embassy to the Holy Cross

Church

Sig Bingham maintains crowd

control with the UN Police


All in all, it was an opportunity to participate in a unique operationand something that isn’t likely to happen to the soldiers again!

THE UNFICYP MILITARY SKILLS COMPETITION

- by Capt Billy McCaw

It was very early on in our tour that the CO ‘pinged’ me to leadthe Military Skills teams during deployment, so I had plenty oftime to plan my strategy!

No detailed information existed on the UN Military SkillsCompetition - we all knew this contest took place but with somany other pre-deployment issues to consider it was somewhatdown the ‘pecking list’. It was only when we deployed on OpTOSCA that the importance of it all was realized; very quickly itbecame apparent this ‘contest’ was a matter of national pride forevery competing team. With the spotlight in my direction, andmaintaining a sense of urgency, it was a case of promptlyselecting two teams of suitable volunteers – along with a fewpressed men! I led the first team and Lt Lindsay Fulton led thesecond. The first essential attribute required across both teamswas physical fitness followed by other capabilities that they couldoffer – what skills sets were lacking would have to be developedduring training. With the CO’s approval eighteen men andwomen were disengaged from operational commitments and withtwo weeks to the competition the clock was certainly ticking!There was a substantial amount of training to be done and theworking day started at 0500 with a finish time of around 2130most evenings. The daily training programme covered all aspectsof the competition: bergen runs (before dawn), BCD, mapreading, range work, assault course preparation, militaryrecognition and classroom tests in the evening. It did not finishthere as the teams also got homework for the next day. By theend of each working day everybody was both mentally andphysically drained, however they kept their spirits and stayedfocused – what they were also doing was developing as a team,and this was key to us entering the competition.

The competition took place on 28 May and as a true reflection ofthe international nature of UNFICYP, there were teams fromArgentina, UK, Hungary, Slovakia, a truly mixed bag from the HQand a team from the UN Police. Over the course of a (very hotand sunny Cypriot) day, the teams covered an endurance march,command tasks, map reading, driving, range work, incidentreaction, knowledge of UNFICYP operational information andfinally an assault course. The time taken to move between eachstand was also factored into the contest and wasted timeequated to lost points.

Our Regtl piper, Sig Kyle Carse had been pre-booked to work upthe team prior to the assault course and bring some ‘luck of theIrish’. With the piper playing and a good Regtl support cheeringus on we were ready for anything; we felt 12 feet high until the 12foot wall!

After completing all stands there was a feeling of elation from allof the multi-national participants, a party atmosphere wasimminent – led by the Argentinean contingent with their drum,cymbals and plenty of singing. Before the award ceremony allparticipants sat down to a curry meal which, it has to be said,was very welcome and better than the several ‘chocolate cake insauce’ bags from the ration packs we consumed as energyboosters.

The awards ceremony went very well. As the Force Commandercalled out the ranking Lt Fulton’s team was announced as havingsecured third place – much to our joy. In second place was theSlovakian team. When first place was called we were totallyastonished – Sector 2 had won the competition! We were thrilledto say the least. The dedication of the team and the will tosucceed had paid off; it was a great end to the day. It is aremarkable achievement for two teams of Territorial Army soldiersto be in the top three positions in a multi-national contest. It wascause for celebration and some ‘rehydration’ later in the eveningwith fluids other than water! It has been almost five years sincethe British Army in Sector 2 won the UNFICYP Military SkillsCompetition and a very proud day for 40 Sig Regt Gp to bring theprize back to Ledra Palace again.

The team tackles the assault course during the Mil Skills

Competition

71st (YEOMANRY) SIGNAL REGIMENTBEXLEYHEATH

47 (MIDDLESEX YEOMANRY) SIGNAL SQUADRON

OC Maj Mike Smith

SSM WO2 (SSM) Marc Gilfrin

As the new training year dawned on the Sqn, the end of the oldyear was celebrated with a bounty party which took the form of amedieval banquet. Sqn members endeavoured to out do eachother with their costumes, particularly in the case of the Sqn OC,Maj Mike Smith who looked very fetching in his chainmail andregal robes. Cpl Palmer did a remarkably good impression of aslightly unstable friar even before he’d emptied his goblet, whilstthe Ops Offr, Capt Alex Orr very clearly felt it was his place to bethe jester of the evening. The highlight of the dinner was the

placing of much of the Sqn’s hierarchy less the OC, into stocksfor the ritual sponge throwing entertainment of all, indeed it wentso well the OC is considering retaining the stocks just in case.Thanks must go to Cpl Paul Messett whose organisation andenthusiasm resulted in an extremely enjoyable evening.

Away from social activities, recruiting and training continues at itsusual frenetic pace. Congratulations go to Sig Chris Pearson forpassing his trade course and gaining his Tech trade, whilstadditionally coming top of the course. The Regtl Cadre Coursesaw Sig’s Paul Edwards, Lauren Saul, Anthony Malcolm

and Andrew Roberts all attend and achieve good passes,despite the Regts officers “borrowing” their bergens during the 6mile tab.


In early April, the Regtl annual skiing exercise, Ex PhoenixCockney Slide saw several members of the Sqn deploy to Tignes,France for a week of alpine and downhill skiing. Sig Martin

Burnham, one of the Sqn’s soldiers in attendance writes:

“The Skiing was in Tignes, France this year and although I had

skied a bit before on my own, and I didn’t know what to expect.

Sgt Richie Marsh from 68 (ICCEY) Sqn organised the exercise

and it was very full on and busy I got put into the mid ability ski

group and the instructors from both the Regt and outside were

great, just the right mixture of expertise for practical and theory

lessons. It was hard work though and I wasn’t the only one who

spent much of the week falling over, the black runs from the top

of mountain on Tignes were the best, skiing down the glacier in

the early morning was awesome. I eventually managed to gain

my Basic Ski Proficiency without too many wipe-outs, and so did

the rest of my group. The accommodation, the skiing and all the

other soldiers definitely made this into a great trip, even the

evening cook-outs where everyone tried to out-do each other. I

can’t wait till next year to go again!”

The Sqn was sad to say goodbye to PSI (T) Sgt Lee Elliot whonow leaves the Army to take up a new career as a projectmanager. Sgt Elliot has been a key member of the unit duringthe last 3 years and has helped see the Sqn through a difficulttransition with changes in structure and the recent acquisition ofnew equipment and vehicles. The Sqn wishes Sgt Elliot the bestfor the future and hopes he enjoys working with proper civilians…

The Sqn is pleased to welcome SSgt Charlie Hart who joins theSqn in the newly created role of SPSI (T) which replaces thePSI(T) post.

68 (ICCEY) SIG SQN

OC Maj J A Evans

SSM WO2 (SSM) S P Healey

EXERCISE COCKNEY PHOENIX SLIDE - by Sgt Richie Marsh

The 71 Sig Regt skiing ex was this year destined for Tignes in theFrench Alps, quite late in the season but nonetheless we werehoping for some good snow.

We all met at the Bexleyheath TAC whereupon we were issuedwith our skiing equipment and were shown how to put ski chainson a minibus. It is one of those things that sounds easy to do butin freezing conditions it would be another story!

The journey out to Tignes was a long one but at least there wereno delays as we were driving and not flying, no ash cloud tocause us problems. Even a broken down car could not stopCapt Mike Curtis-Rouse from making the ex! We arrived inTignes on the morning of 11 April, tired and looking forward togetting a bit of rest, especially the drivers.

On the first day the instructors split us into groups depending onability, there were three groups in all, Beginners with Sgt Richie

Marsh, Intermediates with Sgt Marcus Harriott, and Ski Tourerswith SSgt Stu Foster.

It was a steep learning curve with the beginners group going fromgreen to blue and even the red slope on the glacier by the end ofthe week. The Intermediates group was also tested to the limitand did a fair amount of off-piste and black slope skiing. The SkiTourers spent 2 days up in the mountains with a local guide,complete with their avalanche alarms, skins and bergens. Thegroup returned having taken what seemed like hundreds ofphotos of amazing views, having had a once in a lifetimeexperience but were somewhat tired.

The self-catering accommodation was very good with someinteresting meals being cooked by all concerned, including Paella(SSgt Kevin Young), Irish Stew (Sgt Dennis Long) and ChickenCurry A La Marcus (Sgt Harriott). This was also matched bysome amusing after dinner games such as Ace of Spades, whenthe Adjt even managed to catch out the CO.

Returning back to the UK after the ex was somewhat interestingas the volcano in Iceland was in full swing by this point, so thosewho flew out had to return in the minibuses, which meant thereturn leg was even more cosy.

265 (KCLY) SP SQUADRON

OC Maj A A Church

SSM WO2 (SSM) A D Keeble

April brought with it the start of a new training year and newchallenges. The first drill night of the training year saw LCpl Carl

Crane help the Sqn work off those chocolate Easter eggs with avigorous PT lesson. With LCpl Crane training for this year’smarathon he didn’t see why the rest of the Sqn shouldn’t feel thepain he was currently going through. Sgt Charlie Woo and Cpl

Bob Myers were the first out of the starting blocks and onto atraining course, attending a two week Map Reading Instructorscourse. Unfortunately they turned up late having got lost on

Sig Martin Burnham demonstrates his newly learnt technique of

staying upright when moving

The 2IC Capt Mike Curtis Rouse shows off his Skiing aptitude

Two of the ski groups on top of the Glacier taking a breather before

attempting the black graded slopes


route! Obviously this course was going to prove useful for themboth. The ever impressive LCpl Crane found the time to take abreak from marathon training to pass his driving course at the 2Sig Bde driving camp held at Nescliffe, although rumours that hisco-driver made him run back from Nescliffe to Bexleyheath couldnot be confirmed at this time. He also managed to complete themarathon in a very impressive 3 hours 32 mins and raise a tidyamount of money for charity.

Ex Sharp Frolic in mid April found the Sqn deploy to DibgateCamp near Folkestone for much frolicking in order to prepare forfuture exercises. Deploying its main comms assets, Reebok andBowman, it was a chance to iron out any teething troubles andcorrect any skill fades since last year’s annual camp. During theOC’s walk round the SSM, WO2 Adrian Keeble, became veryimpressed with the cam net deployed by LCpl Jon Moore on theBowman HF Det and decided to put him in charge of instructingthe whole Sqn how to deploy cam nets. However, on closerinspection he soon discovered that the cam net had beendeployed upside down and soon relieved LCpl Moore of his newduty before he even had a chance to get stuck in.

April was a sad month for the Sqn as its ever popular masterchef, Sgt Bob Boynton, passed away having fought a long andvery brave battle against cancer. He will be very sadly missedand our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficulttime.

The end of April saw the Sqn supply a healthy number ofindividuals for the London District GOC’s Challenge Trophy whichwas held at Pirbright Camp. Following fine performances acrossall the events, the Regt finally finished in the Runners Up spot aswell as, quite literally, walking away with the Tug of Warcompetition with Capt Steve Slaney, Sgt Andy Hursey, Sgt

Mark Pearce and Cpl Dave Brand all lending a hand or two.SSgt Eddie Edwards showed he was just as good with a squashracket as he is with a monkey wrench in putting some fineperformances in the squash event. The start of May brought withit the Regts Cadre Course and again, various taskings for 265(KCLY) Sp Sqn. WO2 Keeble put the junior soldiers through theirpaces with a PFA, loaded march and obstacle course while Sgt

Steve Wise provided the G4 service and Cpl Taff Williams

employed his TLC skills as course medic.

In mid May a few members of the Sqn were invited to a House ofLords dinner by Lord Onslow, is the Chairman of the

Sharpshooter Association. A thoroughly good time was had byall in such elegant surroundings and it was a great chance tocatch up with some former Sharpshooters too.

The last exercise for May saw the Sqn involved in Ex Sharp Trotat the same time as the Bde CPX, Ex Horseshoe Eagle 10.Maintenance and trade training was on hand for those notinvolved in the ex. On the Saturday evening a select handfulwere invited to a dinner by Bexley Council in order to celebratethe Sqn being awarded the freedom of Bexley. Over 200 peopleattended the dinner and the members of the Sqn were given avery warm reception indeed. During the evening Cpl Brett

Harries was awarded his Brigade Commander’s Commendationcertificate for his service during Op HERRICK 12 and SSgt Kev

Harding was awarded his Volunteer Reserve Service Medal(VRSM) for another 10 years exemplary service. To end the ex onthe Sunday the Sqn had their fitness tested with a PFA under thewatchful eyes of LCpl Carl Crane and LCpl Jim Sutton. This isalways a good way to end a weekend with SSgt Eddie Edwards

piping LCpl Sean McRoberts to the post by a whisker in themuch anticipated “Clash of the Titans” that was the mile and ahalf run. A “good but can do better” 15 out of 25 managing tothe pass the PFA kept a smile on the face of the OC, especiallyas he was one of the 15. The Sqn was now free to enjoy the longweekend at the end of May prior to deploying on Ex Sharp Canterin June.

Capt Alex Downing gives orders to Sgt Jason Bontoft and Cpl

Brett Harries. The pizza arrived shortly afterwards

NEWS FROM THE SQUADRONS

4 MECHANIZED BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS ANDSIGNAL SQUADRON (204)

CATTERICK

TFH SIGNAL SQUADRON - LASHKAR GAH

OC Maj S Y Richardson

MOB LKG RSM WO1 (RSM) D J McCall

The Sqn was deeply saddened by the tragicand untimely death of Sig David Grout whohad returned to the UK from Afghanistan onR&R. His zest for life and huge personalitywill leave an irreplaceable gap in the Sqn andhe will be missed by all. David is survivedby his wife Kerry and son Harley who are inour thoughts and prayers in this most difficulttime.

OPS TEAM

Ops Offr Capt Georgie Dunn

TFH YofS WO2 (YofS) Greg Cox

TFH FofS WO2 (FofS) Pratap Ghale andWO2 (FofS) Dave Randall

TFH FofS(IS) WO2 (FofS(IS)) Ian McKenna

Plans for the resubordination of the Bde underUSMC General Mills and his 1st MarineExpeditionary Force (1MEF) HQ are firming up andthe difficulties communicating securely betweennations has caused more than one extremely latenight for WO2 (YofS) Cox and Ops Officer CaptSignaller David Grout


Dunn. Inter-operability is the current ‘buzz word’. WO2 (FofS)

Pratap Ghale, who stepped up to deploy with the Sqn at the verylast minute, will leave to take up his new post as FofS with 22 SigRegt to be replaced by WO2 (FofS) Randall, from 22 Sig Regt!We thank him for his efforts and will surely miss his liaison skillswith 1 RGR after his departure.

More faces have changed in the Sqn since the last edition. OurQM, Capt Pete Hatton departs to become QM (T) at 2 Sig Regtand is succeeded by Capt Daz Sheerin who joins us from 35 SigRegt (V). WO2 (RQMS) Kev East has left us to become RSM of1 Armd Div Sig Regt, to be replaced by WO2 (RQMS) Kev Dade.Spot the common theme. Immediately on their arrival the QMand RQMS began the mammoth task of preparing the MOB forthe anticipated arrival of the American HQ, clearing what seemedlike an endless number of ISO containers and the undiscoveredtreasures they held. They even found a WMIK in one! There havealso been a number of internal moves around theatre, LCpl

‘Beefy’ Henstock and LCpl Jase Bird have departed LashkarGah for Bastion to take their turn as radio operators with theImmediate Response Team to be replaced by Cpl Carl Vickers.Cpl Steve Ireson has also departed Lashkar Gah for Bastion toprovide admin support during the R&R period. Cpl David Smart

moves from the IRT in Bastion to Kajaki to provide operatorsupport to the District OCC. Meanwhile LCpls Nicky Reynolds

and Nat Docherty have deployed in direct support of CombatLogistic Patrols, providing an operator and advice and furthertraining on TACCIS.

CHARITY

Amongst the myriad of challenges in our goal to raise £10,000 forcharity individuals have surprised themselves with the depths oftheir own resolve. The personal goals are always the hardestgained and generally most sweetly rewarded. Cpl Steve Ireson

is already well on his way to meeting his target weight and Sgt

John Norton is making steady progress in his return to fitnessafter a serious football injury late last year. Not to be trumped ourrear party are also getting in on the act. Cpl Tam Ingledew-

Hartleveldt has given up smoking and is up to nearly £400 raisedin the process.

Our ‘Just Giving’ website has also seen its first donations. Thebid to raise £10,000 will only be successful if you, our familiesand friends, help us. The website can be found atwww.justgiving.com/4MBSS-HERRICK and we would love foryou to get involved. You could simply tell your friends about usor your employer; to borrow from the TV ‘Every Little Helps’; wewant the world to know about our challenge. We also hope topost some photos and videos of all our challenges and what welook like after finishing them. Keep checking the website forupdates.

RESUBORDIANTION

The beginning of June has heralded a change in HelmandProvince. Regional Command (South) has split into Regional

Command (South) and Regional Command (South-West), withTFH falling under control of RC(SW) and USMC Maj Gen Mills.His 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (1MEF) HQ assumingcommand of the RC(SW) battle space and TFH. Mostsignificantly in the change is CF SGN (40 Cdo RM) are nowdirectly commanded by Regimental Combat Team 2 (RCT 2).Watch this space for developments.

MINISTERIAL VISIT TO LASHKAR GAH

- by Capt Stuart Thomas

There is always a queue of news worthy individuals wanting tocome in to theatre; the new Secretary of State for Defence The

Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox was joined by the Foreign Secretary William

Hague and the Minister for International Development Andrew

Mitchell all of whom addressed the soldiers and staff of TFH inLashkar Gah.

A few members of each unit were selected for a ‘Meet and Greet’at the Provincial Reconstruction Team; 3 ministers visiting theMOB was quite an event for the press and so as the Unit PressOfficer I had a clear remit to get a story, and in doing so promotethe Royal Signals and 204 Sig Sqn. I introduced myself and wasable to talk to The Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox, MP for North Somerset(my constituency and a local in my pub in Clevedon) who wasvery engaging and interested in how we all felt about conductingoperations in Afghanistan. All 3 ministers spoke to the gatheredand it was refreshing to hear them speak with such convictionabout our achievements here. They pledged to support BritishTroops deployed on operations and to minimise the risks we facedaily by resourcing us. It was then that the conversation turnedto the ‘Hot Topic’, the Op Tour Bonus, which to the relief of us allthey pledged to double.

As they were leaving Liam Fox turned to me and said “See you inthe pub”; and to my shame it was then that I pulled the pin on mycarefully crafted career laugh, I’m sure no-one else noticedthough.

TFH BLOGS

We have officially fully embraced the twenty first century withmembers of the Bde and Sqn Blogging,http://britisharmy.wordpress.com/afghanistan/204sigsqn/Recent entries by Capts Stuart Thomas and Grant Winkles,LCpl Russell Nimmo and Sig Chris Boulton. It is anopportunity to express thoughts and experiences of Afghanistanto everyone on the World Wide Web. The topics have rangedfrom election fever to football World Cup.

UPDATES FROM THE OUTDETS

CF LKG - by Sgt Daniel Dixon

CF LKG are spread all over the AO from the MOB at Lashkar Gahto PBs and CPs in the Loy Adera region and Bolan T. CF LKGhas only been in existence for 4 short months but in that time hasseen massive changes in the local population. My main role is asRear Link to the Bde HQ, but I also provide technical advice andassistance for all TACCIS; it has proven to be extremelychallenging at times! My only form of communications back toLKG and BSN is TacSat, more than being a hardship I see this asa boon as I am spared the earbashings I would otherwise getfrom YofS Cox. Life in general is quite demanding but I amenjoying the opportunity to work on my own. The recentintroduction of running water and 24v power was awesome and Iam really looking forward to eating something other than beansand bacon on R&R. Early on in my tour we held wheat seeddistribution meetings, where the ISAF forces distributed seed tothe tribesman from the surrounding area in the hope they willswitch from poppy to wheat cultivation. Every Tuesday there is aBazaar just outside my CP; this used to be a very small localaffair but now attendance regularly reaches 700. This proves thatthe local population trust us to provide security and protect themfrom the insurgents. The Battle Group have also beenresponsible for the security of main transit routes around the AO.

The Ops Officer with her Danish Counterpart


One such operation came to fruition recently as a route wascleared of IEDs and deemed safe to travel, almost immediatelythere was an increase in local traffic.

CF SGN 40 CDO RM - by Sgt Jez Skelhorn

The 2nd Jun 10 represented a milestone for CF SGN and anextremely busy period for the lads of 40 Cdo RLD; it marks theday CF SGN come under the control of USMC RCT 2 (RegtCombat Team). This meant a lot of moving around and changingof camps to make room for them, and in Delta Companies case,a move of location from Kajaki to PB Blenheim to the North ofSangin. It means a lot of extra work for LCpl Russ Nimmo whenhe replaces Sig Geraint Kayll in Kajaki, who timed his R&R toperfection missing the majority of the work for the move.

The RLD is split over 4 sites in Sangin district: PB Wishtan; PBKajaki; FOB Nolay and FOB Jackson and our rear based team inBastion. By far the greatest concentration of the RLD is based inFOB Jackson. Our duties include BG Ops room shifts,responsible for monitoring radio nets and logging traffic andensuring the maps are updated, and Sanger shifts.

The FOB itself is separated through the middle by the river whichunder normal circumstances is our washing machine andswimming pool; unfortunately the sluice gates have been open onthe dam for 3 weeks now making it unusable. Meals are basedon 10 Man Ration packs but we always have some fresh in theevening; it just depends on what we are supplied. There is an EFIISO on the FOB selling all the essentials, but most importantlyfree Slush Puppies (because they are made with screech) that arerefreshingly cooling and have a serious kick. When off duty wehave welfare facilities to keep us occupied: there is a wellequipped gym with CV machines and weights; the welfare HABwith TV, internet, phones and text link terminals; the cookhousealso has reliable WiFi internet so the queues for the 2 internetterminals are never too big.

We suffer the same issues here as everywhere else in theatre.D&V is an ever-present threat as discovered by LCpl Steve

Burton and Sig Nicholas Chapman recently when they werecaught short whilst on Sanger duty. The toilet bags arrived just alittle late, the net result being a bit more hand washing.

In Bastion Cpls Williams and Walker were swept up with the restof the MOB with Beckham fever. Cpl Williams was particularlyhappy, listing David Beckham as his hero, when he managed toget a photo with him; it was immediately uploaded ontoFACEBOOK with pride. Cpl Walker seemed less impressed andwas in his own words “ . . . threaders at being kept waiting in the

midday sun for an hour and a half for some scruffy bloke to turn

up who didn’t even apologise for being late . . .” Beckham waslucky there were no AGAI forms laying around or he may havefound himself with Extras!!

CF NES (N) - by Sgt Danny McGillivray-Jones

May proved an extremely testing month for Team DanBat, withthe changes in our manpower and the sad passing of our friendSig David Grout. With the inevitable gap left by David oureclectic mixture of characters in the RLD seems poorer. Phone-calls from Sig ‘Jacko’ Jackson lounging around with the nursesin Selly Oak have certainly restored morale.

We are however, happy to welcome Cpl Paul Burns, Sigs ‘Skem’

Trenwith and Chris Woodward to Team DanBat. Sig Woodward

was put straight to work on the Patrol Baseline where he willremain until the Afghan Security Forces can sustain Commandand Control of the area. Sig Nat Wynn has deployed to Budwanto cover the R&R period of Cpl Higgins, and she has takenSkem with her to provide an operator for foot patrols within theGreen Zone. Sig Daniel McAreavey has returned to Price fromZumbalay and has slotted into our shift pattern. With thedeparture of a US task force from our area the Danes are nowresponsible for ensuring security of the Highway 1 with our smallAO. The RLD soon expect to have an operator permanentlybased with this new Danish team to provide secure and reliablecommunications back to the HQ here in Price. RiP David.

CF NDA - by Cpl Gaz Parham

CP Tallaanda seemed a quiet, serene compound. It had a smallvineyard growing by the flowing river, providing shade and a coolrespite from the heat. It was manned by multiples from the RoyalWelsh, so it couldn’t be that bad here! As the Welsh departedgrinning from ear to ear, we all thought they were just glad to begoing home. How wrong we were, they were grinning becausethey were leaving Rourkes Drift, Kohima, Agincourt; we weresurrounded by Taliban, thousands of them. In our first week wewere contacted by the enemy every single day, we had our 2mastiffs blown up by some extremely necky IED laying by theinsurgents. They were parked literally outside the front gate,which at the time had obscured arcs, they simply snuck up andchucked a 20kg palm oil drum under it filled with HME and laid acommand wire. It was spotted by the CSM and Ops Officerwhen they went outside to erect the company sign. Everyonewas evacuated, CIED called, we just had to wait. The chopperarrived carrying the CIED boys, the insurgents thought it wouldbe good to try and take down the chopper with frag from themastiffs, so blew them as it landed. This was the first attempt ofmany to down a chopper at CP Talaanda. After this incident wedecided we needed to improve the arcs on the front sangar, enterthe Engr’s and their det cord. A misplaced charge and a savagedmosque later, we had a potential incident on our hands! One ofthe elders said that we could have blown a compound withwomen and children in and it would not have been as bad. Thisis how emotional the locals were, even our terp was crying like ababy. Plenty of contacts later and the insurgents get lucky, theyhit the big one, a sea king! The helicopter was buggered(technical term used by pilot), it had to be stripped and lifted out.The amount of sigacts had risen to 30+ and we hadn’t been herea month yet. We needed more men, helicopters would not fly

Sgt Skelhorn and LCpl Nimmo on Sanger duty

Cpl Williams with David Beckham


into Talaanda without a cordon and our cordons were not bigenough, the guys were getting smashed every time. Finallyanother 2 multiples arrived with a sniper team, things got easier,we came off hard routine and resupplies were finally coming backinto the HLS. Things calmed down due to the BRF bouncingthrough 31 W, we experienced relative calm, but the BRF werehaving it tough and finally got bogged down. Step in SommeCoy, a five day Op moving into 2 compounds to draw theattention of the insurgents and clear a few compounds of ourown. It was the first time for me to get out on the ground withthe company OC. I took my 356, spare batteries, 4 litres of waterand 2 days rations, with no idea what to expect. This was thefirst time I had ever done anything like this, my backgroundinvolves sitting in an installation or major HQ, I’m not a groundoperator!!! It was a brilliant experience, just patrolling out to thecompound we were taking over for 5 days was a greatexperience for me. Then setting up my comms to BG HQ andmanning the net for nearly 20 hours a day was anotherexperience totally! I loved every minute of it. It was hard routine,I grew an impressive beard in those 5 days, but above all it wasgreat to get out there and see how the infantry do their thing.One question kept going round my head. Why haven’t I done thisbefore? It is an experience every young Signaller needs and oneI wish I had 12 years ago. When your backs are against the wall,you all club together and just get on with it. Keeping commsgoing has been challenging at times, but ultimately they getsquared away.

3/251 BRIGADE ADVISORY GROUP (Formerly OMLT)

- by Sgt Andy Pennock

The Brigade Advisory Group is still evolving asthe focus moves from training and mentoring topartnering and advising. Needless to say theRLD and its responsibilities change in line withthe evolution. It provides and interestingenvironment to work in to say the least. Themanning of the RLD has dropped from 7 to 3due to the R&R plot kicking in and thesuccumbing of certain members of thedetachment to illness.

Sgt Andy Pennock and Cpl Matt McGlowan

did happen to meet a nice young chap namedDavid, so in awe of our presence he asked uspolitely for a photo. Being the kind, consideratepeople we are we obliged and sent him on hisway only later to discover that whilst our backswere turned he had scribbled his name all overour England Football shirts. This man shall notbe invited back!

BASTION TROOP

FORWARD REPAIR TEAM

Since the last Wire the FRT SNCO deserted us for Lash Vegasand left us with Sgt Tommy Durbridge, so I guess we’ll be doinga bit more PT from now on. We have also been reinforced by Cpl

Mark Hall, fresh from PB2 in CF NES(N) area, who takes over asIC workshops. Cpl Reid has been FOB hopping, completingfleeting visits to FOB Markez (Formerly FOB Jackson) and PBMelvyn and spreading the joy of working kit behind him. Cpl

‘Tagz’ Tagilala is continuing with the routine daily workshop grindas well as assisting Cpl Russ ‘The Hammer’ Hamilton with aproject to get HCDR working in theatre. Despite the complexityof the task and the seemingly unachievable deadline The

Hammer has still found the time to build a bed to complete thefortress he calls a bed space. In a final effort to get the elusiveBeach Bod before going on R&R, Cpl Dave Jarvis competed inthe Bastion/Bruggen 10, finishing a very respectable 69 out ofover 700 competitors. He won a really small T-Shirt for histroubles. Never to be beaten by any job, a crate of Fanta wassecured for the repair of SSgt (YofS) Chris Powell’s much lovedcoffee percolator.

POWER MANAGEMENT TEAM

The jobs out on the FOBs and PBs just keep coming in. Even the‘Power Daddy’ Sgt Craig Chilvers got in on the action; he flew toa FOB to repair a fault and on the way back seemed to stopeverywhere sorting power issues at each location. All this workhas improved everybody’s knowledge and confidence and we

now deploy on task individuallyrather than in pairs as we did earlierin the tour. With a steady flow ofgenerators and LAPDS (Light andPower Distribution System) kits thetime is flying by quicker than weexpected. We have now begun aclass for the troops coming in offthe ground, instructing them in thebasic maintenance of theequipment in our new purpose builtpower training area. All of the teamare keeping themselves busy withtheir own DIY projects, even whenthey get some time off, morale ishigh and the days keep fallingbehind us. Before we know it thehalf way point will be a thing of thepast and we will be on the downhillside.

3/215 BAG Ready to move

11 LIGHT BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS AND SIGNAL SQUADRON (261)

ALDERSHOT

OC Maj I R Hargreaves

RSM WO1 (RSM) Ingham

This will be the final set of Wire Notes from 11 Lt Bde HQ & SigSqn (261) as it disbands this summer along with the 11 Lt BdeHQ. 101 Log Bde HQ & Sig Tp (661) will rise from the 40 soldiersremaining in Aldershot with 120 soldiers posted to units all overthe world after a superb and long road with 11 Lt Bde.

These articles are a look back at the past couple of years andalso the homecoming events the Sqn have been involved in.

11 LIGHT BRIGADE - by Cpl Sustins

My time at 11 Lt Bde HQ & Sig Sqn (261) has been non stop,with Pre Deployment Training (PDT) and then a 6 monthdeployment on Op HERRICK 11.

Everybody had a different experience of PDT as the Rear LinkDetachments (RLDs) did most of their training with the InfantryBattle Groups they were attached to and Main Troop did theirswith the Sig Sqn and Bde HQ. I was attached to 1 GrenadierGuards and initially deployed with them to Kenya on Ex GRANDPRIX 6. I had spent Ex GRAND PRIX 5 working on a ForwardRepair Team and as the Bde Comd’s driver, giving me a vitalinsight into what was in store over the course on the followingweeks. All in all I got a nice break in a hot country for threemonths!

Upon our return from Kenya we still had a lot of training andexercises to complete before deploying to Afghanistan. My nextexercise was on Combined Arms Staff Trainer (CAST), whichmostly involved fluffing up pillows for the Bde HQ staff. We laterdeployed on ex as RLDs with the BGs we were to be attached toon Op HERRICK 11. This was completely different to the Royal


Signals version of an Infantry exercise and was enhanced by thedistinct lack of a Bde HQ. We were also asked to help train theCompany Signallers from the Grenadier Guards so I, along withLCpls Galey, Tuppen and Vine, as well as Sig Clark, got tospend an enjoyable fortnight in London.

The final ex we deployed on was a Sqn live firing ex to bring theSqn up to a level of shooting and infantry skills which would allowthem to deploy. As with all range camps, it was an exceptionallywet week but it was also a good opportunity to spend time withfriends before leave and then deployment on Op HERRICK 11.

EXPERIENCE OF A FIRST OPERATIONAL TOUR - by Sig Davis

A young Signaller, fresh out of training, I arrived at 261 Sig Sqn inOctober 2009 and within 3 weeks I found myself jumping on aplane at Brize Norton heading for Afghanistan.

After my RSOI package I dragged all my kit on to a Chinookheading for Lashkar Gah, where I spent most of my 4 month tour.Once settled in to my new home I quickly got into the swing oflife in the Task Force HQ; manning the radios, conducting Sangerstags and maintaining morale by taking on a challenge of eatinghalf of a huge, Army issued, Banoffi pie!

Life on tour is completely different to basic training, but with thewealth of experience around me I had people to turn to for adviceand guidance whenever I needed. I learnt a lot on tour, especiallyfrom LCpl ‘Future Yeoman’ Dixon, who always offered hisservices on any comms problems, no matter what time of day ornight!

Towards the end of the tour I got the chance to deploy out on theground, which was an amazing experience, opening my eyes toseeing the difference between life in the UK and Afghanistan.

On arrival back in the UK I was met by my wife and became adad a few days later, which was an amazing way to end the tour.I thoroughly enjoyed my tour with 261 Sig Sqn and would gladlydeploy back out to Afghanistan. However I am currently enjoyinglife in the UK, safe and sound with my new family!

THE MEDALS PARADE - by LCpl Vine

On Friday 21 May, at 0700, the officers and soldiers of 261 SigSqn departed Buller Barracks for the Tower of London. On arrivalthere was a brief pause which allowed soldiers to greet theirfamily and friends and bets to be placed as to whether Sig

Callum ‘Willy’ Wilson would manage to stand upright for morethan 5 minutes.

Led by the Corps Band, with heads held high and chests proudlystuck out, we marched up to the Chapel for a short service, ledby Padre Christian of 11 Lt Bde. After 45 minutes of

enthusiastic, and more than slightly out of tune singing, combinedwith a few bad jokes which only LCpl Josie Tuppen found funny,we formed up outside.

We had a short march round to a grassed area where we werepresented with our Operational Service Medals by Maj Gen

Cima, the Governor of the Tower of London.

One hour later, with Sig Wilson still miraculously upright, it wastime for the march past the General. We managed the remainderof the short march down to where the Sqn photo was to be takenand then dispersed to enjoy the remainder of the day with proud,and in some cases slightly tearful, families and friends.

It was a phenomenal day and an honour to have our medalparade at the Tower of London.

11 LT BDE HQ & SIG SQN (261) PARLIAMENTARY VISIT

- by Sig May

11 Lt Bde HQ and Sig Sqn (261) had the honour of being invitedto the Houses of Parliament for a Parliamentary Welcome onMonday 7 June. It was only the fourth time a returning Bde hashad the honour of marching past Parliament Square and into theHouses of Parliament. Representing 261 Sig Sqn were Maj Ian

Hargreaves, Capt Rachel Thompson, SSgt ‘Nipper’ Sherlock,Cpl ‘Mac’ McCarthy, LCpl ‘Dexter’ Globe and Sig ‘Daisy’ May.

We arrived in Wellington Barracks (home to the Grenadier Guards)with plenty of time before the parade began, so in true Army stylewe had a lastminute drillpractice on theparade square.As the paradegot underway,we marchedfrom WellingtonBarracks, downBird Cage Walkto the Housesof Parliament;the highlight ofthe march wasmost definitelywalking pastthe infamousgroup ofprotesterscamped outsideParliamentSquare!

Arriving at theHouses ofParliament, we

Proudly on display at Wembley

The OC leads the Sqn in the Tower of London

261 Sig Sqn at the Houses of Parliament


were greeted with cheers and clapping by the Members ofParliament themselves, and were then invited inside for photosand free beer and a buffet (every soldier’s dream!). We werechallenged by some of the MPs to drink parliament dry, whichwas a brave statement to make in our eyes. With theGovernment’s current huge debt we decided to decline the offer,but did enjoy the day by the Thames, well it beats doing a Boardof Officers check which the guys were conducting back in thegarages!

Afterwards we enjoyed a guided tour of the Houses of Parliamentwhich included the Great Hall, The House of Lords and House ofCommons. We were even lucky enough to witness two MPshaving a heated debate, to which Cpl McCarthy wanted to “seethem fight to see who was best”!

With our bellies full and beer glasses empty we left London andmade our way back to Aldershot. A very enjoyable day had by alland an honour to march through London to the Houses ofParliament.

THE END OF 11 LT BE HQ & SIG SQN (261) - by Sgt Eveleigh

It would appear to be the beginning of the end for 261 Sig Sqn,part of 11 Lt Bde HQ. With a successful tour now firmly underour belts and having all returned home to our families safe andsound, the bell has struck bringing the disbandment to a fineSqn.

Some personnel have already been posted, sent on their merryway to new lands. With a fond farewell and good luck fromeveryone remaining we are all certain of meeting again in thefuture. Those that are left have the joy of a Board of Officers andthe handing over of vehicles and associated equipment to 661Sig Tp that will be taking the reins and supporting 101 Log Bde.

Since our return to the UK life has taken a much slower pacethan that of the previous 6 months (or some might say the last 24months). Some of the troops are still adjusting to a very differentlife in the garages; the contrast from patrolling around the GreenZone to standing around the garages waiting for something tohappen takes a little getting used to. On the plus side there hasbeen chance to slip in a cracking Medals Parade at the Tower ofLondon, which was an amazing experience in itself with familyand friends invited to watch the Sqn proudly march out in front ofthe crowds (even if the drill movements weren’t perfect!).

There has also been some LSGC presentations thrown in forgood measure, congratulations go to the recipients of them. Andjust for the kids there have been PNCO and pre-CLM courses runto keep them on their toes before attempting the coursesthemselves. However, before we all fly to the 4 corners of theglobe everyone is looking forward to a spot of Adventure Trainingin Bude.

So as the last of the Sqn turns the light out as they leave its goodbye from me and goodbye from him.

102 LOGISTIC BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS AND SIGNAL SQUADRON (262)

GÜTERSLOH

OC Maj K J Grice

RSM WO1 (RSM) D Churchward

FROM SHQ - by Maj K J Grice

So I get this frenzied phone call from Maj ‘AJ’ Smith about 5minutes after the RD results were released in late January 2010 :“Hi mate, really pleased… Oh by the way, prepare to move inabout 6 weeks… Yeh – sod the August move – I deploy to CampLeatherneck in April for a 12 month tour with 1 MEF, USMC (Iknow, Mrs Smith is over the moon). Just duck out of Londonearly – you’ll be fine…”

And so it was that a HOTO was completed in March, having beenemployed in the MOD (Cap CCII) the month earlier. 102 Log BdeHQ and Sig Sqn (262) is reducing in size under direction from HQLF in line with Op ENTIRETY. The Sqn becomes 102 Log BdeHQ and Sig Tp (662) on 1 November 2010. Our RomanNumerals change from CCLXII (262) to DCLXII (662). While wewill be a unit of about 50 comprising R Signals, RLC, AGC(SPS)and REME, we will continue to support 102 Log Bde HQ albeit inline with HQ SOinC(A)’s intent of augmentation from across theRoyal Signals. It’s been fairly busy over my first 2 months incommand. We’ve delivered 2 CAST exercises on Princess RoyalBarracks, Gutersloh for Joint Force Support (A) 10 as part of acollegiate effort comprising elements of 7 Sig Reg and 2 SigRegt. Concurrently, we’ve supported Ex FLYING RHINO in theCzech Republic and prepared for our Combined Inspection Week.We’re knee deep in leading the Bde through BCIP 5.4 uplift thatstarts in July 2010, and completes NLT 01 July 2011. By the timethis is published, WO2 (YofS) Ky Wilcockson will be firmly in thechair as Bde YofS, and we will have bid a fond farewell to WO1

(YofS) Mark Allen as he departs to Bulford. We welcome Capt

Claire Mikulla as the new Sqn 2IC and wish her well. My old2IC, Capt Russ Moody departed earlier this month and starts asAdjt 7 Sig Regt, filling the very large shoes of Capt (now A/Maj)

Zoe White MBE who trundled off to Corsham with Grace theGreyhound. The Ops Officer, Capt Jo Barr departs in July andmoves to be 2IC 20 Armd Bde HQ and Sig Sqn (200) – we wishher all the best.

EXERCISE FLYING RHINO 2010 - by Sig R J Perkowski

On the 20 Apr 10, Comms Tp deployed to Sennelager railhead toload up the vehicles for our journey to Namest Air Base in theCzech Republic. When we eventually arrived in Namest, theunloading of the train was a lot quicker than loading and weimmediately departed to our location where we would be stayingfor the duration of the 5 week exercise.

The setup of the 102 Log Bde Theatre Support Group complexwas fairly straight forward; the tables and benches went in first,then came the laying of a lot of fibre around the building for theBde LAN by the Technicians.

In the meantime the Operators were busy setting up the comms;both Bowman 4f and PSC 506. When we had completed ourtasks 1(UK) DIV wired Cormorant, Div LAN and Bowman 5.4 intothe building.

Our main role throughout the ex was to support the TSG withcomms and admin. We also had time to do some much needMATTS and comms trg, which was integrated into the shiftpattern. One of the Liaison Detachments was lucky enough to besent to Jince in order to communicate back to TSG the unloadingof the Ammunitions supply. They managed to maintain commsbetween TSG and themselves with Bowman and the PSC 506,which turned out to be a much needed resource.

The ex was a resounding success for Comms Tp, havingperformed a vital role in providing both comms and support forthe TSG.

102 LOG BDE HQ & SIG SQN MRX 2010

- by WO2 (RQMS) A Buchan

The Sqn has been working flat-out since the beginning of theyear due to the impending deployment of the Bde HQ on OPHERRICK 12 as Joint Force Support (A) 10. The CAST MRX wasthe final hurdle for the Sqn to get over; however this was going tobe a tricky one. Unfortunately for the Sqn the dates of the MRX


coincided with those of EX FLYING RHINO 10 which, we werealso committed to. To that end this MRX was most definitelygoing to be a challenge.

Hangar 6 was the venue for the ex which was kindly emptied andvacated by 1 LSR. In order to overcome our Operator shortage,219 Sig Sqn were drafted in from 2 Sig Regt to supply thecomms for the MRX, but before they could even start, the G4team had several trips to Loan Pools in Dulmen to ensure that wehad all the equipment required. The setup was underway andwith over 100 6ft GS tables humped and dumped into the Hangarand placed carefully into position as per the comms diagram, 219Sig Sqn got to work implementing the comms plan.

Our attention now turned to the Real Life Support element whichunfortunately had grown arms and legs since the CAST exercisewe had only completed a few weeks earlier. The biggestheadache on the G4 front was the accommodation plan. In acamp with no transit rooms and with over 90 pax toaccommodate, this was going to be tricky. A miracle was neededand a miracle is what we got, this came in the form of the newSgts’ Mess accommodation blocks being opened on the 28 Aprilthus freeing up 76 bed spaces in the old Mess annex. The onlyproblem now was could we get the old Mess accommodationturned around in time? But thanks to ‘Henry the Hoover’ and Cpl

Tom Gaffney and his team of happy helpers, there was no needto worry.

The setup was always going to be an emotional one, with 5 x (18x 36), 1 x (12 x 24), 4 x (12 x 12) and 1 x OFCS field kitchen toerect. All the hard work paid off however; and SO2 G3 Ops –Maj Neil Brown (SCOTS) and the Bde Comd were pleasantlycontent on their walk round. Everything was now in place for thearrival of Theatre Troops. With nearly 180 personnel to look afterfor the week and a high powered VIP visit day to plan, the G4staff had its work cut out. Every day began at 0600hrs, unlessyou were employed in the kitchen with the Master Chef where theday began at 0430hrs. Breakfast was served between 0700 -0800hrs but funnily enough most people turned up between0745hrs & 0800hrs.

The VIP day was suddenly upon us and everything was in place.Tea, coffee and cakes were served on arrival and a finger buffetas tasked was prepared for lunch. Due to unforeseencircumstances, the VIPs had not been fed on the flight acrossand unfortunately had not eaten all day, so unfortunately thefinger buffet was not sufficient enough to satisfy their hunger.With 40 mins left of the visit the RQMS was asked by the visitsofficer if he could get 25 packed meals made up? Armed with anominal roll which had the name of the Comd Field Army at thetop, and swiftly followed by numerous other high powered VIPs,totalling no less than 20 stars the RQMS headed off at speed tothe main kitchen in search of the RCWO. Luckily the RCWO was

sitting down having his lunch when approached, after heexplained the dilemma and when handed the nominal roll you canimagine what stops the RCWO pulled out to satisfy the demand.All his Chefs were re-tasked and with less than 5 minutes tospare, the demand was met. Even though the RQMS lost a fewpounds running around and gained a few grey hairs in theprocess, we did have a happy Brigade Commander.

BRIGADE SAAM - by LCpl R Worledge

The 262 Sig Sqn shooting team was made up of the team captainWO2 (FofS) Gordon, LCpl Worledge, Sig O’Connor and Sig

Rattray. Day 1 and 2 consisted of practice shoots where wecould run through all the different competition shoots that wewere going to be doing over the next couple of days. This was agood job as only WO2 (FofS) Gordon had done any of theshoots before and when they were explained to us, theyappeared rather complicated and difficult to remember, so thiswas a good chance to get familiar with the different shoots asduring the competition there would be no instructions given. Thecompetition proper started on day 3 where we had our first 2shoots. A solid display from all members of the team sawconfidence levels going up and we could feel our skills improving.Day 4 followed with another 2 team shoots and the individualpistols event, where WO2 (FofS) Gordon was the only member ofthe team competing. This was a relief for the other members ofthe team as the pistol shoot was even more complicated than allthe rifle shoots put together. The day was another solid displayof our skills, however a couple of simple mistakes cost of anumber of points which would in the end cost us a position ortwo. Day 5 was the final shoot; the falling plate competition atotally separate event that was run as a knock out event, where 2teams were drawn against each other and had to run from 100metres behind the firing point, get into position and then knockdown 10 plates. The first to achieve this would go through to thenext round. On the command we sprinted to the firing point andwithin what seemed like seconds all our plates were down; acomfortable win saw us through to the next round. The secondround came and we were full of confidence and the procedurewas repeated. However the first 9 targets went down but the10th one refused to drop leading to our early elimination. Overallthe 262 Sig Sqn team was placed 7th out of 13 teams; arespectable placing as this was the first appearance at a shootingevent for most of the team.

Thankfully the weather was good during the week and all in allthe Bde SAAM was a huge success, not so much in terms ofwinning trophies but in terms of enjoyment and a definiteimprovement in our shooting skills.

SNOWBOARDING - by LCpl J Page

In March three members of 262 Sig Sqn deployed on ExMERCURY SNOW RIDER. Led by Cpl ‘El’ Mitropoulou, we

102 Log Bde HQ & Sig Sqn MRX - If they only knew what it took to get

it looking like this!

The 102 Log Bde HQ & Sig Sqn (262) shooting team getting

ready for their first shoot of the day!


deployed into heavy snow and the worst road conditions thatsouthern Germany had to offer, where one sleeping member ofthe team was awoken by the minibus going sideways. On thefirst day we were split into our respective ability groups withsome of us heading straight up the mountain and the novicesstaying on the Nursery slopes to get to grips with having bothfeet strapped to something. Over the next 2 weeks everybody

improved in their ability, be it in confidence, technique or styleand all the training built up to race week. Each of the abilitygroups had their own races and male and female riders hadseparate competitions, with Cpl Mitropoulou having some funnyalbeit painful looking crashes. If there are two things you couldever want to mix together it would be snowboarding during theday followed by JaegerBombs in the evening.

12 MECHANIZED BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS AND SIGNAL SQUADRON (228)

BULFORD

THE THREE PEAKS CHALLENGE - by Cpl Heyden

In June, Cpl Simon McCann organised for 15 members of 228Sig Sqn to complete the Three Peaks Challenge in aid of theArmy Benevolent Fund. After a 12 hour minibus journey fromhell, we stood at the bottom of the first peak on the agenda, BenNevis. After a few photos and some last minute kit checks wewere off and the race between us and the stopwatch had begun.We set off at a cracking pace but we would soon find out that itwas a little quick for a few members of the team and sloweddown a little. After crossing some snow and ice we reached ourfirst peak but there was no time to rest on our laurels and wesoon began our decent back to the minibuses. Once down, theadmin team had our boxes of goodies waiting for us. We quicklytook on board some fluids and food before setting off to our nextlocation, Scafell Pike.

Five hours and a few bouts of cramp later we arrived at ScafellPike. By this point in the competition it was the middle of thenight and visibility was quite poor, which to be honest was nobad thing as I’m sure nobody really wanted to see the challengethat lay ahead of us. As we reached the peak, the sun wasbeginning to rise and after a few minutes of taking in the viewand having a quick photo, we were on to our next challenge.Another 5 hours later and a shout out from Radio 1 presenterChris Moyles, we arrived at the third and final peak, Snowdon. Itwas evident at this point that a few members of the team werecarrying injuries ranging from twisted ankles to jarred knees, butthere was no thought of quitting with the finishing line so close.As the sun beat down on us we started our climb to the peak. Itfelt like it was getting warmer with every step we took and as wearrived at the top we were met by well wishers, which spurred uson for the final descent. When we arrived at the finish line wewere greeted a well deserved feast of bacon and sausagesandwiches.

In the end, the team managed to raise a fantastic £3,000 for ABFand all members completed the Three Peaks Challenge in a veryrespectable time of twenty one hours and thirty minutes.

228 Sig Sqn Three Peaks Team on Ben Nevis

228 Sig Sqn Three Peaks Team on the side of Snowdon

16 AIR ASSAULT BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS AND SIGNAL SQUADRON (216)

COLCHESTER

OC Major A R Fawcett

RSM WO1 (RSM) S Spink

EXERCISE EAGLES TOUR - by Sgt Miller

Ex EAGLES TOUR was a battlefield tour in Italy organised by Sgt

‘Milf’ Miller. The ex almost fell at the first hurdle as volcaniceruptions threatened to limit our travels to Stansted Airport. Wearrived at the airport 5 hours before our check in time promptingquite a bit of banter from Cpl ‘Woody’ Wood and Sgt Shaun

Hernon aimed at Sgt Miller.

On arrival at Rome airport we were met by WO1 (RSM) ‘Olly’

Oliver who picked us up and drove us to the NATO camp where

we were staying for the week. WO1 (RSM) Oliver was a longserving member of 216 and is now RSM of NCISS Latina. Wewere given a quick tour of the camp then left to relax and unpack.The first day of our Battlefield tour saw us going to Cassino, thehome place of the famous battle for Monte Cassino. We weremet by our tour guide, Daniella, who would be showing usaround for the rest of the week. She took us to see the onlyItalian War grave in the world and the Commonwealth Cemetery.Looking around these cemeteries was quite moving as we readthe script on graves realising some of the lads that died were only17 or 18 years old.

On the second day of the tour Daniella took us up to MonteCassino abbey. She explained to us that the abbey was


completely reduced to a pile of rubble during the war but wasrebuilt afterwards and is now home to the local monks. We leftthe abbey to visit a Polish and a German cemetery. Although theGermans were the enemy during the War we realised that thesoldiers that died were doing exactly the same job as us. It gavethe trip a better perspective seeing the war in Italy from theGerman as well as the Allied point of view. We finished the day atMonte Casino with a BBQ and a couple of beers.

The next day we visited Anzio, a coastal town were the Brits andAmericans assaulted the beaches to help with the major push toRome. We visited two more British cemeteries and an Americanone. Seeing all the white crosses and headstones really makesyou understand how many people gave their life to fight for theircountry.

The final day of the tour was around the capital city of Rome. Wevisited the Coliseum and the Pantheon and it was very hard tobelieve that the buildings were over 2000 years old and that someare still exactly the same as back then. We visited the Vaticanand had a walk around the Sistine Chapel, which was also anamazing sight.

All the lads would like to thank WO1 (RSM) Oliver for lookingafter us, Daniella for being a great tour guide, and Sgt Miller fororganising a fantastic trip away.

EXERCISE PASHTUN GRYPHON 1 - by Sig Parker

On the 27 May 10 TFHQ Tp deployed on Ex PASHTUNGRYPHON 1 where we arrived at Knook Camp and took over ouraccommodation. The ex was to take place in the nearbyCombined Arms Tactical Trainer in Warminster. This ex had thepotential to be quite demanding due to the fact that this was thefirst time the newly formed TFHQ Tp had deployed on exercise asan entity, led by Lt Harrison and Sgt Miller.

Before the ex began we conducted some low level troop training.Firstly, Sgt Miller took us through MATT 3 – BCDT. Everyonepassed, allowing us to progress on to the next level beforedeploying on Op HERRICK 13. We also conducted some reportsand returns training using both VHF and HF means. As STARTEXapproached on Sun 30 May, we carried out some last minuteadjustments of the HQ layout in preparation for receiving theStaff.

Our main tasks were split into 2 areas; firstly as operators wewere required to support the JOC by maintaining a listeningwatch on the COMD Net and logging the traffic in case JChatwent down. These nets were on an emulated BOWMAN systemand we had to familiarise the staff so they were comfortable with

the setup. With the 2 Watchkeepersbeing extremely busy we had to be onthe ball to assist should an incidentoccur.

Secondly, we provided a J6 Helpdeskfacility to the Bde staff officers toprovide a robust fault reporting chainback through the HICS Tp provided by3 DSR. As was inevitable, a number ofteething problems came to light butafter some initial friction, theprocedures worked well. We settledinto a 3-way shift pattern led by theShift Commanders, Cpl Nolan, Cpl

Brown and Cpl Prabeen, and rotatedthrough the JOC and the Helpdesk tomaximise training exposure.

Overall, the ex was successful andeveryone gained something from thetraining. We now have 2 more brigadeMST events before the deploymentduring which the pace will increasesignificantly. However, by the time wecross the Line of Departure to go onOp HERRICK 13 we should be expertsat working in TFHQ.

A strategically taken photo designed to hide the fact that Capt

Harris is wearing desert wellies with trousers

The group with our tour guide, Daniella

LCpl Abbott conducting some low level training


OC Maj Jules G Hill

RSM WO1 (RSM) Paul Jordan

NOTES IN GENERAL FOR THE SQUADRON….

This has been a busy few months for the Sqn. We havecrammed in exercises, AT, charity events and a healthy amount ofcompetition – including a fair number of trophies along the way.There have also been a number of changes in Sqn personnel; inparticular the OC will shortly be leaving on promotion to Lt Col asSO1 G6 Commitments at HQ Land, the RSM on commissioningand posting to 16 Bde as the Welfare Officer and the arrival of notonly a Tp Comd, Capt Cyrus Karumba, but also congratulationsto him and his wife, Sasha, for the birth of their son, Cassius.

We are all now firmly focused on meeting the demands of AskariThunder exercises – the first of their type. Kenya will be newground for the majority of people in the Sqn – it’s just a shamethat it didn’t coincide with the world cup!

The Sqn is in really good shape and ready for the challenges theBde might throw in our direction.

The Welsh 1000 - by LCpl Peter Cunningham

The Welsh 1000 is a 26 mile endurance race over 4 peaks inNorth Wales with the finish line at the top of Snowdon, so 209 SigSqn decided to enter a team.

In true Signals style we got to do a full days works beforemeeting up on Thursday 3 June at 1930 at the back for SHQ tocatch the over night ferry from Belfast to Liverpool. After a fewcelebration drinks for Sgt Tom Hanks’ 32nd birthday on the ferrywe all got our heads down in the no expense spared cabins onthe ferry.

After a 0530 wake up call and a 0630 docking on the morning ofthe 4th we got on our way to North Wales arriving at Capel Curigfor 0930 which gave us plenty of time to erect a 12x12 tent inwhich we slept in as all the block accommodation was fullybooked.

After registration at 1900 on the Friday night in which we got ourrace bracelets and numbers for the event we nipped in to Bangorfor a good meal to set us up for the following days jolly. All weneeded was a good night’s sleep which was some timesinterrupted by the snoring of Lt Wall.

With a 0530 start on Saturday a quick wash and a light breakfastwe got on the road and headed for the start which was inAbergwyngregyn on the coast. After listening to the last pointsfrom the marshals we broke into 2 teams consisting of Cpl Brett

Verth, LCpl Greg Rhodes and LCpl Paddy Cunningham asteam A and team B consisting of Lt Wall, LCpl Andy Yeomans

and Sig Shawn Morgan. Then at 0730 with up to 300 others wewere set on our way.

After jogging for the first kilometre we set into a steady tab andprepared ourselves for the first peak, Liewellyn being 1062meters. From there then on to Carnedd at 1044 meters, Crib-y-Ddysadl at 1065 and always looking forward to Snowdon and allof its 1085 metres.

With various check points along the route and plenty of ups anddowns we were lucky the weather was good to us and with a lotof grit and sweat and 26 long miles we met up on the top ofSnowdon at 1700 to collect are well earned medals and a juiceform the café.

After a few photos and about an hours break we took ourselvesdown the 5 mile track to the bottom of Snowdon where Sgt

Hanks was waiting with the mini bus to give us a well earned liftback to camp. After a shower back at Capel Curig and a bit ofTLC on our feet we managed to go for a bite to eat and a welldeserved drink. The drinking didn’t last long as all of us justwanted to sleep with a few team members sleeping in the pub.

After another lovely nights sleep on our cam cots we were up at0530 on Sunday to take down the tent, pack up our stuff and toget eaten alive by every bug in North Wales. After a quickbreakfast we set of for another ferry crossing but moreimportantly another 8 hours sleep.

The Welsh 1000 is a very demanding competition but now onlooking back it was a great achievement and is something I wouldrecommend anyone to take part in next years event.

MERCURY 500 - by LCpl Greg Rhodes

The Mercury 500 is a charity endurance race set up to help theCorps raise money to send a team to the Scott Amundsen raceto reach the South Pole. 209 Sig Sqn’s part in this event was for10 members complete 500 laps of Blandford camp’s 400 meterrunning track equalling to 200 km in the quickest possible time.Each team member was to run 50 laps carrying a 30lb day sack.

Our team consisted of the Sqn 2IC Capt ‘Ollie’ Ford, SSgt ‘Red’

Davies, Sgt ‘Tom’ Hanks. Sgt ‘Jack’ Hawkins, Cpl Brett Verth,LCpl Greg Rhodes, LCpl ‘Paddy’ Cunningham, LCpl ‘Bungle’

Balharry, LCpl ‘Cam’ Allen ( REME), Sig Kris Harrison plus 2admin support, Cpl ‘Daz’ Rowe and Sig Shawn Morgan. Westarted our long journey from Northern Ireland to Dorset on theevening of Tuesday 20th April. After catching the overnight ferryfrom Belfast to Birkenhead we docked at 0630 on the morning ofthe 21st and began our drive to Blandford camp. As none of usmanaged to make breakfast on the ferry and hunger setting in thefirst point of call was McDonalds at the nearest service station, orso we thought. After getting out of the mini bus we all realised itwas in fact a Wimpy ……. which was closed. So a fry up wasnow on the cards, which cost myself and Sig Harrison £12 for a“FULL” English breakfast minus a brew! At Blandford we settledinto our accommodation and set off for a light run to loosen offour legs. That evening we had a good meal down town followedby a few drinks back at camp.

19 LIGHT BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS AND SIGNAL SQUADRON (209)

LISBURN

The Welsh 1000 finish line taken at the top of Snowdon the only

problem now is to get down the Mountain after 26 miles


The morning of the 22nd started with another run round camp at1030 hours followed by a big breakfast at the Gorge café, onceagain Cpl Rowe was scamming in some way or another. Afterordering a jumbo breakfast and emptying a salt shaker all over itthe café owner gave him another for his mishap. As it arrived Cpl

Rowe greeted it by yelling out “JUMMMMBOOO”, which was tobecome our word for the event. The event started that evening at2100 with Cpl Verth setting a blistering pace for our team with a1.08 first lap – the quickest of the event. For the first 10 laps ofthe race we were neck and neck with 258 Sig Sqn, but as therace settled down into the early hours of the morning they slowlypulled away from us. We were well out in second place, the onlyteam near to us was one from 30 Sig Regt. Our plan of runningone lap and having 9 off started to take its toll on the team asmorning broke and hot on our heels was the team from 30 SigRegt. Eventually overtaken with 2 hours of the race left but withthird place guaranteed the only thing now keeping us going wasthe copious amounts of lucozade and bananas we had alloverstocked and Cpl Rowe once again yelling“JUMMMMBOOOO” every time we crossed the start/finish line tostart a new lap.

The whole team compled the race with only the 2IC being sick onhis third lap, which somehow made him run faster, we finishedthe race in third place in 14 hours and 6 minutes. Quite anachievement as all our training was done at Thiepval barracksand without the benefit of a running track.

In the end….. We are not judged by our wealth, our knowledge orour contribution to mankind ……. but on how fast we completedthe Mercury 500 ………. 14 hours 6 minutes.

EXERCISE MERCURY SNOWRIDER 1 - by Sig Lee Newton

On 4 March 10 members of 209 Sig Sqn (well, 9 and a pretenderfrom 225 Sig Sqn (ECM)) deployed from Lisburn to go on ExMERCURY SNOWRIDER 1. It was to be a long journey, involving2 ferries, 2 sets of hire vehicles and a lot of miles - not a journeyto be recommended. The Sat Nav started blatantly lying to uswhen we arrived in France and its estimation of 12 hrs to theresort was at least 6 hours out. Frozen windscreen washers anda blizzard didn’t help, although we were glad of the effort we’dgone to get winter tyres when we passed the team from 10 SigRegt frantically trying to fit snow chains at 0030hrs!

After an initial admin day of hiring snowboard kit and meals ofcrisps (apparently supermarkets don’t open on Sundays inAustria), the snowboarding finally began and the 10 of us weresplit into ability groups. The novices of SSgt ‘Red’ Davis, Cpl

‘Scotty’ MacDonald, LCpl Kelly Bradley and Sigs Karla

Stewart, Matt Scrupps and Lee Newton had their firstintroduction to the joys (and pains) of snowboarding while theintermediates of Capt Rachel Clayton, Cpl Jay Preston, Cpl

Kev Miller and Sig Rachel Jones headed off up the mountain.The novices were soon in pursuit and after numerous falls andtumbles were soon getting the hang of it, although how Sig

Scrupps managed to get through three days without anyonerealising he could only turn one way is still a mystery!

The first week of tuition went very well for all members with thenovices advancing at an impressive speed. The intermediatesweren’t getting away easy and were rapidly moving throughvarious techniques of slalom racing and freestyle. 180s, Olliesand other daftly named jumping styles were introduced althoughSig Jones seemed to be the only person with any great skill inthem! Towards the end of the week the focus turned to racetraining with the novices enjoying their first taste of dual slalom.With a few days of poor weather the intermediates were unable topractice too much freestyle (a good thing given the number ofpeople in hospital by this point) and the main attraction becamethe boarder cross. With most of us having only seen this on theOlympics before it turned out to be just as hard as it looks. Thenews that the novices would also be racing 4 at a time on theboarder cross drew some worried looks but spirits were high asqualification for the racing began. All of the novices didamazingly well and all of them qualified to race, leaving themgoing in to the rest day proud of what they had achieved in oneweek on a snowboard. The intermediates were successful aswell, with only one person not qualifying.

After a few days of weather too bad to race in (a couple of great‘powder days’ though!), the racing began with anticipation andthere was some great slalom races from all abilities. There werealso a few great crashes, especially from Sig Newton. With theweather unfortunately preventing the freestyle competition goingahead, the boarder cross was next on the agenda with all but oneperson qualifying again. The novices did brilliantly in a very highstandard course, putting in maximum effort in the knockoutstages. Sig Stewart did particularly well, coming third of all thenovice girls. Sig Jones showed her complete lack of fear, goingall out to come a very close second in the intermediate/advancedgirls competition. Combined with her high result in the dualslalom, this meant that she was selected for the CorpsSnowboarding Team. Cpl Miller also returned home with somemuch deserved silverware, after being awarded the ‘Riders’ Rider’cup for his efforts in looking after an injured member of the camp.

Overall, all 10 members of the Sqn’s entry to the CorpsChampionships thoroughly enjoyed the 2 weeks. It was a wellorganised camp and was a great opportunity to introduce severalmembers of the Sqn to a new sport. Judging by the number ofnew snowboards in the bus on the way home they are all hopingto go again next year for another shot at the boarder cross!

The Mercury 500 Team before the start

Sig Newton discovering that upside down is not fast

Sig Karla Stewart after a hard day on the race course


3 DIVISION OPERATIONAL SHOOTING COMPETITION

- by Sig Jamie Walker

After recently becoming Minor Unit Champions at the CORPSOSC, the 209 Sig Sqn team consisting of 8 shooters and 3 adminstaff left Thiepval Barracks for Bulford ranges to try their luck inthe 3 DIV OSC.

Leaving Northern Ireland on a Monday night we set sail for our 5star accomodation in Westdown Camp on Salisbury plain. Afterthe admin staff came back from the brief on the first night wewere informed that we had missed the practice shoots and goingstraight into the competition the following morning.

So after an early night, the team got up and zeroed ready for thefirst shoot of the competition, the Para Cup. Although we weren’tthere for the practice we didn’t embarrass ourselves, Cpl Kev

Miller scoring highest in the team. The team was split into an Aand B fire-teams with Lt Wall and LCpl Alfereti as the fire-teamcaptains. The Para Cup consisted of running 500 meters to the500 meter point then doing numerous numbers of boundsshooting at the 400,300,200,100 metre marks.

The next shoot was the gunner shoot. Sig Lee Newton andLCpl ‘Slim’ Hebditch took part in this event. Both teams thenentered the Robinsons cup. This was probably the hardest of allas you were in the prone position on concrete – particularlypainful! We were in this position for 8 minutes only firing 10rounds at the targets at different intervals. After this shoot ourelbows were looking very bruised and abused.

We entered a 4 man team for the final shoot which was the fallingplate knock out competition. The team got through the firstround by defeating a team from the RAMC but were knocked outin the second round by a team from 2RGR who flew over fromBrunei for the competition. Although we were knocked out it wasa cracking shoot and was really close.

As soon as the shoot was finished it was a mad dash to getchanged and straight in the vehicles for a long drive back toLiverpool to catch the ferry. After a couple of celebratory beers,we were rocked asleep by the waves as we crossed the Irish Seaback to Belfast. Overall it was an excellent event and I hope tocompete next year.

CORPS OPERATIONAL SHOOTING COMPETITION

- by Sig Lee Newton

On Sunday 18 April 209 Siq Sqn consisting of myself, 2Lt Wall,SSgt Smith, and Cpl Miller left Thiepval barracks to head for theCorps OSC in Pirbright. We were not too sceptical about winninganything as we had only spent 3 days on the range previously(one day including zeroing). However, we had practiced a coupleof the competition shoots.

On day one our first shoot was the FIBUA shoot, which thankfullywas one that we had practiced. I think we all did reasonably welland soon realised that we were one of the only teams with thenew operational down grips. This turned out to be a bit of adowner for us as there were certain restrictions on whether wecould use them or not.

As the week progressed we moved onto the other shoots such asthe Roberts Cup, the Roupel Cup, the association match and afew others. The final shoot that we did was the falling plate shootwhich involved us sprinting 100m against the clock, going underthen over obstacles and shooting down the plates. This shoot asit turned out qualified us for the minor units trophy, (as there wereno other minor units at the competition). Although I would like tothink that after the effort we all put in that we would have doneenough to win this coveted prize with or without any other minorunits.

All in all it was a good week and one which I and the teamcertainly enjoyed. We look forward to defending our trophy nextyear!

209 FEMALE TUG OF WAR TEAM - by Sig Karla Stewart

On Wednesday 18 May 2010 it was 209 Sig Sqn’s female Tug ofWar team’s first compitition at the Morrison’s cup held inBlandford. In the team there was our Coach SSgt Davis, Sig

Stewart, LCpl Broatch, Sgt Whelan, Sig Owen, LCpl Franks,LCpl Jackson, Sgt Fairbairn, LCpl Bradley and last but notleast our water and taccy girl LCpl Wade.

As a team we had not pulled a live end, so our first pull against 3Div Sig Regt was a bit of a shock to us all but we fought hard andwon 2 ends. Our next pull was against 10 Sig Bde. Once againthey made us work for our win. We had one final pull against 11Sig Regt to determine who we were pulling against in the final.Unfortunatly for us 11 Sig Regt beat us by 2 ends but it was notover, this meant we had 11 Sig Regt in the final.

All the girls had done so well to get to this point already and theywere all excited to be in the final. For the first pull against 11 SigRegt we held them for quite a while but got taken forward, 11Sigs won that end. The 2nd end we held them for as long as wepossibly could then our luck was in, we took them back and keptgoing just inches away from the finish line then we lost it and theymanaged to take it back to win the Morrisons Cup, leaving us aclose second.

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA MARATHON

- by Captain Ollie Ford

In January a rather cryptic email was sent out asking forvolunteers to do a running expedition to China. Unsure of thedetails I immediately volunteered as it was certainly going to bemore fun than my usual daily routine. However, my initialjubilation about 10 days out of office turned to trepidation as Irealised that I had signed up for the Great Wall of ChinaMarathon…..

Preparations began, local information was sought and then Istarted training for the Mercury 500 – it’s always best to train for amarathon by doing a sprint event with weight on. After that wecajoled family and friends into donating money to our chosencharity, BLESMA, and booked our flights.

We landed in Beijing and immediately turned to localfamiliarisation – good pub 20 minutes from hotel! Throughoutthe next few days in the lead up to the race, we were shownaround some of the finest sights in the Beijing area includingTiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Qing Tombs.Quite unique and unlike anything you will see in a western city,these aspects of Chinese history both old and modern were astartling insight into a completely different ideology and culture.There were, nonetheless, many common themes with thecapitalist west – shopping malls selling luxury goods,entrepreneurial hawkers at every corner and massive skyscrapersacross the city.

Eventually, the big day arrived and after an enormous pastadinner on the Friday night we boarded coaches to take us to the

209 Sig Sqn tug of war team after a day of tugging!


massive fort thatbecame start, finishand admin area for theevent. We started therace at about 0730leaving in 2 waves andheaded onto the mainroad, complete withtraffic, before startinga 5km hill climb to thesection of the wall wewere to cross. Fourkm of steeplyundulating paths andsteps along the greatwall came next, over5,000 steps in fact,then back down toground level, throughthe fort for the secondtime and onto a20km+ road run including another “mountain climb” through ruralvillages. Here we were met by cheering locals, more traffic(which beeped at us to move out the way!) and regular waterstops. After running back round to the start point we thenheaded back up onto the wall for a second crossing, though thewater had been exhausted by this point and there were a numberof extremely disheartened (broken) people littered around thesteps before a final 5km downhill dash to the finish line. All 6members of the team finished with the best time of 4h 55m by

Capt Ross Schreiber of 38 Engineer Regt; I managed 5h 28mwhich was quicker than the US Marines who were bigging it up atthe start!!

It was a fantastic experience and one which I hope to repeat witha quicker time in the future. Particular thanks to Maj Lee Smart

for putting the idea in our heads, his language skills and localknowledge.

The first crossing - still smiling

Runners on the wall

20 ARMOURED BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS ANDSIGNAL SQUADRON (200)

PADERBORN

OC Maj SW Whittley

RSM WO1 (RSM) CA Hook

EXERCISE FLYING RHINO 10

On 26 April 2010, 200 Sig Sqn deployed on Ex Flying Rhino 10, a5 week Divisional air land integration ex in the Czech Republic.In anticipation of HQ 20 Armd Bde staff due to arrive 2 weekslater (why did we get here so…?), the Sqn deployed the HQ inrecord time in order to focus on the real task – a night in Prague!After 3 days of fiddling, titivating, and fiddling with the titivator,we had provided all the necessary ICS and attention to detail thatthe Bde staff expected. However, there was even more fiddlingto follow, in almost criminal proportions - enter WO2 (FofS) Kev

McDonald. With Prague only 40 minutes away, and screamingfor us to come and join the party, only the FofS stood in our way.So every cable was hidden, every zip-tie snipped, each UDTneatly labelled, and every spare man searching for the Foreman’smug. He luckily escaped a mindless attack on his brew fromsleeping tablets and laxatives in an ambitious attempt to sendhim to bed for a week.

The madness soon stopped, and with only one mini-bus betweenthe Sqn, Sgt Paul Walton, devised a more complex plan than theD-Day landings to make it work. Now, like every other unit on thebeer, we did have some dramas. Remarkably, no one wasarrested, apart from the mini-bus, who parked illegally outside theSeychelles consulate building and was subsequently towed to thenearest compound. SSgt Chris Moore, thankfully bailed out thered-faced 9 seater, and blamed himself for leaving it there. Cpl Si

Goddard, did not get left behind and did not pay the entire Greekdeficit for a taxi back. And Sig Mayes, did not drive around thecountry until 6am before waking everyone in the bus to declarehe was lost. Never have I seen such self-control from a group ofsoldiers in a city famous for lap-dancing clubs, to just simply walkon by, and instead, settle for a quiet drink in the Irish Bar, whileshowing the kind of values and standards that the Pope would beproud of. That is our story and we’re sticking to it.

With the ex start date getting closer, PT suddenly stepped up anotch, when we decided to complete the hardest CFT route in thehistory of the Corps, beginning with 3 miles up-hill to the soundof ‘Hi Ho Silver!’. This acted as a useful leg-stretch for theLanyard Trophy team, who are currently dictating a gruellingregime of fitness throughout the Sqn. On 9 May, the focusquickly changed back to the HQ as we awaited the arrival of theBde staff. With Bowman, Cormorant, and Reacher all in location,Ex FR 10 offered an excellent opportunity for cross training, andsome useful insight for the budding Yeoman’s including Sgt Chris

Brown. Some newer members of the Sqn who required class 2status were tested throughout, and those not familiar withBowman prior to posting had a steep learning curve. A luckyfew, including LCpl Paul Hill, were taken to 2 R Anglian mortarline to fire the 81mm. LCpl Dave Paige, managed to baffle uswith his relentless logic, and is currently writing his debut bookDave’s logic. Sig Newton, displayed his unique operating skillsthroughout the ex, and was duly rewarded with the ‘buy 23 cratesof beer for the bar’ award.

LCpl Sellers and Sig Picard (1 ADSR) hard at work


Shortly before endex, we received a visit from CGS, and ComdFd Army, along with the Czech interior minister and every Czechwho owns a camera. This, as you could imagine caused quiet astir, and with new BFBS reporter Miss Veronica Cornerstone onlocation, it wasn’t long before the OC suddenly remembered hisresponsibilities as media host, and helpfully kept a close eye(both eyes) on her throughout. Another successful outing for thesenior Sig Sqn. Bring on BATUS...

SOINC (A) VISIT - by 2Lt Anthony Hynes

In his final few months as SOinC(A), Brig TD Flint, along with theCorps RSM,WO1 (CRSM) D Taylor, visited 20 Armd Bde HQ &Sig Sqn (200) at Talbot Barracks on Tuesday 4 May.

The SOinC(A) was treated to a top drawer curry lunch providedby LCpl Elder, where he got the chance to chat to members ofthe Sqn. In the afternoon Brig Flint was invited to take the‘Driver Lineman Storeman Challenge’ where he managed to beatthe CRSM after some fast typing on UNICOM, mastery of aforklift to loada TCV with apallet ofboxes andthen drivingthe TCV tothe finish line.

He thenvisitedEuphrates Tp,the BCIPuplift tp. Lt

Wallace gavean overviewof the tptasking and awalk through,talk through of

the equipment. During the visit, Brig Flint also had the pleasureof presenting the Sqn QM, Capt P McGarry, with a Joint ForceCommander’s Commendation for his outstanding work on OpTELIC 13 and LCpl Drummond was presented with a hardearned ‘300 club’ t-shirt. Before leaving, the SOinC(A) openedthe Sqn’s brand new gym, the aptly named Gauntlet Gun Club,then Maj Whittley presented the CRSM and the SOinC(A) eachwith a 20 Brigade Iron Fist to commemorate their visit.

EXERCISE GAUNTLET CANTER - by Cpl Chris Brogan

On Thursday 29 April, 13 members of 200 Sig Sqn paraded readyto depart for Calais on a unit Command and Leadership studyweekend. WO2 (RQMS) Charlie Kama did a quick sanity check“everyone got your passports?” A group of heads nodding thenone outburst indicating a forgotten passport and who was thisadmin case, a young signaller, an inexperienced NCO perhaps?No, none other than SSgt Richie Brown.

Our first stop was the Imperial War Museum which, on firstinspection of the outside, looked fairly unimpressive. Fortunatelywe were early so had time to kill before it opened, so it was aquick detour to a coffee stand to grab a brew and use thefacilities. Once the museum was opened a rendezvous time andplace was set and we were off to enjoy what the museum had tooffer. I am pleased to say that my early observations were bothpremature and inaccurate as the museum was a lot larger andmuch more impressive than I thought and upon exiting for our prearranged rendezvous I was glad to hear I was not the only onewho thought I could easily spend another couple of hours inside.Unfortunately there were not enough hours in the day. Our nextstop was The Royal Hospital Chelsea for a pre arranged tour withthe Chelsea pensioners.

Camp SSM Moore and SSgt (YofS) Taylor at loggerheads

SOinC(A) Brig Flint addresses members of the Sqn

The great fork lift race gets under way

LCpl Drummond receives her well earned 300 club t-shirt

Members of the Sqn visit the Imperial War Museum


Our Guide for the day was Paddy Fox who as the name suggestshailed from the emerald isles, so he immediately hit it off with Maj

Stu Whittley.

It was clear from the atmosphere and attitude of residents thatthis was a fantastic place to live. Paddy Fox was a fantasticentertainer and kept us all in stitches as he regaled us withanecdotes of his time in the Army and the hospital.

At the end of the tour there was an opportunity to do someshopping in the Museum. On site were several members of thegroup who bought a copy of the Pensioners cook book whichcoincidently had a recipe for Moussaka from Paddy Fox. It wasthen suggested that he might like to sign the books to be given towives as gifts, Paddy suggested we should do that in the“Welfare Facility” and not one to turn down the opportunity to buyan old boy a beverage we graciously accepted.

After a few drinks the OC thanked all for hosting us andpresented “The Iron Fist” as a memento to the Hospital tocommemorate our visit and also a Sqn plaque to Paddy Fox inthanks for his time and entertainment. A few drinks later and itwas sadly time to leave, although I think I speak for everyonewhen I say I would happily have spent the rest of the day withthese fantastic individuals.

This was hands down the best part of the whole weekend and itwas very moving to have been invited to visit the home of theseheroes past. I would personally like to thank Paddy Fox and allthe residents of the Royal Hospital Chelsea not only for theirservice to this country, but also for the warm and welcomingresponse to our visit. Also, thanks also goes out to QM Lt Col

Andrew Hickling and Sgt Maj Bob Appleby for the hospitalityand giving us all a humbling experience of visiting this wonderfulestablishment, we all look forward to visiting again soon. As wemoved on to our next event of the day it was clear we had allbeen affected by this visit in a very positive way.

All that remains for me to say is a huge thank you on behalf of allof us to the QMs Department for organising this trip in particularWO2 (RQMS) Kama, Sgt Danny Carter and Cpl Mark Porter.

CLASS 3-2 DAY EXPERIENCE - by Sig Newton

It was 0715hrs, time to get out of my warm sleeping bag, andinto the bitter cold Saturday morning breeze of Jince, CzechRepublic. After I dragged myself through the usual shower/shaveroutine and rushed to breakfast, I conversed with my Class 3workmates about the upcoming events of the day. Today wewere going to prove ourselves worthy of becoming Class 2Communication Systems Operators. At 0800hrs we met upinside the radio village for a briefing on how to properly prepare a

detachment for deployment, where we were going to site ourdetachments and what means of communication we were to use.

Shortly after, Sig Johnston and I quickly got to work making surewe were ready and fully prepared. This included making sure wehad all the necessary comms equipment for the task, personalkit, radios ready to go, trailer packed correctly and attached. Ihad to make sure we had everything from the Camnet to Mastadaptors. It was likely a HCDR (High-Capacity Data Radio)antenna would be elevated at some point as trials had takenplace a couple of weeks earlier which had proven data to bedifficult in the area from just the vehicle mount.

At 0930hrs we were given the call to head out, a quick radiocheck to our controlling station revealed our HF radio haddropped its fill;, bad start. After quickly dealing with the problem,we were back on the road. Our first location was a large clearingonly 2kms away (the site had recently been used as a mortarfiring position). We were only a short distance away from the sitewhen my co-driver gave me a wrong direction down a narrowgated off road which was almost impossible to turnaround with atrailer. This cost us valuable time.

Once we arrived in location, the trailer was disconnected andpositioned next to the FFR, the LFG was then taken out and setup to supply power to the vehicle batteries. Next we set up a9x9 tent at the rear of the vehicle in case we wanted to useremoting and/or have an admin area. The camnet was thensprawled across the detachment and pegged out. Whilst Sig

Johnston finished off the camnet and put up the campoles, Iheaded off to set up a PU12 mast in order to elevate a UHFantenna. With everything set up we tested both VHF and HFcomms which proved to work first time, unlike data over HCDRwhich was not as successful.

We were still at the clearing for lunch. Shortly after we were giventhe go ahead to tear down and move to the next location. Duringour departure disaster almost struck as our Rover struggled topull itself through the thick swampy mud we were surrounded by,luckily enough it made it through. We arrived at our next locationalmost before the other detachment had even left which we jokedabout as they didn’t even have the annoyance of a camnet. Thislocation was on a hill overlooking a range which had previouslybeen used as a target by artillery and mortar teams.

Members of the Sqn with Chelsea pensioner Paddy Fox

Sig Newton proves his worth

Sig Johnson wins the moustache competition


The height of the site meant comms should be quite good;however there was a dense amount of trees. VHF was stillworking however but we had lost our HF link. This meant we hadto set up the HF Broadband Antenna to enable us to get commsback in at the range we were at, taking into consideration theterrain we were on. We tested comms again with a call back tothe controlling station;, it worked straight away, happy days.Sending data through the VHF worked however the HCDR wasstill failing.

At around 1615hrs, 2Lt Thomas, SSgt Taylor, Cpl Yuille and Cpl

Birkett came to the site to see how we got on and ask usquestions relevant to completing our Class 3-2 workbook such aswhat we had done, what equipment we had used and how weovercame the faults we encountered. After that we were told totear down and return back to HQ. Overall it was a good learningexperience and refreshed certain skills which had faded sinceBlandford. All we can hope now is that we did enough to achieveClass 2.

OTHER UNITS

IV (ARMY COOPERATION) SQUADRON RAF

GROUND LIAISON OFFICER No IV (ARMY COOPERATION)

SQN RAF, JOINT FORCE HARRIER - by Capt David Galey

A variation of the post of Ground Liaison Officer (GLO) hasexisted in all RAF front line Sqns with a ground attack or supportrole since the Second World War. At various times since, itsimportance has been emphasised or degraded – during OpGRANBY the British Army were unable to fill the needs of thepost and USMC were asked for support. Since this period thestanding of the entire Air Land Integration (ALI) piece has steadilyrisen, with GLOs, JTACS, and FACs attracting volunteers from allCap Badges.

The role of the GLO on Operations is primarily to brief the pilotsprior to a Close Air Support (CAS) mission being flown.Essentially translating the ‘Army speak’ of those in contact, orabout to initiate a deliberate operation into a language whichaircrew can understand and enables them a full awareness ofwhat is happening on the ground. The GLO, along with Sqn IntOffr are typically the first and last 2 people spoken to prior to anaircraft departing, in order to brief and then confirm the situationon the ground has not changed. With 1000lb weapons beingdropped well within 100 metres of friendly forces it is a vital task.In 2009 the Harrier Force returned from Op HERRICK havingspent 5 years rotating its 3 Sqns through the Theatre.

Away from Operations the job is a great deal easier to timetable,the primary task being educating the pilots on Army formation,tactics, doctrine and the latest Operations and equipment. Whilstalso being prepared to reprise the Operational role, as the Harrierforce permanently holds the RAF version of SLE and remains athigh readiness for expeditionary warfare. The Operational rolealso reappears whenever an Ex begins – having a selection ofuseable scenarios helps a lot.

Now returned from HERRICK the Harrier Sqns have 3 mainExercises per year, the first held in Scotland, was a real eye-opener as to the professionalism and ability of those I workedwith. Comparable to a full Bde level ex, it involves the planningof various scenarios in real time, followed by flying the missions.With 5+ Sqns in the air simultaneously and real aircraft playingenemy or ‘Red Air’ this is a challenging task. What surprised memost is that this training is driven and planned at the Flight Lt(SO3/Capt rank) with more senior pilots present only to fly in themissions. I have certainly never seen a Bde Ex where the COShas stood back and left the entire planning and decision makingto SO3s. The second Ex involves up to 6 weeks on an aircraftcarrier, due to the need to practice amphibious landings and airoperations in the littoral (coast area) this Ex is usually conductedoff the west coast of the US and often within reach of New York –with weekends and other times being made available for ‘shoreleave’.

The final Ex which I have ‘endured’ with IV(AC) Sqn has been ExRED FLAG. This is an annual 4 week Ex at Nellis AirForce base,Nevada. Nellis was a 15 minute drive from our hotel just off theStrip in Las Vegas. In many ways I found this to be a moredemanding Ex than any I have experienced in the Army! Havingbeen struck by the professionalism of pilots in Scotland I felt thisbrought us back down to a more stereotypical image of the RAFpilot, ie drunk by a pool, not really capable of fending forthemselves and almost always missing wallet (2 pilots), hotel keys(various), luggage (just the one – and to clarify – Pilots do notcarry ‘kit’ in Bergens they carry clothes in luggage), or acombination of the three. To say that this Ex was socially andvocally led from the front by the Executive Offrs of the Sqn is amassive understatement. However, a month spent in Las Vegasis not something I would advise anyone to consider lightly.

That said, Red Flag provided a level of training which would makeany Service in the UK jealous. It is a realistic combat trainingexercise involving the air forces of the US and its Allies. Red Flagis conducted on the 15,000 square mile Nevada test and trainingrange, north of Las Vegas. The range contains a variety of smalltowns and villages designed for CAS in the urban environmentand entire columns of armoured vehicles which can be firedupon. The range also contained the ‘Box’, so to speak, a no flyarea roughly 100 x 100 miles centred (allegedly) on Groom Lake –if it exists obviously. The Ex is split into day and night waves withmore than 50 aircraft involved in each, meaning that for the 4week period, the airfield houses one of the largest and mostcapable Airforces in the world. Many of the US aircraft involvedgot the RAF pilots as excited as a PTI with a bottle of spray tan.

Capt Galey briefing pilots from IV(AC) Sqn prior to a mission

during Ex Red Flag ‘10 in Nevada


The growing scope for posting within the ALI environment is notsomething which should be ignored by the Officers or Soldiers ofthe Royal Corps. Having attended the Forward Air Controller(FAC), Combat Ready Course I can comfortably say that theintelligence and technical ability of the Royal Signals soldier putsthem at an advantage over the majority of those volunteeringfrom other Cap Badges. Once qualified the opportunity to deploywith a BG as the FAC, bringing in air strikes and causing very realeffects upon the enemy should appeal to many. The FAC hasbeen termed a ‘Strategic Cpl’ for the reason that in very few otherareas of the Army can a JNCO wield such powers of influence,both directly onto the battlefield and politically if he gets it wrong.The GLO post is again something which at senior Captain level isa real benefit. The chance to work in a teeth arm post, imbeddedin another service affords an access to, and understanding of,combined arms (and working with and within the US system)which is not accessible to most R SIGNALS Captains.

My first year in post has been excellent, gaining experienceswhich can only be extremely useful in my later career whilst alsohaving an enormous amount of fun! The next year should provideequal challenges and enjoyment. I hope to attend another ExRED FLAG in 2011 and expect to spend some time on board oneof the Aircraft carriers in September 2010. Before all of this I will

be spending 4 months as the SO2 Battlefield CoordinationDetachment (Army) (BCD(A)) in the US AFCENT CAOC, Al Udeid.The CAOC runs all air in Iraq, HERRICK and anti-pirating Opsaround the Horn of Africa.

The GLO with Pilots

JOINT COMMUNICATIONS UNIT(FALKLAND ISLANDS)

ISS SAI

OC Maj Ben Howarth

USM WO2 (USM) Will Morrow

UNIT HEADQUARTERS

Another quarter has once again seen another turnover ofpersonnel. The start of April saw the departure of WO2 (USM)

Steve Carley of the RLC and the arrival of his replacement, WO2

(USM) Will Morrow. We said cheerio to WO Dave Nolan RAFand welcomed WO Simon Curtis RAF as the new XO and alsowaved off our Chief Clerk Cpl Caz Bowen and ushered in herreplacement, Cpl Sarah Chapman.

Amongst our sections, the IT Cell have said farewell to Sgt

Froggett in March and Sgt Jerry Newby RAF in April andwelcomed their replacements Sgt Kev Spinks and Sgt Andy

Carrick RAF. In February our Commcen waved goodbye to PO

Chris Holden RN and greeted PO Cameron Ross RN, whileSyscon saw the departure of Sgt Madeline Tysoe RAF andwelcomed Sgt Rob Holland RAF.

THE BFSAI CUP

January saw the beginning of the new BFSAI Cup 2010: 12 unitsfrom across theatre will battle it out for the BFSAI Cup trophyover the coming year. The competition comprises of 11 sportingevents: a swimming gala, 5-a-side football, cross country, SuperTeams, volleyball, racket sports, netball, kwik cricket, uni-hoc, theTurkey Trot (a 10km race) and a 10km march and shoot. ISS SAIis looking to improve on our 4th position of 2009 and have madea cracking start in the first 3 events. An excellent performance inthe swimming gala in January from the OC Maj Ben Howarth,the OpsO Flt Lt Nick Harris, Sgts Madeline Tysoe and Billy

Evans, Cpl ‘Clazz’ McClarence, LCpl Abraham, AB Stacey

Lismore, Pte Natalie Pearce, and Sigs Chris Page and ‘Demi’

Moore resulted in 2nd place, with LCpl Abraham, Sig Page andSig Moore providing the laughs with their comical routine in thesynchronised swimming event. ISS SAI continued their winningstreak in the 5-a-side football tournament, lead by Cpl Dan

Weatherhead, trouncing the competition and coming 1st. Thethird event of the BFSAI cup, the volleyball held in March, was acompletely different story however with the Unit coming 9th!Though disappointing, our first 2 strong performances managed

to carry us over and we currently sit joint 1st with the ResidentRapier Battery. There is everything to play for in April’s event -the X-Country!

THE COMMONWEALTH BATON - LCpl Bronwen Bierman

The Unit was recently tasked, along with other units from acrossBFSAI, to carry the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games Batonwhen it visited the Falklands on its world tour prior to the start ofthe games in October 2010. The team representing ISS SAIcomprised of the OC, Ops Officer Flt Lt Nick Harris, Sgt

O’Mahony-Doran, Sgt Rhys Williams RAF, Cpl Lee

McClarence, LCpl Bronwen Bierman, LS Greenlees RN andPte Natalie Pearce AGC (SPS).

The Commonwealth Games committee had obviously been wellbriefed on the sort of weather the Falklands experiences and sothe baton had been cleverly prepared for its trip: it had its ownlittle waterproof jacket for the rain and sparkly lights for the fog.The baton was surprisingly heavy as it was filled with soil from allthe corners of India and this caused a lot of the RAF to struggleand have to employ the 2 man lift technique!

Led by Sgt O’Mahony-Doran, the sportsmen and women carriedthe Baton in turns on the road from Mare Harbour to the MountPleasant Complex before passing it on to the next team. TheBaton completed a shorter tour than most of its carriers though itdid see a lot better weather than most in the 2 days it was here.Carrying the Commonwealth Games Baton was certainly a uniqueopportunity for those runners of the Unit and it will definitely beadded to the ever-increasing list of memories from this inimitabletheatre!


“pep” talk: “Come on lads, if we win this we are…erm…winners!”Yeah cheers for that. As the day wore on shoulders were sorefrom carrying the 18kg. LCpl Abraham irritated everyone bycontinuing to look unfairly spritely, though as he was only carryingan 18lb handbag the rest of the team rewarded him with a semi-constant stream of grief from start to finish.

As the final day started Cpl Barinisavu was having seriousproblems with his feet, with numerous blisters and someelephantine swelling on his sprained ankle. He showed somegreat physical and mental courage to keep going. People werestarting to get a little tired, and it was beginning to show, thoughfortunately comic relief was never too far away. As we navigateda small water crossing LCpl Smith decided to take the directroute and immediately fell in, much to the amusement of the restof the team. The next thing we saw was his dummy, which hespat out, floating down the stream. Next up was Sgt Craven,who expertly threw his Bergan across to the other side, only tosee it promptly roll back down and follow the same route as LCpl

Smith’s dummy. This was followed by another round of roaringlaughter which could be heard by the team that was a milebehind us. The last leg took us through between Mount Longdonand Mount Tumbledown. Sgt Sila was the next to break andcould be heard screaming “How much further is it…Which hillsare we going past…Where on earth is Stanley?!” Once wecalmed him down and assured him we were going in the rightdirection we cracked on. As we entered Stanley, Cpl Barinisavu

was in so much agony with his feet he decided it would be ok toupend his rifle and use it as a crutch! After being swiftlyreminded that this is not the correct way to use your rifle, andthat we only had a few miles left, we picked up the pace. As weneared the town centre we formed up into a smart body of menwith berets on and heads held high. The locals looked on in awe,which boosted the pace again. Up Globe Hill and in throughHillside camp gates we were finally greeted with applause.

The total time taken was 22hrs 24mins. We were the fastestteam to finish with every team member covering every mile of therace. Well done lads- a fantastic achievement. The event raised£3,628 for Macmillan Cancer Research.

PLEASANT PEAK MEMORIAL - LCpl Stephen Thomas

On Sunday 6 June 2010, members of ISS SAI from all 3 Servicesattended a memorial service for 2 fallen Royal Corps of Signalssoldiers and two Army Air Corps soldiers of the 1982 war. Theservice takes place at Pleasant Peak annually, near to the sight ofthe memorial for the 4 soldiers who lost their lives following ablue on blue accident on the same date in 1982. Although theservice took place at this specific memorial, all in attendance paidtheir respects to all fallen communicators throughout the morerecent conflicts as well as past.

At 1000hrs USM WO2 Morrow brought the parade to attentionfor the arrival of OC ISS SAI Maj Howarth who gave the openingaddress. The Tp Comd, Lt George Merchant, followed with areading of an extract from the book One Hundred Days, giving abrief outline of what happened to the 4 soldiers and the crucialrole the lack of personal communications played in the tragedy.The OC read the Roll of Honour with all the names of the otherRoyal Signals soldiers who lost their lives during the FalklandsWar and a wreath from the Unit was laid by XO WO Curtis. Afterthe traditional but always poignant 2 minute silence the USMWO2 Morrow read the extract from For the Fallen. The youngestSignaller of the Unit, Sig “Demi” Moore, followed with theCollect of the Royal Corps of Signals, before the service wasbrought to a close by the OC leading with the prayer for theForces of the Crown.

EXERCISE CONDOR YOMP

It all started on a dark and windy morning on 9 February 10.Seven teams from across Mount Pleasant Complex (MPC)deployed by helicopter to Port San Carlos for Ex Condor Yomp,the 67 mile tab from Port San Carlos to Stanley carrying full kit(approx 18kg) to replicate 42 Commando’s insertion tab of 1982.ISS SAI (JCUFI)’s team comprised of Sgt Chris Craven (30 SigRegt), Sgt Meli Sila (22 Sig Regt), Cpl ‘Clazz’ McClarence andCpl ‘Barney’ Barinisavu (both 10 Sig Regt), LCpl ‘Asbo’

Abraham (10 Sig Regt) and LCpl Shane Smith (2 Sig Regt).

The day got off to a comical start, with Sgt Sila asking aboutanother team‘s “new issue” rifles, which were actually SLRs!However not long after we set off we realised that this was goingto be harder than initially thought, with blisters and hotspotsmaking an unwelcome early appearance for some members ofthe team. The infamous Falklands weather was not doing us anyfavours either, going through all 4 seasons within a matter ofhours. Most of the team could cope with this; however, Cpl

McClarence could be heard across the hills whinging aboutevery season! After a long slog the team completed the first day(of 3) and set up camp in a sheep shearer’s shed to tend to somesore feet and get some much needed sleep.

The next morning the teams began preparing for day 2, thelongest of the 3 days, covering 29 miles. Our legs were stiff andwe were starting to get worried, but when we looked around atother teams our spirits were lifted: it appeared by the way theywere walking that instead of getting some sleep they had beenriding around on horseback all night! With the smell of DeepHeat drifting across the Falklands we stepped off. Moraleremained surprisingly high with the help of some good qualitychunders. LCpl Smith tried to boost our morale with a little

Every Man, Every Mile!” - ISS SAI JCUFI CONDOR YOMP Team

2010

JOINT SERVICE SIGNAL UNIT (CYPRUS)

CO Lt Col Dooley

RSM WO1 (RSM) Walledge

JSSU (CYP) CORPORAL’S CLUB OPENS

Earlier in the year the CO Lt Col Dooley gave authority for theformer football club building to be converted in to a Corporals’

Club. After months of deciding how the bar was to be run and allthe other administration needed, we finally got there.

The volunteer members of the committee are Cpl Paul Boyde

(RAF) PMC, Cpl Bitu Williams (1 Sqn Rep) LLogs Sally Kennet

(2 Sqn) and Cpl David Heart (HQ Sqn) and most importantly Cpl

David Lemon as events and Cpl Logan as the bar manager. A


special thanks goes to FS Adam Sargeant who hashelped guide the committee in setting up the bar.

The Corporals Club is now in full swing and doingwell. With the purchase of patio furniture and amassive 2.5x4m projector screen on the wall outside,the club has opened it’s doors to all members of theUnit for the duration of the World Cup.

AUCTION OF PROMISES

On 5 June SAFFA held another massively successfulevent in the form of an Auction of Promises at therecently opened Corporals’ Club. All departmentsgave generously as did many of the wives andpartners.

The promises ranged from a free years golf club membership,dog walking, taxi services, babysitting, cheesecakes, tickets tothe Unit Cocktail Party and not to mention the option to bid for aday as the CO or RSM. The MT offered their services by way ofa car wash where all the members of the section will wear verytight man-kinis. One of the biggest fundraisers of the eveningwas the sale of the Unit rugby team’s contribution. The luckybidders got the chance to decide the layout of the team charitycalendar.

The record individual sale of 120 Euros went to CPO Thomas

(RN), who performed the dance move, the worm much to thedelight of the crowd. The event made an amazing 6500 Euros,which has been used to help turn the unit’s old church to anindoor children’s play area which will open next month. A specialthanks goes to SODEXHO who provided food for the eveningsBBQ.

SPORTSPERSONS DINNER

The grand opening of the JSSU (Cyprus) Corporals’ Club wasdone with the Annual Sportsperson’s Dinner, to award prizes andcongratulates the sports men and women of the unit.

The Ay Nick sportsperson of the year was awarded to Cpl David

Lemon with second and third going to Sgt Stanley and Cpl Reg

Hollins. There were various awards of sporting colours. In theCross Country colours were awarded to CO Lt Col Dooley, WO1

Reeves, WO2 Mitchell and Cpl Lemon. Awards were presentedto Sgt Di Ward, Mrs Lynn Longmuir and Mrs Jo Hannigan fornetball, Sgt Si Gray for golf and finally Cpl Hollins and Mr Scott

Gudge for football. A good night was had by all but not muchsport happened the day after. This event also gave the Corporals’Club its first opportunity to show itself off and create a presenceas a club.

JSSU (CYP) WIN THE ANNUAL SWIMMING GALA

The annual swimming gala was held Mid-May at the JSSU (Cyp)swimming pool. Most the Sovereign Base Areas garrisonsmanaged to field a team with the exception of Episkopi Garrison.There were a variety of different events ranging from the 50m freestyle to 100m backstroke, culminating in the blue ribbon event ofthe 400m medley. JSSU (Cyp) came first thanks to sterlingperformances from Cpl Giles and Cpl Lemon who scoopedmany of points for the unit. RAF Akotiri came second withDhekelia coming third.

CYPRUS CYCLE CHALLENGE - by Flt Lt Steve Joseph

The Cyprus Cycle Challenge was the event of the year for the AyNik Cycle Club. It was a breath-taking ride in every sense of thephrase that took in over 500 km in just 4 days. The total ascentwas in excess of 5000m and the scenery was truly something tobehold. However, none of it would be achievable without thevolunteer support team to whom I owe a massive thanks.

Day one of the Challenge, on what felt like the chill of a springmorning, saw the riders exceed speeds of 80km/h on the Troodos

descent. Switchbacks and shear drops, dramatic rock wallslooming skyward and trees that lined the road whooshing by allheightened the excitement of the descent. Very soon we werepedalling hard on level ground intoxicated by our initial speed.Passing through the villages at the foot of the mountain, beingexpertly flanked by outriders from the Bondo Rats that kept ussafe, we soon began to feel the heat of the day’s sun. Westripped layers off at an impromptu stop and rode onward to thepolice rendezvous.

Buzzing with the thrill of the mileage we had just churned up wesettled in a peloton formation and made our way on route throughNicosia behind the police escort. Luckily(!), SSgt Fitzmaurice

was mis-lead by GPS and all riders muttered their appreciationfor the extra mileage as different points in the city were passedagain and again… At points on the ride the roads were quietenough to break out from the peloton and allow riders to takethings at their own sweet pace. A real feel for the countrysidewas experienced and soon we approached Dhekilia as theheavens opened. Pressing on to Ay Nik, the sun’s timelyappearance at Vrysoules made the sight of the home-station allthe more welcome. We regrouped and rode in smiling as apeloton to the cheers of family and friends having completed over160 km.

Day 2 - Ay Nik to Episkopi. We set off towards Dhekelia and aftera quick photo shoot we set off again to the rendezvous with thepolice escort at Larnaca where we had the first puncture of theday. There was a mixture of showers and gusts that punctuatedthe glorious weather as we made our way through Larnaca,coastal road and countryside to Limassol. Our first notable climbwas the road to Episkopi, which all riders did as they camesmiling in to the finish. Over half the distance of the ride hadbeen completed with that day’s 140 km.

Day 3 - Episkopi to Polis. The ride started with a descent intohappy valley, but what goes down unfortunately doesn’t stay


down. Further climbs led to fast descents where speeds of 80km/h were breached. Slowing as the roads levelled out to thengently round a corner to the breath-takingly beautiful sceneryaround Aphrodite’s Rock. A gorgeous windless day had everyonein high spirits as we cycled to Paphos for a lunch stop. The meatof the day was yet to come. Droushia Heights was probably themost aggressive climb the novices had every seen; however,switch back after, steep slope, after gear change into granny gearall the riders conquered the climb one after the other. Then asuperbly smooth coast down hill, saw us all to the hotel wheremassages, cool drinks and hot food awaited.

Day 4 - Polis toTroodos. My bike took one look and fell apart. Tojeers from the high spirited riders I swapped my trusted steed fora club bike. We rode together for about 25 km until we reachedthe foot of the mountain. With a quick tune up for bike and riderwe set off. I can only speak for myself as I was at the back allthe way and last man in. I looked up at the mountain and thesize of the task hit me. The aggressive initial climb had me out ofthe seat pushing hard on the pedals as I inched up the hill. Forcompany I had my Ipod, Mrs Debs Evan and the most beautifulscenery yet to come. As I got used to the bike, the hill levelledout a bit and I sat down and started to spin myself up the hill.

I chatted; I looked around and span. The climb seemed to go onforever but at times the sights simply left me speechless.

Minutes turned to hours and still we climbed. The gorgeousweather meant that as we climbed we were warm and didn’t haveto put layers on. A couple of times the mountain road levelledout and even plunged down causing me to grimace at the lost ofheight that I had fought for. As the speed picked up I weaved inand out avoiding random rocks that had fallen earlier. TheKykkos Monastery went by and the road dipped off and reallyplunged downward.

Eventually, in the distance a massive white cross that signified thevery last climb came into view. A mental check of the bodyshowed no injury and a reserve of energy that would surely beenough to get me to the top. Debs rode next to me with apositive spring in her spin. The air started to thin then themountain got mean. Out the seat and pumping for all I wasworth, the bike inched ever forward. My thighs ached, my handshurt and the road seemed to get steeper. Hours had passed byand I had no reserves of energy left. Debs gave encouragementall the way. The only thing that made the bike go forward waswill power. Then… it was over, the road levelled out and myspeed picked up…dramatically. I rode up the camp and climbedthe hill to the Combined Mess. All the riders and family cameinto view and I broke into the biggest smile of my life. So I guessI can tell you from personal experience what victory feels like. Itcan’t be expressed fully but saying, “one of the best feelingsever” goes some way to indicating the right direction.

DE&S - CYPRUS COMMUNICATIONS UNIT

OC Maj M McCorry

USM WO2 N Elliot

AKROTIRI SECTION - by Sig Peters

The Section would like to say goodbye to the following people:Sig Peters who is leaving us at the end of May and SSgt (FofS)

Dryden who is leaving us in June posted to 7 Sig Regt, Germany.We wish them and their families all the best for the future.The Section has been busy finishing off Project Welchman whichinvolved laying over 30 km of fibre optic cable around RAFAkrotiri. We will all be glad when that is finished. The work isslowly dwindling as BTes take over and everyone is posted out,however there is still enough to keep us ticking over.

At the time of writing SSgt King MBE is currently on an ExplosiveSafety Officer course which is being run in Cyprus for the firsttime. I personally wouldn’t let him near any explosive devices.Sgt Simpson is also on a course just now, the slightly lessimpressive DIT Trainer course, treat yourself Dino. We will leteveryone know how they got on in the next entry.

Sig Alex Hopkins recently arranged a day clay pigeon shootingfor Epi & Aki Section with Mexican themed refreshments anddrinks in the evening. A good day shooting all round, thoughshouts of fix were called when the organiser came out victorious.None the less a good day and night was had by all and we wouldlike to thank him for his efforts.

We would like to congratulate, SSgt King MBE and LCpl Hardy,

who have recently completed their Endurance Training Leader(ETL) course, and now regularly take the section for runs as partof our PT

The section is not all about work and courses. SSgt King MBE,SSgt (FofS) Dryden, LCpls Reeve and Hardy and Sigs Hall andHopkins take part in Akrotiri’s Bowling League every week, andat present sit in the middle of the table. Lets all hope they can dobetter than last year’s team who finished second to bottom. SSgt

(FofS) Dryden, Sigs Lollis, Hall, Peters and Hopkins have allregularly been taking part in the Cyprus orienteering league whenwork permits. Finally, Sig Hopkins recently took part in the Gateto Gate challenge, which is actually Gym to Gym, from Episkopi

Garrison gymnasium, to RAF Akrotiri gymnasium with arespectable time of 2 hours.

DHEKELIA SECTION - by Sig Goodluck

Morale in CCU Dhekelia has been at an all time high recently asmembers of the section have kept themselves occupied withvarious tasks and activities, ranging from fine tuning their militaryskills, learning and improving their skills in AT courses andprogressing in their Army careers by taking on new roles that willbroaden their horizons in future.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate SSgt Fisher on completing hisWO CLM course at Blandford recently in preparation for his newposition at his next posting. SSgt Fisher’s learning capabilitieswill be tested in learning Arabic which will prove useful to him andothers at his next posting in Oman. I believe in no time at all hewill be able to teach the section this new language he isacquiring.

Sgt Poole has returned from his flying grading and selectioncourse and has impressed us all on passing the selection board.He is now able to carry out over 180 flight preparation andcontrol checks and confident enough to fly and land a Grob tutoraircraft safely. Well done to him on his brilliant efforts and willnow progress on to Helicopter flight training.

Amongst the inspiring characters in the section, Cpl Dave Keen

has successfully completed his MAPRIC course and throughsheer perseverance he went through the unfortunate event ofpopping his stitches from his recent vasectomy. Cpl Keen hasput his new instructor skills to use by getting members of thesection up to date on their map reading skills.

Sig Loney and Downey have been busy; both are currentlyundergoing training for the CypSAAM competition this year aspart of the CCU team. Sig Loney recently took part in theparachuting section of the UGAT course, and had spent most ofhis time mastering the reserve drills part of the course more thananything. He has now attempted and successfully completed hisfirst static line jump from an altitude of 3500ft and cannot wait todo it again. Through sheer devotion to the sport, Sig Downey

has been selected to play for the Army football team (Cyprus) and


played well in his first game against the RAF. Commiserations goto him and the team for the 4-0 score line.

An escape and evasion exercise organised by Cyprus MilitaryWorking Dogs Support Unit (CMWDSU) held around the Episkopidistrict. There were 15 teams from across the island with 9 dogteams hunting them all down. Cpl Watson, Sig Loney and Sig

Downey from Dhekelia section teamed up and quite impressivelyonly got captured four times while they tried to make it to theirfinal destination undetected (20-25km depending on route taken). Cpl Watson has now embarked on his detachment to BATUSCanada and will take on the role of acting Sgt while workingabroad.

Farewell to Sig Phillips as he has now left the Army and isadapting to civilian life. As one of the loud characters in thetroop, his presence has not gone un-noticed and will be missed.Sig Phillips’ leaving function was tied in with the Bitsa barclosing event, where he said his farewells and had his last cup offriendship. That night the Bitsa bar had a wide range of guestspresent from the section and other supporting units on thegarrison, with a wide range or events going on. A surprise visitwas paid by Sgt Sankey who was posted out of CCU a few

months ago. With warm welcomes, it was no surprise to us allthat his “competitive dad” attitude could still be observed duringthe fun and games activities at the bar.

EPISKOPI SECTION - by LCpl Buley

As always when speaking about the Cyprus workstationsWelshmen is still an ongoing subject but the end is now in sightsince the arrival of Bailey Teswain, or as Sig ‘Billy’ Elliott said“Bill and Teds way”. Most everyday work has been taken off ourhands so all that is left is survey work and the finalising of thecamps ready for us to jet off next year.

The past few months have been filled with sorrow and joy as wehave had to say goodbye to SSgt Ian Farrow as he leaves tobecome a member of CPO travelling via Brunei and LCpl Dave

Hamilton also travelling to Corsham via Afghan. We would alsolike to say goodbye to the Techs in our section first bycongratulating SSgt (FofS) Dave Wood on his promotion to WO2and we have said goodbye to Sgt Graham Le May as we losehim to 22 Sig Regt. He will be missed although it has beennoticed when people have taken on his work and duties, theyhave ended up with less to do!

ENGINEERING OPERATIONS INSTALLATION SERVICES TEAM

OC Maj A O H Biggs

Tp SSgt SSgt A D’OR

With the first quarter of the year completed and the Christmasmince pies finally burnt off IST have yet another busy time aheadof them. I would Like to take this opportunity to give Sgt Andy

Stewart, Cpl Michael Johnson, LCpl Dan Matthews, SAC

Matthew Waters and SAC Luke McDevitt a warm welcome anda big congratulations to Sgt Stewart and his wife Kristy on therenew born baby boy James and Sgt William Downey and hiswife Tracey with their baby boy Joshua. Also congratulations toSgt Andy Bradley, SAC Ben Gray and SAC Steve Bullock ontheir promotions. Also the team say goodbye to Sgt Danny

Hogg who has left sunny Henlow for beautiful Milton Keynes onposting to 299 Sig Sqn and to Cpl Ian Pearce and his wife andtwo boys as they disappear off to sunnier climes to Gibraltar.

PJHQ NORTHWOOD - by SAC(T) Grout

With ever increasing demand from the MOD to improve service aswell as save money, a team from IST at RAF Henlow were taskedto help in the migration of equipment from the old PJHQ buildingat Northwood to the new multi-million pound state of the artbuild. Although the skill set was offset for the guys involved,there was no task too challenging and the more relaxed job was awelcome break for guys that deploy on average 7 months everyyear. Personnel range from new RAF SAC’s to the older andbolder Army and RAF Sgts with just as much of a range ofexperience to match. The task was a big change from what theguys are use to, with most of the tasking in the less appealingclimates of Afghanistan along with other hot sandy areas of theMiddle East.

The usual work carried out by IST is network infrastructure andthe passive side of networking, whether it is on a small add-on toa building for a week or a major refit for 3 months. The workcarried out at PJHQ was not only vital to the migration of theusers to keep the systems running and working for guys on theground but also saved the MOD over £600,000 in civiliancontractors, which in this current climate is a notable sum ofmoney and money saved could now be relocated to help guys onthe ground.

PJHQ is now one of the most impressive building and workingenvironments within the MOD and not only will this improve theimage of the MOD to other countries but also aid the mostimportant point of all, to speed up decisive military action.

MEDALS PARADE - by SAC (T) Shuker

On Monday 22 March 2010 12 members of IST were therecipients of the OSM Afghanistan with clasp meda. This was forwork done on the relocation and installation of the 904Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW) HQ at Kandahar Airfield. Themedals were presented by Air Cdre TLJ Bishop OBE with Gp

Capt ME Bunting (Dep Hd Eng Ops) in attendance. Theserecipients were part of a larger team from IST that work withinDE&S located at RAF Henlow which includes both Royal SignalsInstallation Technicians and RAF personnel with varied levels ofknowledge and experience, some of which have been servingless than 18 months. The 18 strong team deployed to carry outthe relocation of the new 904 EAW at Kandahar airfield.

The brand new build was still in its construction phase when theteam deployed and carried out the major network infrastructurethat amounted to around about 4000 fibre terminations, 2000copper terminations and hundreds of kilometres of cable beinginstalled.

This fit not only gave 904 EAW a new platform to work with all thesections who make up 904 integrated rather than spread acrossthe airfield but also made the fast air jet capability more readily

Installation Team medals parade


on carbohydrates was set to. It can definitely be said howeverthat some members of the team took on more carbs thanothers…

Day 2 started early with Sgt Si Johns and his admin crew sortingout the teams with food ready to begin the challenge ahead. The2 teams were transported to the base of Snowdon and startedthe ascent at around 09:00. The first team set off like a rocket,whilst the other team with the older members were pacingthemselves, using the ‘hare and tortoise’ method. The weatherwas holding for the most part but as the teams neared thesummit the cloud cover provided poor visibility and strong winds.As Team 2 were about 100m from the summit they were passedby Team 1 who were already on the way down. Team 2eventually reached the summit at about 10:30 and after a quickphoto and a chocolate bar they started their descent.

On the way down Team 2 had a couple of falls with SAC Tim

Shuker taking a tumble on some slippery rocks and Sgt John

Crutchley stumbling whilst checking out the “scenery” providedby a young blond lady. Eventually the Pen-y-pass carpark wasreached and the support crew were there waiting with food andwarm brews for the long bus journey across to Scafel Pyke.Team 1 now with a 40min lead on Team 2 but as they had aminibus with a limit of 62mph both teams arrived within 10minutes of each other.

Once the teams had checked their kit and supplies they headedoff with team 1 racing ahead again. About midway up team 2lost one of their team members, SAC Tim Shuker, still sufferingfrom his earlier tumble. At least this is what he said, howevermost of the others agreed that ‘Tim was simply not man enoughto carry on’. Team 2 carried on towards the summit with theweather closing in, but Team 1 hit the summit with poor visibility,however by the time Team 2 reached it the weather had cleared.By this time Team 1 were well on the way back down. Again theyreached the base of the hill and took on body fuel, beforeheading off on the long journey to Ben Nevis. At this point Team2 were almost an hour behind, but both teams were now startingto feel the pace.

Teams 1 and 2 arrived at Ben Nevis together due to the slowwagon, much to the dismay of the ‘Hares’. But now deep intothe night with typical bad weather for the area, both teams set offtogether straight away with water proofs and head torchesdonned. Keeping the 2 teams relatively close together theyheaded towards the final summit, but with morale getting lowthey slowly soldiered on. Unfortunately due to the adverseconditions at around 300m from the summit the teams had to callit quits primarily due to the snow and ice impeding the way.Feeling a bit disheartened the 2 teams headed back down to thewagons. By this time it was daybreak and the teams took onsome food, loaded up the wagons and prepared for the long(incredibly exciting) journey back to Henlow.

CLIMBING CHAMPIONSHIP - by SAC Neil Mathershaw

The AMA climbing championships were held at Boulders climbingcentre, Cardiff. The competition stretched over 2 days, 20 – 21May 2010.

The competition started on Thursday morning with everyone wellprepared and eager to get underway. The beginning was straightforward involving 6 climbs, with a short break in between, eachgetting progressively harder. Each individual would attempt all 6climbs and then be graded and put into one of 3 categories, Elite,Open and Novice. However due to the necessity of the 103competitors needing to attempt the climbs and be graded therest of the day was set. The scoring system for the climbs wasbased on how far you climbed. The higher the hold that wastouched, the higher your score, with a maximum of 100 pointsper climb.

After these grading climbs the results for the 3 representativesfrom IST, Henlow stood with: Sgt Andy Stewart, Position 18thElite league, SAC Ben Gray, Position 24th, Open league and

available for the guys needing it on the front line. When the teamhad completed there task and were just over a week away fromgoing home they were re-tasked for a in-theatre effort to improvea number of locations at Camp Bastion. This included animprovement of services to the emergency field hospital just intime for current operations, a new HQ for the Royal Welsh andimprovement for the Engineers. This work was vital to the upkeep and improved the support for front line troops who are onthe sharp end of current operations.

POOLE TASKING - by SAC Leach

IST received a manning request for a team of 4 to complete aninstallations task at Rockley Park, Poole. Upon receiving thatrequest the team of 4, Sgt Bradley, Cpl Day, SAC (T)

Mathershaw and myself set about obtaining the necessary toolsneeded for the job and traveled down to Poole for what would bea seven week task of installing cable infrastructure to a newlyrefurbished building. As this task was a fresh fit this requiredcontainment being put up throughout the building along the cableroute: trunking is normally a straight forward task however due tothe building having wonky walls, pipes everywhere and the floorand ceiling tiles not being level this made the task more enjoyableand interesting to say the least. This also involved the installationof outlets for user capability both copper and fibre: howeveranother task that is usually straight forward involved us punchingholes through various wall divides, the task also involved theinstallation of cabs for termination of the copper and fibre outletswhich also would allow for patching at a later date.

Other jobs within the tasking consisted of pulling backbonecables between other buildings to amalgamate the newinstallation to the already installed infrastructure at Rockley Park.Outside of work hours we were all able to enjoy the luxuryPremier Inn and become very well fed with the attachedrestaurant. After a few weeks at the same restaurant we decidedto move for a all you can eat, which by this point Neil wasachieving with ease.

3 PEAKS CHALLENGE - by SAC Tim Shuker

On 26 April 2010 two teams of relatively willing volunteers fromIST met at work ready to start on the three peaks challenge.Soon after they were joined by the expedition organiser who haddecided on balance to have a lie-in. With SAC Neil Mathershaw

finally there to ensure the smooth running of the expeditioneveryone was ready to go.

Eventually departing Henlow at 0830 and heading for Snowdon ascheduled pit-stop was made courtesy of RAF Cosford for lunch.After this, the rest of the long journey was started with each ofthe three vehicles knowing the “best” route to get there howeverCpl Johnson with the aid of a sat-nav was last to reach thedestination.

The group arrived at the campsite at about 15:30, which islocated about 20 minutes drive from the base of Snowdon.Everyone started the inevitable fight over who they would share atent with before setting up camp. Due to Neil’s fine organisationthe campsite was located conveniently next to a pub and sowithout further fuss and after a little admin, the hard job of taking


bringing up the rear was myself, SAC Neil Mathershaw, Position99th, Novice league. Considering that prior to the event I hadonly 5 hours of climbing experience under my belt, I wasconsiderably pleased with the fact that I was able to beat 4 otherchumps….. I mean competitors.

Moving on to day 2 of the competition with the new groupsformed, each group was allocated one climb route each.Obviously the grade of the climb was dependant on the climbinggroups’ abilities. For myself way back at the bottom end of thenovice league, looking at the elite leagues qualifying climb I wasoverwhelmed. This made me a lot happier when confronted withthe climb that I would be attempting in my category. Aftereveryone had completed, or at least attempted their respectiveclimbs there was an anxious wait to see who had made it throughto the finals. The finals were made up of the top 8 climbers fromeach category except for the novice league which was decidedfrom the Friday morning climb. Therefore my position was 26thout of 40 which it is safe to say I was made up with.Unfortunately for Andy and Ben they did not quite make it to thefinals of their respective groups. Andy finished 15th out of the 20elite climbers, whilst Ben finished 10th out of the 20 openclimbers, just missing out on the finals by 6 seconds.

When it came to the presentation at the end we were awardedthe plastic spork, as apposed to the more popular wooden spoonfor coming third in the speed climb and to each of our surprisewe managed an awesome 2nd place for overall team and wereawarded a plaque for our trouble. So over all I consider myintroduction to climbing to be a success and I was more thanpleased with the outcome.

GLENCALVIE CHALLENGE - by Cpl Day

On Saturday 22 May 2010, 4 intrepid members of IST completeda 17.5 mile tab with body armour, webbing and bergen, weighing40lb to raising money for ‘Help for Heroes’ aided and abetted by3 admin members from the team.

The Challenge was completed by an assortment of walkers,runners, cyclists and dogs with a total of £5,000 raised for charity,of this £400 was by members of IST standing outside the cook-house and accosting members of the civil service around Henlow;a large amount of this came from special efforts made by SAC

‘Nigel’ Mansell.

The event was a typical early start with a slight headache beingprovided kindly by the people at ‘Weatherspoons’ from thepreparation period the day before the event. We were thentransported to the start line which was somewhere near Inverness– do not ask me where… and the event begun.

Our team was going to complete this as a steady tab but then themilitary sprit began to run though our veins and the idea ofwinning suddenly became our main aim. However due to

definitely the hottest day ever recorded in Inverness (20C) our aimbecame somewhat out of reach. Twelve miles into the event thepain became obvious in our feet and each mile saw a slowing inpace.

After 15 miles the team started to drive for the finish together andthe final push was completed as a “smart as a carrot” team effortand completing it in a respectable time, a good all round solideffort.

LEONARD CHESHIRE CARE HOME - by SAC Matt Waters

Finally our boss Maj Biggs saw an opportunity after a couple ofjobs were cancelled to help out the local community, in the formof a bit of painting at the local Leonard Cheshire home. This is acare home for physically disabled individuals of all ages,providing 24 hour care, and as there building had become a littleworn around the edges this gave us an opportunity to help out.

We were greeted warmly by the staff who showed us around thehome, explaining their role as well as the work to be carried out.This involved the removal of old wood stain and varnish andreplacing it with new stain. The work was not exactly challenginghowever we still took a casualty on the first day where Cpl

‘Doris’ Day was victim of a horrific splinter related accident. Histhumb a little red and swollen was deemed to not quite beserious enough for A&E so this was fixed in house.

On the second day we were visited by a member of the presstaking photos for one of the local newspapers, which was awelcome break from painting.

I think I speak for the section when I say that it was a really goodopportunity to carry out some work away from the workenvironment as well as being in the great outdoors.

Many thanks to the staff and residents of the care home for theirwarm welcome and amazing hospitality, the lunches we receivedwhile completing the work were extremely well received.

IST Team SAC Mark Sloane, Cpl ‘Doris’ Day, SAC ‘Nigel’ Mansell

and Maj Alistair Biggs

BRITISH ARMY TRAINING UNIT KENYA

Comd Col Hutton CBE Late Para

I/C CIS Sect WO2 (YofS) Bri Rawlings

Leaving the 2 foot of snow behind in Herford, I set off for sunnyKenya towards the end of February, without a massive idea ofwhat I would be doing when I got there! Arriving at JomoKenyatta Airport at 0600 after an overnight flight from Heathrowto be met by one of the Locally Employed Civilians (LEC) and atwo and a half hour drive through the Nairobi rush hour to BritishArmy Training Unit Kenya (BATUK).

BATUK is situated on two sites, BATUK Rear on Kifaru Camp,which is part of the Kahawa Bks complex of the Kenyan Army,and BATUK Main, up country at Nanyuki Show Ground (NSG),

which will be familiar to anybody who has ever been part of aGrand Prix exercise.

CIS section is likewise split into two parts, CIS Main at KifaruCamp where the bulk of the CIS workload happens and CIS Fwdat NSG, which is mostly concerned with supporting the variousexercises that take place in Kenya throughout the year.

The section is headed up by WO2 (YofS) Bri Rawlings, who alsodoubles up as I/C section, OpsO, Tffc Offr, and head cook andbottle washer! Ably supporting him are normally 7 or 8 othermembers, although, this can increase up to 12 during personnelchangeovers. We are all undertaking attachments and postingsof different lengths from 6 weeks (for myself), through to 6


months for most of us, and 2 years permanent posting for thelucky few!

The first day was taken up by the usual arrival briefs and guidedtours around camp and getting the lay of the land. From theinitial info we received the workload sounded daunting and after aBri Rawlings special brief we finally knocked off in preparation ofa full days work.

BATUK holds approx 80 Bowman vehicles, ranging from clip inHF dets, to full Complex fits, and every shade in between, all invarious states of readiness and repair. With only normally oneoperator, LCPL ‘Scouse’ Wilkes (1 UK ADSR), and onetechnician, LCPL Dave Heminsley (7 Sig Regt) from the Corpsand an Infantry Signaller in the shape of CPL Broadway (1PWRR), between the vehicles the workload can be immense,especially in the build up to the first of the Grand Prix exercises.

With no second line support in theatre and a constant stream ofvehicles coming in and out of the gate you need to be on top ofyour Bowman game! Although before coming to Kenya Iconsidered myself to be more than competent on Bowman, Dave

and I have both received a graduate level education onmaintaining and repairing the equipment, with the linessometimes becoming blurred between what trade was doingwhat! Repairs vary from relatively simple such as changing u/scables to fully fitting and wiring out complex fit vehicles withoutthe benefit of schematics or parts lists! Another more unfortunateduty involves stripping out RTA damaged vehicles. Fortunately,whilst several FFRs have been written off in RTAs during my timehere, there have been no serious injuries. However it can be verydown heartening when an FFR into which you have investedseveral days hard work bringing back to full readiness is towedback to the vehicle park only a few days later with half the backend missing from it!

The CIS sect is working at the moment on an approximate 6week cycle, concurrent with the Grand Prix exercises. Fourweeks are spent at Kifaru repairing and maintaining the FFRs andthen during the FTX phase of Grand Prix CIS Sect moves enmasse up to NSG. The sect only provides comms for thedirecting staff at HICON during the FTX phase with two MotorolaRRBs used to cover gaps in the coverage radius, as well as asignaller on the ground working for Comd BATUK. Normally theFTXs take place at Archer’s Post Training Area, however due tothe recent severe flooding the latest FTX was run in the LolldaigaMountains and the adjacent Ole Naishu Training Areas, which, tobe honest was a nice touch. The RRBs have one operator andone LEC, manned by me and James Ndungu on RRB 1, and Cpl

Broadway and Vincent Ndolia, on the second RRB. The ComdBATUKs operator was provided by LCpl Heminsley who, despitebeing a Sys Eng Tech with a worrying habit of saying “Wilco”during VP training came through with the goods on the FTX,having the time of his life tabbing through the bush dodging the

wildlife following the Comd in a bundle of sweat at warp nine,and also in search of elusive elephants!

We deployed to NSG at 0700 on a lazy Sunday morning, delayedonly by our Sig Storeman/Ex CQMS LCPL Stevie Lyle

(5 SCOTS) having developed a savage case of “Sticky Backitis”brought on by excessive exposure to Black Diamonds bar inNairobi! Arriving in NSG mid afternoon the YofS showed off hisMotorola expertise to the HICON staff whilst the rest off usprepped the kit for issue to the staff and certain members of 1IRISH GUARDS BG.

The Monday saw us move to the HICON location and myself andJames Ndungu move to our first RRB site. This was high up atthe southern end of the mountains with spectacular views of MtKenya, the second largest mountain in Africa, and across theCentral Province to the Aberdare Range, but more close in, andof more immediate concern was ample ground sign of numerousforms of wildlife, providing a free safari while we were working! Everything went swimmingly with our comms booming in to allstations and our razor wire provided for protection fromdangerous wildlife and wondering Yeomen, until just aftermidnight on the second night when two sets of eyes werespotted approaching! Queue, my surprise when on hitting thelights on the Landrover I saw a lion 20 meters from the detapproaching us! Suddenly the single strand of razor wiresurrounding the site did not seem so formidable! With me hissingat James “get out of bed sharpish! There’s a bloody lion outsidethe wire!” And with a spade in hand and suddenly dodgyunderwear I watched as it approached to about 10 foot away andstood there staring at us trembling. Fortunately for us it lostinterest and went in search of easier pickings!

A few days later we moved again, following the BG across to thewestern side area. Our new location provided grandstand viewsof the BG going through the training serials and the abundantwildlife with the exception of elephants! This was until the daybefore the final attack when RRB2 was stood up to providecomms for the final attack at the north end of the area and wewere drawn back to HICON to turn around in preparation for afurther deployment, which in the event wasn’t needed. Althoughthe ethos at BATUK is work hard, the emphasis is also on makingthe most of your free time, be it a day trip to Nairobi, ATexpeditions to the top of Mt Kenya, or safari’s in one of Kenya’sNational Parks (NPs). I have been lucky enough to go camping inHells Gate NP, as well as several trips into Nairobi.

By the time these notes are published I will have made the tripback to Germany and the loving embrace of 1 UK ADSR and ExFlying Rhino, and been replaced by LCPL Dan Kelk, and I will belooking back with fondness at my time in Kenya. If you ever getthe chance to answer a trawl to BATUK it is hard work, but to usethe old cliché ‘you get out what you put in’. It is a veryworthwhile deployment.

ADVENTURE TRAINING

DENBURY BOYS TEN TORS CHALLENGE

DENBURY BOYS TAKE ON THE TEN TORS CHALLENGE FOR

THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY- by Maj (Retd) Bob Etherton

A team of 10 ex-Denbury, Royal Signals Junior Leadersparticipated in the 50th Anniversary of the Ten Tors Challengeacross Dartmoor over the weekend of 8 – 9 May 2010.

Now in their ‘sixties’ the team had variously done the Ten Tors asJunior Leaders in the 1960s, with 3 members having participatedin the first one.

BACKGROUND

The Ten Tors Challenge was born out of an idea by the then(1960) CO of the Junior Regiment Royal Signals, Lt Col Lionel

Gregory MBE, and the Adventure Training Officer, Maj Joyner.The event’s success as a military venture took off andsubsequent years included civilian youth teams. It has survivedand today is a celebrated, annual event with 400 teams of 6youngsters (14 – 20 years), walking 35, 45 or 55 miles acrossDartmoor.


The ‘Challenge’ is the rough terrain, physical endurance, personal‘admin’, navigation, teamwork and, of course, the weather!Readers will be aware how the weather can influence conditionson Dartmoor. It can become the deciding factor betweensuccess and failure. For the 50th event, the forecast wasovercast, showers and fairly cool for day one, improving for daytwo.

The impetus of entering a team was born out of the nucleus ofDenbury Boys who had taken part in the 2005 Ten Tors tocelebrate the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the JuniorLeaders Regiment, Royal Signals. It seemed only fitting that the‘guinea pigs’ for the inaugural event in 1960 and early years,should take part in the Ten Tors 50th event

In Jan 2009 the idea was suggested to Maj Nigel Wylie-Carrick,(Secretary Ten Tors at HQ 43 Bde) and his enthusiastic response:‘Consider yourselves registered!’ was the spur to put a teamtogether. John Topping (Team Manager) and Bob Etherton

formulated the ubiquitous ‘aims and objectives’ and by June thefirst 7 ‘volunteers’ met in Nidderdale to walk and talk the wayahead. By the autumn more ‘Denbury’ boys had taken thecustomary one pace forward to join the walking team or providesome other valuable support. Super!

We had a volunteer, (the capable Toby Wallis) who set up ourweb site (www.denburyboyst3) with our history, Ten Torsbackground, press releases and details of our sponsorship forHelp for Heroes and the Royal Signals Benevolent Fund. Maj

Gen David McDowall CBE, kindly agreed to be our patronsaying that he was proud to be associated with us and that: ‘his

heart felt best wishes are with us in our endeavours’. (He startedhis military career as an Army Apprentice at Harrogate - it wasthe nearest we could get to a Denbury Junior Leader!) Our RoyalSignals emblem on the website also incorporated the Denburytheme: ‘Leadership in the Cause of Peace’, Good stuff!

TRAINING

The team’s geographical spread was wide: Dumfries andGalloway, Lancashire, North Yorkshire, Sussex, Hampshire and onthe edge of Dartmoor itself. Fitness training was mostlyundertaken individually or in small groups locally. Four of theteam had participated in the 2005 Challenge and their experienceprovided valuable lessons. Fitness, kit and equipment, teamworkand navigation became priorities.

A slow build-up for ‘yomping’ fitness was the right approach forthe ‘age group’, increasing pack weight and distance over time.The team met for some ‘hill work’ in the Peak District in Marchand then in early April, a dress-rehearsal was undertaken onDartmoor, over a projected 39 mile similar route, to ‘test andadjust’ – so to speak. This was felt necessary as increasingmilitary interest (Brig Hodder, Cmdr 43 Bde. Director Ten Tors)and wider media attention, including Channel 3 Countrywise,meant that failure was not an option! Many teams train overDartmoor leading up to the event.

A word on kit and safety. Team managers have to declare theirteam’s suitability and fitness. All teams have their individualclothing and equipment inspected by one of the event’sinvigilators. Our inspector, the lovely Samantha, was not put offby any old soldier’s repartee or chat-up, and insisted on seeing allitems on the checklist – and more! We passed.

THE OFF!

Some 2400 young people plus well-wishers and sightseersseemed to carpet the fields south of Okehampton Camp justbefore 0700 on the Saturday. A fairly important person said somefine words; the Padre said the Ten Tors prayer (which waschopped up a bit by two Sea Kings on an unsynchronisedflypast), a 105mm Light Gun shouted ‘bang’ – and we were off!Swarms of youngsters, some even running headlong over themoor towards their first checkpoint, was quite a sight; and wewere there too, us oldies, enjoying the excitement of the moment.

Our team pennant, flying about one foot above Bob Wathen’s

head marked our place in this remarkable occasion.

At 0851hrs we arrived at number one, Hound Tor. An enthusiasticwelcome greeted the team with applause and encouragementfrom the DS. We had been dubbed ‘The Originals’ and as weprogressed, we found our welcoming at the checkpoints alwayswarm and congratulatory. A short break for a quick brew andbite, then a warning shout: ‘2 minutes’, from our ‘roustabout’,Phil Castle, and we’re on schedule for Sittaford Tor, number two.

STEADY AWAY – NAVIGATION AND TEAMWORK

Chris Endean was the man with the needle. His navigation wasspot on and although he prepared for the worst, we had goodvisibility and what adjustments or ambiguities arose, he and theNo 2 navigator, Frank Herod, sorted it out. The team had greatconfidence in their map and compass skills. En route we passedthrough Waten Tor and although it was not one of ourcheckpoints, the DS insisted on having their photo taken with us.We were becoming famous!

Steady away is perhaps the best term for our progress and wewere amazed at the speed some of the youngsters were making.These would be the 55 milers who would end up by coveringsome 60 miles and they would need to march for part of thenight. Super fit they were. (Were we as fast 50 years ago? Wedoubted that, not with hobnailed boots and the kit we had then!)

Sittaford Tor. 1050hrs. Another warm greeting and group picture.Our leader, Phil Kirk, checks in. We take on some calories and adrink then the warning call and we’re marching. The next leg toBeardown Tor was probably the longest with the East Dart Riverto cross en route. Some showers presented themselves and thewind was cold but we had good kit and clothing and Ken Kay’s

tales and jokes ate into the miles. A similar routine at Beardownand we were on schedule – 1257hrs. Only 5 km to number 4,Great Mis Tor and the navigators used a fence as a hand-rail forsome of the route. We walked with a mixed male/female ArmyCadet Force group from North Devon for part of the way and itwas good to enjoy their company and good humour whilstnegotiating the boggy ground, trying to keep our feet dry.

For the 2005 event, Great Mis Tor was the scene of a cold, wet,windy and rather miserable night, well remembered by 4 of theteam. This time we fetched up to the good cheer of WO1 (SMI)

Alan Walker SASC (Deputy Commandant DTA), who was mostimpressed by our efforts and interested in our experiences of TenTors in the early years, as he was very much immersed in therunning of the 50th event. (He has put together a small stand ofits history in the conference room at Okehampton Camp, whichincludes details and a picture of our team) Another photoopportunity, an encouraging wave and we set off (1440) on a bitof a dogleg to South Hessary Tor, the other side of Princetown.

The team at Great Mis Tor


A word about teamwork. For the last few hours our leader, Phil

Kirk had been suffering having pulled a leg injury in a fight with arather large ‘tuft’. Some pain killing sweets, advice on the bestuse of walking poles, spreading his load among others in theteam and some good ‘military encouragement’ provided the extraimpetus for him to dig deep and keep going. Bernie Temmen,our team ‘sweep’ along with the front men, made sure that wekept a fairly tight marching group, which is important for moraleand progress.

WELL BEGUN – IS HALF DONE

Up and over the hill that supports the massive North Hessarycommunications tower, and we drop down into Princetown. Fromthe top and to the left we can see the prison. It appeared ratherless austere than what Denbury Camp did half a century ago!After the moor, Princetown was quite the metropolis and as wepassed the pub en route, a band of ‘supporters’ decamped fromthe public bar to cheer and applaud us as we passed by - withour tongues hanging out!

The path to South Hessary (number 5) was a crowdedthoroughfare with teams tooing and frowing. General McDowallwas at the Tor to greet us together with some family membersand friends of the team. We would have liked to linger longer butwe still had distance to cover before checkpoint 6 and theovernight camp. The General and accompanied host walkedback to Princetown with us then we took off in a reverse directionand up and over again to our water top-up stop – a stream justwest of Hollow Tor.

A bit of a trudge along the B3357 to Merrivile Bridge and pastanother public house (all we could have was Adam’s ale!) and agroup of civilian Ten Tors invigilators, who cheered us on – “You’ll

sleep well tonight”, was one comment - before a 160m climb andthe last km to Middle Staple Tor. Here, the DS were insistent onchecking our numbered wristbands against our names on theteam log sheet. - did he suspect that we might have substituted a

cardboard replica for a team member en route? We were allpresent and correct and Squadron Leader Doubting Thomaswaved us on our way, which was just a15 minute walk and ourcamp for the night at Roos Tor.

1903 hrs. We had been12 hours on the march and put nearly twothirds of the route under our boots that day. So far all was goingaccording to plan and by the next hour most of the team weretucked away in their tents and sleeping bags. The wind shiftedeasterly and blew cold and hard and the rattle of the tents madefor a rather noisy night. Rick Levett said that he did not sleep atall – just experienced a short course of death!

DAY TWO

Reveille at Dark O’clock, and PUFO, we’re marching again at0600hrs heading for number 7, Lynch Tor, 4.5 km as the crowflies. It was too, with just a little deviation about half way by astone circle and a duty Druid. For most of us, breakfast was a bitof a rushed affair so we’re stocking up on calories before headingoff into some pretty ‘moist’ terrain; the crossing of AmicombeBrook, - (where Ken Kay took a late morning foot bath!) - thenacross to Deadlake Foot (more wet feet for some!) and a stiffpitch up Rattlebrook Hill to number 8, Chat Tor, at 0909hrs.

The next leg to Kitty Tor was a bit of procession of teams as wefollowed the range markers (makes sense) and the foot trod inbetween. Phil Kirk was still suffering but popping the pills,swinging the sticks, gritting his teeth, digging deep and shoutingout that, ‘216’ rules okay!

A Royal Signals cap badge greeted us at Kitty Tor (1005 hrs). Theyoung sergeant had transferred from the REME as part of the TAre-organisation, so we congratulated him on his good fortune,shook his hand, bade him farewell and strode off to our lastcheckpoint – number 10, Stourton Tor. Not a long or arduous leg,which is just as well as the team were feeling a bit ‘creaky’ bynow. Most of this route was tracked and we got a good leg-on to

maintain our schedule as we intended to be at the finishby1330hrs.

Another Royal Signals cap badge and a very warm welcome atStourton; this time in the form of a Sergeant Major and his DSteam. Some of our admin party were also there to greet us, sothere were plenty of ‘well done lads’, ‘keep goings’‘congratulations’ and encouragement and digital pictures taken.

It was 1125hrs with still a good 6+ km and a fairly stiff climb togo. Hoisting our packs on and a cheery farewell to Stourton, weknew that it was all over bar the shouting. Our navigators hadchosen the ‘scenic’ route around the reservoir and we were to RVwith the admin party at Black Down, about 1 km short of the line.

Our team seemed to be the only one on this route and the treesand the blossom provided colourful, pleasant surroundings afterthe bleakness of the moor. We girded our loins for the stiff ‘pushand puff’ up to spot height 376 (well done Harry Waugh. That’ll

be the last brown line on the map to cross then!). At the RV weexchanged our various headwear for the ‘official team hats’,formed up in file, and with the admin team hoisting the JuniorLeaders Regiment banner, we marched towards the finish.

FINISH – PIPES – CAKE – MEDALS AND A SURPRISE

None of us was quite prepared for such an enthusiastic welcome.It seemed as if a crowd of thousands were cheering us as weapproached the line. Of course, most were there for the 400other teams but we were certainly showered with their generous,wholehearted applause and appreciation. It was quite; ‘lump inthe throat stuff’, and even the sun came out! It was1328 hrs.

Our supporters, friends and family, a TV crew and a newspaperreporter ambushed us and the scene took the form of acelebratory gathering of Denbury ‘buffs’ and associates. Wecertainly felt very pleased about our endeavours and it was ahappy and shared experience. Our log /route card was stamped(Okehampton Camp GR 588926 FINISH) and a rather nice younglady appeared with a 50th anniversary cake - specially baked forthe team! We were being spoilt!

Gen McDowall joined us, this time with his bagpipes anddressed in Highland attire and piped the team into thepresentation arena where we were presented with our Ten Tors,50th Anniversary Medals.

Another surprise and to our amazement and loud cheers, Maj

Joyner’s daughter joined us on the podium. Unbeknown to us,she had been contacted by the event’s organisers and asked tobe present to mark 50 years and as a connection andrepresentative of one of Ten Tors’ Founders.

The 50th anniversary of Ten Tors was a magnificent occasion andit went off in fine style indeed, and not least because of the firstclass administration and support provided by the Armed Forces.May they continue to be involved, as it is a perfect example forthe young people taking part of what the military is all about andwhat it does so well. What also impressed the team was theenthusiasm, determination, cheerfulness and politeness of theyoung people participating. It is a real boost to the spirit to knowthat they are our future. It would be interesting to know if any ofthose participating this year return in 50 years time to celebrate100 years of Ten Tors!

DENBURY BOYS

The Denbury Boys are a unique bunch in that they came andwent so quickly. Formed in Sept 1955, their short life span endedwith their demise in 1967, some 2,500 passing through a veryintense military and adventurous training programme. Theemphasis throughout was on leadership with the terms ‘use yourinitiative’ and ‘get on with it’ being the most popular phrasesused! They are proud to have been ‘processed’ through DenburyCamp (Newton Abbot, Devon) and they have formed a deeployalty and spirit amongst themselves.


The Team Supporting/Admin

Phil Castle John Topping Team ManagerChris Endean Mike Butchers

Bob Etherton Allen Howard

Frank Herod 2nd Navigator Geoff Jackman

Ken Kay Ted Kilpin

Phil Kirk Team Leader John Thomasson

Rick Levett Toby Wallis

Bernie Temmen Pete Whitfield

Bob Wathen Team 2I/C Steve Wright

Harry Waugh

FUNDS RAISED AND THANKS

At the time of writing, some £6400 had been raised for thesponsored charities by and on behalf of the team. A special

mention and thank you for Jacqui Stockman of Brixham, Devon,for organising a supporting event and raising over £3,000. Oursincere thanks go to General McDowall for being the team’sPatron and his rather special, and unique involvement during theevent. Also, sincere thanks to our Supporting/Admin team whoseunstinting efforts helped make the build-up, training andparticipation in this 50th event be so memorable, enjoyable andgo so well.

THE ROYAL SIGNALS ASSOCIATION

General Secretary and Treasurer: Col (Retd) T CanhamAssistant General Secretary: Maj (Retd) IN Greig

Welfare Secretary: Mrs L SizelandMembership Secretary: Mr PJ Cuckow

Patron: HRH The Princess RoyalPresident: The Master of Signals

Chairman: Brig NF Wood

Association OfficeRHQ Royal SignalsBlandford CampBlandford ForumDorset DT11 8RHwww.royalsignlalsassociation.co.uk

Welfare SecretaryTel (mil) (9)4371 2089

Tel (civ) 01258 48 2089Email: [email protected]

Membership SecretaryTel (mil) (9)4371 2090

Tel (civ) 01258 482090Email: [email protected]

Col (Retd) Terry CanhamTel: 01258 482081

Maj(Retd) Ian GreigTel: 01258 482082

Mr Peter CuckowTel: 01258 482090

REPORT ON THE 2010 RSA REUNION

Just over 800 members and their guests attended to 2010 RSAreunion. This figure was up on 2009 and justified the bringingforward of the date by a week in order to avoid clashing with the‘Armed Forces Day’ celebrations around the country.

The display of the current BOWMAN and FALCON equipmentwas on show by 0900 hrs, along with another splendid gatheringof old civilian and military vehicles. Terry Inman had once again

arranged for members of the Christchurch Cruiser Club to bringalong their shining and colourful Harley-Davidsons, Kawasakisand various other big bikes. Tony Helm also brought along hiscollection of comms equipment used in the “Cold War”. Theindoor range was again opened for RSA members to have ashoot with the SA80 rifle. The Museum and shop opened early and did a brisk business throughout the day.

The local Pimpernel Beagle Pack was also on show and gave ademonstration of scent trail following.

The team with General David McDowall CBE and the 50th

Anniversary cake

The route


Members booked in at “Reception”, which was this year mannedby LCpl Dan Pearson (3 Sqn 11 Sig Regt) and 10 soldiers fromBattleaxe Tp, who had only that very week arrived at Blandfordfollowing their basic trg. At Reception, members collected theirmeal tickets, programe and souvenir lapel badge. The RSAAdmin Officer’s database was on hand so that WO2 (FofS)

Andy Soward (Corps Webmaster) could help members checkout names of others who served in their units around the sametime. Mrs Linda Sizeland (Welfare Secretary) was in Receptionand enjoyed answering questions on how the RSA can provideassistance to those in need.

This year we were fortunate to have our Colonel in Chief toinspect those on Parade for the “Princess Royal Day Parade” onHawke Square. All the hours of training under the guidance ofWO1 (RSM) Micky Yendell proved worthwhile as the soldiersput on a great display.

HRH attended the Garrison church for its rededication as theCorps Chapel. Following the service, groups of variousindividuals were presented to our Colonel in Chief, including 30RSA members.

Around 500 members/guests took lunch in the SoldiersRestaurant, where the opportunity was taken by the veteransto engage the young soldiers in conversation.

The Corps Band started the afternoon arena display, whichshould have been followed by a performance by the CorpsFree Fall Parachute Team, however the strong windprevented them from jumping. After their absence last year,it was good to welcome back the “White Helmets”, whogave their usual highly skilled and thrilling display of jumpingand tricks. With the Corps RSM involved in the SOinC(A)’scharity cycle ride, WO1 (RSM) Yendell kindly stood in to runthe traditional standard bearers’ competition. Ably assistedby WO2 (SSM) Ash Doe and his wife Christine (a standardbearer herself), plus Barry Moody, the judges took thecompetitors through their drill movements. The Master ofSignals presented John Mumford (Reading Branch) with thewinner’s cup. Runner up was Bill McNamara from ourGlasgow Branch. The other finalists were; Norman Pearce

(West London), Brian Calladine (East Kent), Daniel Millan

(Sale) and Keith Bates (Rotherham).

Terry Inman produced an interesting drive past andcommentary from the Christchurch Cruiser Club, followed bya drive past by a selection of the old vehicles. The Masterpresented Len Melling with an engraved silver salver tocommemorate his retirement from arranging the old vehicledisplay after 15 years of service to the RSA.

The Corps Pipes and Drums joined the Corps Band to lead thesunset ceremony which concluded the afternoon events.

In the evening, WO1 (RSM) Yendell opened up the Sgts Mess toall retired members of the Corps. For many this was the highlightof the weekend and many old acquaintances were renewed andlots of new friendships made.

A Drumhead Service was held on Hawke Square at 1030 hrs onthe Sunday, with the RSA Hon Chaplain the Rev Peter Clemett

and Garrison Padre the Rev David Barrett conducting theservice. The address was given by the Venerable Stephen

Robbins, Chaplain-General Her Majesty’s Land Forces. Col

Terry Canham (General Secretary) and the Master of Signals readthe lessons. During the first hymn, branch standards were ‘laidup’ and the standard of the “Despatch Riders Club” wasdedicated. WO1 (RSM) Yendell again stood in for the CorpsRSM to lead the ‘Act of Remembrance’. Mr David Walker BEMturned a page in the Korean War Book of Remembrance. Thecollection raised £581.00 for the Royal Signals Benevolent Fund.

The March Past, which ended the whole weekend’s activities,was lead by a group of our members who were veterans of theKorean War.

Our thanks to all who supported the reunion; members of 11 SigRegt, Garrison staff and all RSA members, many of whom hadtravelled a fair distance to attend.

DONATIONS

Eastbourne Branch RSA £50.00Family and friends in memory of Frederick Arthur Thomas £100.003 Div Signals Reunion Club in memory of Ernest Packham £25.00Certa Cito Lodge £20.00R Waldron £20.00S Clout £30.00Hartlepool Branch RSA £250.00Swindon Branch RSA £50.00Mr E L Hamilton in memory of his brother Mark Hamilton £55.00Poole Branch RSA in memory of their late President Lt Col Peter Gahan MBE £100.00Collection at the Drumhead Service at the 2010 RSA reunion £576.90Dr & Mrs B Carolin in memory of Maj Gen P E M Bradley CB CBE DSO £150.00In memory of John Cameron McNeil OBE MC

donations of £112.50


President Mr JHS Lister

Chairman Mr Selwyn Williams

Hon Sec Bill Davies

Sadly I have to write and inform RHQ that we have lost anothermember of our Branch, namely Mr Ron Borley. Ron was born in1931 and he passed away on Thursday 10 of.June 2010. Ron

was not a life member of the RSA, he was a local member within

CARDIFF BRANCH

Chairman Tony Allibone

Since our last report the Branch has continued with the usualactivities of pub lunches, coffee mornings and evening meetingsThe venue for our coffee mornings is now Shoreham Airport andthis has proved very popular perhaps because the building is anattractive Art Deco style which was used in the “Poirot” series

Our major event is our Annual Dinner which was held at theCourtlands hotel in Hove. Our guests at this event were Brig Ted

Flint and his wife Gillian. This was an enjoyable event which waswell supported and even some of our overseas membersattended

The Branch standard was paraded at Brighton on RemembranceSunday escorted by members of 884 Tp. The year closed withour Christmas Lunch and the usual evening meeting as aChristmas Party. The committee has been considering alternativevenues for our evening meetings in 2010 because of the cost ofusing the local TAC and other factors. A trial has been madeusing the RBL Hall in Portslade.

In March we held our AGM and the committee were re-elected, avery satisfactory set of accounts presented and membersexpressed their appreciation to the committee for their valuedwork. The subsequent lunch ensured a very good attendance.

Our Summer Lunch was attended by 33 members who weredelighted to welcome our new President, Lt. Col Simon Malik,retired CO of 71 Signal Regt. This was a particularly happyappointment as Simon knows some of our members from theirservice in the TA. We look forward to a happy association withhim and his wife Penny.

The Branch has had a few new members join since our last reportand would always welcome any ex signallers.

BRIGHTON BRANCH

Puzzling it out, the Eventual Quiz Winners: L to R John Hamilton-

Williams, Ginty Read, Gay Hamilton-Williams and Stuart Read

Chairman Noel Moss

Secretary Mary Pagan

Our annual Quiz Night has become a firm fixture over the past 16years. Starting in 1995 with a handful of contestants, its greatpopularity has resulted in attendance of up to 100, including goodturnouts from the local serving units. This year, the fact that 261Sig Sqn were still brushing off the sand from Afghanistan meantthat we were deprived of some worthy contestants. In spite ofthat, 2 serving teams each from Aldershot’s 251 Sig Sqn andPirbright’s Army Training Sqn contributed to the total of 15 teams.Our own branch raised 4 teams, while neighbouring Branches,Reading, West London and Winchester as well as the WRACAssociation were well represented. We were also pleased to seea team from the Garrison Sgts Mess, where the event is heldeach year.

Our Quizmaster, Neville Lyons and Lt Tony Graham of 251 SigSqn had jointly compiled the questions on this occasion, thoughTony took care to be absent on a course, thus avoiding anypossible brickbats on the night! As it happened there were someunusually high scores, with scoreboard conscientiouslysupervised by husband-and-wife team, Noel and Edelgard

Moss. So no complaints! One of the Aldershot teams, ‘The GayCavaliers’ were outright winners, while the best serving team whoalso received prizes were ‘Three Degreez’ (sic) from 251 Sig Sqn.

The Mess came up trumps with an excellent buffet at half time,while the evening was rounded off with the raffle draw andcopious prizes, organised meticulously by Mary Pagan and Jean

Wilson.

The previous weekend, one of our stalwart contestants, Chris

Endean, had taken part in the 50th anniversary of the Ten Tors

Challenge. Chris was part of a ten-man team, all ex-JuniorLeaders, now with an average age of 63, all having competed intheir youth in the 1960’s. This year, they finished the gruelling 35-mile 2-day event, crossing the line at 1.30pm on the Sunday, with3 ½ hours to spare.

Combined with the Challenge, the event was used as a fund-raising activity for Help for Heroes and the Royal Signals

Benevolent Fund. Chris received personal donations of morethan £800 and the team as a whole collected around £6,000.They deserve our hearty congratulations.

ALDERSHOT BRANCH

plus $100.00Members of Aldershot Branch £200.00Mr A D Holman in memory of Roy Andrews £50.00Denbury Boys Ten Tors Team £786.00Chester Branch RSA £105.00Barry Greenwood £10.00Collected by Mary Wickenden at the RSA reunion £30.00Jenny Townsend £10.00Jack Pursglove £1000.00Maj Gen L W A Gingell CB OBE in memory of Maj Gen P E M Bradley CB CBE £50.00Arthur Threlfall Searson with thanks for an excellent reunion weekend £100.00Dennis Jones £ 5.00Certa Cito Lodge 8925 in memory of Brian Ward £40.00Bedford Branch RSA in memory of Lou O’Dell £25.00Bedford Branch RSA in memory of Charles Chambers £25.00Jean and John Lincoln in memory of Maj Gen P E M Bradley CB CBE DSO £30.00In memory of Lt Col Peter Gahan MBE

cheques totaling £205.00


Chairman Mr Jim Reilly

Hon. Sec Capt Ian Wolfe

“RECRUITING IS IMPORTANT” HE SAID!

“The sun shines on the righteous”, someone once wrote and ifthat’s true, the BIM must be a righteous man. This year we had 3new members join the branch, all ladies! They are ex-40 (U) SigRegt (V) but from different periods in time. Sgt Margaret

McMillan still serves with 69 (NIH) Sig Sqn following thedisbandment of the Regt. Margaret joined the Branch in 2010having been instantly useful by running the bar in the Sergeant’sMess in Clonaver at our monthly meetings. More recently ex-SSgt Liz Montgomery and ex-Cpl Lorraine Pyper (nee Scott)joined us; both served in 66 (City of Belfast) Sig Sqn in the 1970’s& 80’s.

We were short of numbers of the fairer sex but now the balancehas improved at last. So far the Branch has not received anyapplications to join from ex-soldiers of the disbanded 40 (U) SigRegt (V). We need to advertise more!

NEXT MEETING

Our June monthly meeting will be held at the same time as thesenotes are being sent to The Wire for the August edition. We canbe assured of a lively meeting with a talk to be given by ourvenerable member, Col (Retd) Ian Henderson OBE TD. His talkwill be about his recent visit to 40 (U) Sig Regt Group onOperation Tosca in Cyprus. Colonel Ian served as an officer in40 (U) Sig Regt (V) during the 1970-80’s, became CO and laterwas Hon Col until 2008 when he retired. He has certainly not lostcontact with the Regt and is noted for his eloquent and humorousspeeches in several hallowed circles.

BLANDFORD REUNION

Twelve members have signed up to go to the Reunion this weekincluding the B.I.M who hasn’t been to Blandford since the1960’s. He expects to recognise some old faces!

CONGRATULATIONS

Northern Ireland Branch of the RSA wish to congratulate Maj

Barry Skinner TD on his well-earned and recent award of MBE.Barry is currently in Cyprus on Operation TOSCA.

ENIGMA

Local military historian Mr George Busby, who talked last year tothe Branch about Gilnahirk Spy Station, has updated his scriptafter a visit to Bletchley Park. George gave an updated talk lastweek at the local Somme Heritage Centre, which was attended

NORTHERN IRELAND BRANCH

attended the annual reunion atBlandford where we witnessed Bill

coming 2nd in the Standard Bearerscompetition. The entire event was wellorganised and well attended. Manyfriendships were re kindled and manynew friends made all who attended arelooking forward to next years event.

The Branch members attended theArmed Forces Day Parade in Glasgow.The Branch President, Chairman andSecretary, along with many others,enjoyed a very well attended event. Thepeople of Glasgow turned out in theirthousands and the parade was cheeredand applauded throughout it’s length.

Much has been happening within the Branch in relation to thefund raising for the celebration of the Branchs’ 20th Anniversarynext year. Suggestions as to the format and any items to beincluded will be welcomed by the organising committee.

Bill McNamara, the Branch Standard Bearer, has been appointedas drill instructor to the British Legion Standard Bearer’s DrillTeam. This team attend numerous parades and functionsthroughout Central Scotland and are highly thought of. Members

GLASGOW BRANCH

Our belated AGM was held on Tuesday 25 May at The VictoryClub, Cheltenham. Twenty three members were present andwere welcomed by the Chairman who opened the Meeting bytelling us that the past year had been a quiet one although wewere involved in quite a few things, (much of which has beenreported in The Wire). The increase in subscriptions in 2009 hadnot affected Membership and we were now in a much betterfinancial situation, this was verified by the Treasurer who asked ifall members present had received a copy of the audited accountsand there being no questions it was proposed by Roger Taylor

that they be accepted and seconded by Stuart James and ashow of hands.

The Hon Sec updated those present with information received viae-mail and the Association AGM held in London at the end ofMarch. This was available to Members.

Our Branch Dinner will be held in September and our AreaRepresentative has accepted our invitation to be our guest. Fulldetails later.

Arrangements have been finalised for our coach trip to Blandfordon 19th June. Sixteen members will be going, leavingCheltenham 0700hrs (an early start for us these days).

The question of recruitment to the Branch was raised and it wasagreed that rather than just relying on sending BranchIntroduction Information (the response is very poor) we make itmore personal by making an appeal through our local radio.

The Election of Branch Officers and Committee was Chaired byBernard Barton-Ancliffee. With the exception of Derek

Wheatley who due to bad health tended his resignation theexisting Officers and Committee were re-elected. The vacancy bya show of hands will be Liz Friend, one of our lady members.

Finally under AOB The Chairman, Ray Woolley, whilst acceptingthe post of Chairman for this coming year has decided after agreat deal of thought due to his continuing bad health to standdown at the end of the year.

Our oldest Committee Member George Blake is hospitalisedhaving suffered a stroke during the winter. We are hoping he willrecover soon.

The evening ended after the Act of Homage followed by a raffleand some light refreshment.

COTSWOLDS BRANCH

the Cardiff Branch. Ron served in the Corps in National Serviceas a Dispatch Rider and then for many years with the TA with first53 Sig Sqn (V) and later with 55 Sig Sqn (V).

The Branch was represented at the service and many of hisformer colleagues from the TA were in attendance. The Branchprovided the Corps Colours in the form of a Coffin Drape and theLast Post and reveille was played.

Hollyoaks, Shameless, The Royle Family and Emmerdale, andthese guys know how to play.

The day started with an arranged meeting outside AltrinchamFootball Club at 1100hrs’ish as it turned out. This was to be thefirst time we had met each other, so off we went to Tesco’s for abreakfast and introduce ourselves.

Some bright spark then came up with the great idea that weshould probably find out who can play where and make a teamlist out … hmmm … so in true military fashion and lots ofswearing this was done with Stuart Hendy 2 Yorks and his dadAndrew Scullion Para/RMP vet, taking up the pen and makingthe team list. It was decided to field the military boys first half &then start rotating the sponsors in the second half, this wasagreed uncontested as we forgot to invite the sponsors to ourgathering in Tesco’s.

We then headed back to the ground and met up with Arko

Harkness 1 Mercian vet, gave him the team sheet & let him sortit out.

The kit we played in was the 2 Yorks strip as this was brandspanking new and looked the part (the Army Benevolent Fundsponsors 2 Yorks), so we donned our new shiny kit and went onthe pitch for our first and only warm up, as a put together teamover breakfast in Tesco’s. After a 10 minute kick about it wasback into the changing room for team talk, tactics and leteveryone know just what was happening.

We also had on board our cameraman James Milligan, 2photographers and an interviewer to make a DVD of the daysevent, including after match interviews, links will be available on,http://surefire-tasking.blogspot.com/ under the Altrincham add.

Both teams then lined up in the tunnel where an apology wasmade to the lady ref for the tourette’s that certain members of theteam suffered from, the captain then apologised for the wholeteam and told them all to please be quiet, or words to that effect.We then all trooped onto the pitch to the cheers of the crowd,about 1000 people had turned up to support the event which wasfantastic, we lined up for team photo’s with the mascots then onwith the game.

The first half was quite evenly matched with both teams testingeach other, the soldiers played very well with a team that hasnever played together before, with soldiers from 3 different Regts.In contrast the celebrity’s were a very polished and efficient teamand had played together on numerous occasions, that being saidthe first half was a relatively even affair with our boys shipping 1goal.

At half time both teams left the pitch to much applause from thestands and to prepare for the second half. he Army team had now to field a new team with some soldiersand the rest being sponsors of the event, so after oranges andspring water we headed out onto the pitch for the second half.Though everyone played as best as they could unfortunately weshipped another 3 goals, which was a little disappointing for usas we don’t like to lose, but the whole match was played in thespirit the event was organised for.

Congratulations to LCpl Wayne Latham who won man of thematch after an excellent game.

After the match there was a raffle for some great prizes includingsigned items from David Beckham, Alan Shearer and Paul

Gascoigne to name a few.

Special thanks must go to 2nd Bn Yorkshire Regiment, 1st BnMercian Regiment, Manchester Metropolitan University, HollingsFaculty, Events Team and Steve Halsall with his excellentcelebrity football team, without Steve and his team we would nothave achieved the £8,000 (split £2k RSBF & £6k H4H) we made,as his team helps so much in attracting a larger crowd andmaking it a family event.


;

President Jack Peers

Vice Chairman Kane Gunter

Secretary Martin Quinn

The football match held by kind permission of Altrincham FootballClub was played on Sunday 28 March on a hot sunny day. Theevent was organised by the students from ManchesterMetropolitan University events management team and Kane

Gunter RSA Sale, Operation Surefire.

We had in our team of soldiers, veterans and sponsor playersfrom the Corps in the shape of Sgt Lee Frazer AFCOManchester and LCpl Wayne Latham of 11 Sig Regt. In additionmembers of the 2nd Bn the Yorkshire Regiment, 1st Bn theMercian Regiment and sponsors from the local area. Theopposition was a celebrity team from Coronation Street,

SALE BRANCH

Bill Barron in full flight

Bill Barron a 77 year old member of Rotherham Branch RSAcompleted a 15,00 ft skydive in aid of the Alzheimers Society, on19 May 2010,at Hibaldstow Skydiving School, Lincolnshire. Earlyindications are that the event will raise £1,300 plus. well doneBill.

ROTHERHAM BRANCH

by about 80 people including the B.I.M. Several past-membersof 40 (U) Sig Regt (V) including Capt Jim Simpson and one ex-CO, Col Bill Gillespie were present. Another opportunity foradvertising for branch members was not overlooked.

ANNIVERSARY

One anniversary you probably will only read about here is that ofthe arrival in Belfast of Jack Mount on 27 June 1940. Jack is awell-known member of the Exmouth Branch. The 27 June 2010will be the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the “City of Derby”,which sailed indirectly from Brest to Belfast. It was bringing Jack

and his WT Section here to continue their war effort. They hadescaped from France 3 weeks after Dunkirk. The cargo was saidto be military supplies but in fact it was a crack team of signallerswith their radio vans and equipment. They went on to do muchuseful work with their radios and pigeons as well. They werebased in Clonaver Park TA centre in 1948 for part of their time.Jack is still very active, now living in Devon with wife Elizabeth.Happy Anniversary Jack!

As usual, we issue an invitation to all serving or ex-members ofRoyal Signals, regular or TA and ex-members of ATS/WRAC whoserved with Royal Signals, to join us at Clonaver Park TAC,Belfast, on the third Wednesday of each month.


Soward told them the rules of the raffle; everyone brings a prize,everyone who brings a prize is offered a single ticket in exchangefor a crisp five-pound note so everyone wins a prize! In spite ofbeing told that there was no need, they hurtled into town andreturned with various goodies before a quick-change act into No2 Dress to join us for our AGM where they voted enthusiasticallyfor every motion.

And then to dinner. A good meal, prompt service and copiouswine that flowed freely. After the Loyal Toast our Chaplain, Rev

McManus, said a prayer before handing the Silver Chinook toVice-Chairman Gerald Evans who formally presented it to Sig

Mark Washington, delegated to accept it on behalf of 21 SigRegt. Mark was the youngest soldier present and one of the lastto leave Iraq at the end of Op TELIC. The presentation markedthe completion of nearly 62 years continuous operational serviceby detachments of the Regt and the tragic loss of one life, Sig

Paul William Didsbury. Following the presentation we raised ourglasses to his memory.

Any reader who served in 21 Sig Regt or 244 Sig Sqn who wouldlike to be associated with this presentation is invited to contactthe Association publicity officer, Lt Col (Retd) PF Soward

(01258-860647) for more details.

As members enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee, Maureen Soward

and Joyce Horne organised the draw which made £110 forAssociation funds. Maureen then auctioned a glass bowl(brought along by Dennis Egan) and the floral arrangementsmaking another £36. Kane Gunter, co-opted as AssociationPhotographer at the AGM, ran amok with his camera and theresults may be seen on the association website.

We are already planning next year’s reunion which may take placein the south - possibly near Southampton or Bournemouth.

ROYAL SIGNALS MEMORIALS AT THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL

ARBORETUM

As announced in the April edition of The Wire, copies of the DVDof Royal Signals Memorials at the National Memorial Arboretumhave been on sale for some time. Sales are going well and‘interim dividends’ of £48.80 have been made to the RoyalSignals Benevolent Fund and the Air Formation SignalsAssociation.

AMATEUR RADIO STATIONS

GB4HFH (Help for Heroes) and GB5AFD (Armed Forces Day)operated from Training Wing, 21 Sig Regt from 1 – 8 June. Thestations will re-start operations from Barry Amateur Radio Station,Sully (between Barry and Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan) from21 – 30 June. The operation is masterminded by AFSA GeneralSecretary Dennis Egan and a full report will be published in thenext edition of The Wire. The background photograph on the QSLCards is of the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, HeadleyCourt.

President Lt Col GN Addley

Chairman Dr AD Vickers

Secretary Mr DK Egan

REUNION, MAY 2010

Friday 7 May and members started to arrive at our new venue,the Prince of Wales Hotel, Southport. From the start we had aroom to ourselves with our own bar. Chairman, Dr David Vickers

assembled the silver Chinook centrepiece to be presented thefollowing day and members admired its quality and weight! Aftera buffet dinner we were treated to entertainment by Ms Emma

James who sang songs from Evita and other shows and, withdue appreciation of our age, such old favourites as ‘You’ll Get NoPromotion’, ‘Pack Up Your Troubles’ and ‘Tipperary’ where we alljoined in with gusto. With eagle eye she espied the 3unaccompanied males, Eric Knott, Frank Ramshaw and David

Barnes and, with Frazer Gordon, fitted them with funny hats andpersuaded them to accompany her with words and actions,singing ‘YMCA’!

Saturday morning was spent exploring Southport whilst ourchaplain, Rev Jim McManus accompanied by Mavis and Pam

Morgan caught the train to Liverpool and visited the MaritimeMuseum, returning with enthusiastic reports. Mid afternoon andSgt Philip Eves, LCpl James Young and Sigs Ash Reynolds

and Mark Washington arrived from Colerne to join us. Maureen

The Silver Chinook, presented by the Air Formation Signals

Association to 21 Sig Regt (AS) to commemorate the return of the

Regiment from Op TELIC

AIR FORMATION SIGNALSASSOCIATION

SOUTH LONDON BRANCH

The Army and Sponsors team

At the AGM on 7 April there was a change of management.Doug Anderson, who had been in the chair for 13 years, decidedthat it was time for someone else to have a go at the helm. Peter

Benstead had prepared himself for this moment by beingappointed Vice-Chairman last year, so he shook off the vice andtook the reins after the Meeting.

To mark his dedication to the Branch and the work he put into itsrunning, Secretary Steve Bland, on behalf of the Branch,presented Doug with an RS glass tankard, appropriatelyengraved with their appreciation. It was not empty for long!


ANDERSON - Sgt Keith Anderson died 19 April 2010.

Keith Anderson became an army apprentice on the 22nd August1972. He remained at Harogate until 1974. He served in Belizeand Norway during1975/76 and with 13 Sig Regt in Germanyfrom 1977 – 1981. He then served and in Lisburn from 1981 –1982, then joined 30 Sig Regt in Blandford from 1982 - 1985. Hislast posting was to SHAPE HQ until his retirement in 1989.

Kieth then joined the Metropolitan police force where he servedwith distinction. He had recently retired from the force butcontinued to work for them as a civilian. He leaves behind hiswife Deborah his son Cameron and his three step children, whowill miss him terribly.

OBITUARIES

BARON – Lt Col Peter Richard Baron died 6 April 2010.

Peter Baron was born on 11 July 1947 inCrewe. After leaving Crewe GrammarSchool and a short sojourn as a tailor’sapprentice Pete enlisted on 31 March1965 and undertook his basic andtrade training as a Comcen Operatorat Catterick. Following successfulcompletion of his training he wasposted to 7 Sig Regt in January1966. Tours then followed toBahrain, SHAPE, HQ BAOR/RhineArmy/Rheindahlen Garrison/UKSC(G)and 16 Sig Regt. During his time atSHAPE he met Lynn, who was to be thelove of his life for over 38 years, and theywere married on 8 January 1972. Pete hadalways been regarded as cheerful, helpful, professional andflexible but now fully supported by Lynn he successfullyundertook his YofS selection and attended and passed 29 YofSCourse in March 1977.

April 1977 saw him posted back to 7 Sig Regt during which timehe was detached to Belize as the Force Custodian and promotedto WO2 prior to his move to 30 Sig Regt in October 1980 as theOps Offr of a radio sqn. Here he saw exercise deployment inNorthern Europe, Africa, Belize and USA and operationaldeployment on Op CORPORATE where he commanded the firstSpearhead detachment and went ashore on D-Day in support of3 Cdo Bde. As ever he performed brilliantly amid extremely tiring,arduous and dangerous situations and again demonstrated andmaintained his usual extremely high professional standardsthroughout. His efforts were rewarded by promotion to WO1 andposting to 3 Armd Div Sig Regt in June 1983 where he continuedto impress and contributed significantly to the Regts successfulPtarmigan conversion. His arrival as the newly commissioned Tfc

Name and Rank Served Years Died

Sig TJ Alderson 1975/87 30/06/2010Cpl RF Andrews 1951/76 29/05/2010Sig D J Archer 1966/72 08/05/2010Cpl JPC Arundel 1983/94 12/05/2010Maj P Ashlin 1943/77 21/06/2010Sgt JV Birchby 1949/58 29/05/2010Sig R Borley 1950/?? 10/06/2010Maj Gen PEM Bradley

CB CBE DSO 1934/70 02/06/2010RG Bryant 1939/46 11/07/2010WO1 NJ Cawthra 1970/92 01/06/2010SSgt CRD Chacksfield 2003/10 03/06/2010Cpl S Claydon 2004/10 07/05/2010Sig TJ Corbett 1954/57 15/06/2010Sgt D Cullen 1971/93 29/11/2009Col SC Dare 1941/73 28/05/2010LCpl JB Davis 1951/55 07/05/2010WO2 AE De La Haye 1963/92 01/05/2010SSgt CW Deadman 1970/90 04/06/2010Sgt WG Doyle 1949/61 09/07/2010LCpl EJ Finch 1942/46 31/07/2009Sig DF Furnell 1944/47 24/05/2010Sig MF Gray 1948/49 10/11/2009Sig DK Grout 2005/10 18/05/2010Sgt AMH Hamilton 1947/74 29/04/2010SSgt RJL Harries 1950/68 01/06/2010Brig TGH Jackson OBE 1941/76 21/05/2010Cpl JP Kennelly 1970/79 29/06/2010Sgt JW Kerr 1938/46 18/06/2010Sgt CF Lander 1938/52 07/06/2010

Sig A Langsford 1961/76 24/01/2010Sig EM Locke 1942/46 22/05/2010Sig T F Logan 1950/68 25/06/2010Cpl RJ Malseed 1961/84 01/06/2010LCpl FE Nairn 1948/53 14/06/2010Sig RG Nixey 1939/46 01/04/2010Lt EW Packham 1940/65 21/05/2010Maj RV Purkis TD 1945/87 28/06/2010Sgt JW Salter 1971/93 28/10/2010Sig AG Shore 1932/47 28/06/2010Sgt RJ Sinnott 1961/76 15/05/2010Cpl N Smedley 1950/55 01/05/2010Sig D Spark 1962/69 26/02/2010Maj M Stears 1941/78 17/05/2010LCpl SJ Wallace 2000/09 13/05/2010Cpl BK Ward 1959/61 17/06/2010Cpl E Young 1973/85 04/07/2010 Sgt LG Young 1981/?? 02/06/2010

LAST POST

INDIAN SIGNALS MEMORIAL AT THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL

ARBORETUM

A tree bearing a plastic tag with the words ‘Planted for all ranks of

Royal Signals and Indian Signals lost in Burma in WW2’ wasplanted and dedicated in the Far East area of the Arboretumsome years ago. Whilst the tree is flourishing, the tag is showingits age and is difficult to read. 19 Signal Regiment Associationsuggested to RHQ that it might be appropriate to replace the tagwith a more durable metal plaque, similar to those associatedwith other trees in this high profile area. That has been agreed.

19 Signal Regiment Association will be dedicating a tree to 19thAir Formation Signals in the FEAF (FarEast Air Force) Grove on Sunday,September 5th, during their annualreunion. It has been agreed that theAssociation shall act as RHQ’s agent byprocuring a plaque, bearing similarwords to the original plaque butincluding the Royal Signals and IndianSignal Corps cap badges, and re-dedicate the tree on September 5th.

Any reader who has comments on thisproposal, would like further details orwould like to attend the re-dedicationceremony, is invited to contact me:

Lt Col(Retd) PF Soward,

Chairman, 19th Signal Regiment Association

19 SIGNAL REGIMENTASSOCIATION


Offr at 22 Sig Regt in February 1987 marked a new challenge andone that he grasped with both hands. He was identified as ableto listen, give sensible comment and constructive criticism. Hissuccess enabled him to move seamlessly to a staff appointmentat 1 (BR) Corps in May 1990. As SO3 Comms Freqs he deployedon Op GRANBY 1 as the 1 (BR) Corps Freqency Manager withinTSEP where he was responsible for both the ageing CARRFA andnew FAME frequency management systems. Following his returnhe assumed the appointment of SO2 Comms (Freqs) HQ ARRC.As one would expect Pete’s posting to 38 Sig Regt (V) in Nov1994 as Training Major posed no issues. Again he demonstratedhis ability as a multi-talented officer with tremendous ability andinherent flexibility with that rare amalgam of character andpersonality. A short tour followed as OC 240 Sig Sqn in Dec1996 that preceded his promotion to the pinnacle as Lt Col TfcOffr and subsequent posting to BDMT/CSDC Blandford in June1998. Here he was primarily involved in the trials andintroduction of Bowman and where again he demonstrated hispatience and ability to understand the user and suggestpragmatic solutions.

Pete was extremely proud of Royal Signals, his friends andservice therein - loved tradition and maintained his links throughthe Association and regular Traffic and other reunions. He carriedhis professional, cheerful, relaxed attitude of nothing being toomuch trouble throughout his military career and beyond intocivilian employment with Westland after he left the Army after afull career in April 2002. He was known for being meticulous,totally reliable, willing to take advice and listen but firm onceagreement had been reached. It is his measure that he was ableto adapt seamlessly to civilian employment and won theadmiration of professional civilians for his meticulous approachand delivery particularly of training. He had time for, and caredabout, people whoever they were and was highly respected forhis opinion. He hated pomposity and arrogance and if anybodyever strayed they were soon put right with a sideways look or drywitted comment.

Anyone who knew Pete realised that his life did not revolvearound work and it was extremely fortuitous that followingretirement he moved to Glentworth from Blandford some 18months ago so that he could be nearer to family particularly hischildren and grandchildren. He took with him his love ofgardening and flowers - his gardens not surprisingly were alwayscolourful and immaculate with not a weed in sight. He was alsoable to pursue his love of wildlife and particularly bird watching.As one would expect on arrival in Glentworth he involved himselfin the local community, participating in functions, regularly cuttingthe Village Hall grass and engaging in conversation to the extentthat he soon had various local contacts and the “low down” onmost.

Pete throughout his life remained very smart, active and fully fitso it came as a real shock when cancer was diagnosed inJanuary 2010. Lovingly supported by Lynn and the family headopted a very open, extremely positive attitude and determinedto fight. Regrettably the cancer was too aggressive and Pete

succumbed and passed away at home with his family on Tuesdayevening 6 April 2010.

Pete’s funeral was held at All Saints’ Church Hemswell,Lincolnshire with the committal at Scunthorpe Crematorium onTuesday 20 April 2010. Numerous family, friends and colleaguesin excess of 180 attended and resulted in standing room only atboth locations – a true reflection of the esteem in which he washeld.

Pete was a first class officer, loving and passionate family manand wonderfully true friend who never lost his mischievous,infectious sense of humour, generosity and concern for others.He will be greatly missed but “To live in the hearts of those weleave behind is not to die” and we will remember him with great,heartfelt affection. Our thoughts and sympathy are very muchwith Lynn, son Carl and his wife Sara, daughter Jennie and herhusband Stuart and Grandchildren Adam, Sally, Charlie andTabitha at this sad time.

GAHAN - Lt Col Peter Gahan MBE died 2 May 2010

It is with deep regret that we record the deathof the President of the Poole Branch of theRSA, Lt Col (Retd) Peter Gahan MBE

who died after a short illness and stay inhospital on 2 May 2010.

Peter was born on 8 May 1923 andwith his senior schooling completed in1942, applied to join the Corps underthe Special Entry Cadetship. Havingpassed the Army medical he, togetherwith 3 others, was sent to WorcesterCollege, Oxford University for six monthsto sharpen their education! From December 1942 to April 1943 he didhis full pre commissioning training in Catterickand was duly awarded a war-time commission in the RoyalSignals. His first posting was to 3 Command Signals, stationedon Salisbury Plain, where he was OC of one of the Troopsmanning the Signal Centre in the grounds of Wilton House. Hebecame Assistant Adjutant of the unit and quickly moved up tojoin the Chief Signal Officers staff at HQ Southern Command.

Despite being heavily involved in general communications workalong the south coast he longed for action overseas andfrequently badgered the CSO for a move. In October 1944 hiswish was granted and he arrived in Barrackpore near Calcutta atthe HQ Allied Land Forces, South East Asia. He was promoted toacting Captain as the SO3 (Equipment). The HQ moved on toCeylon to prepare for any further advance by the Japanese, butwith their surrender in 1945 the HQ moved on to Singapore.

He continued as SO3 (Equipment) and in 1946 was granted hisRegular Commission. In Singapore he enjoyed the peace-timerole and played Rugby and Cricket according to the seasons andwas always in great demand as a pianist. At a Christmas partyhe met Mickie, who was serving with the WVS, and theirfriendship became a serious courtship, but they decided to delaymarriage until they were back in the UK and they came homeseparately in 1948. Peter was posted as Adjutant of the DepotRegt R Signals at Pocklington, Yorkshire and they married on the2 April 1949. David was born a year later.

In 1951 Peter was posted to 6 Armd Div Sig Regt on SalisburyPlain and the next year managed to get an exchange posting toAustralia. He was based in Melbourne and it was here thatBeverley was born mid 1952. The family enjoyed a wonderfuland varied time in Australia and returned to UK late 1954,exchanging the sunshine of OZ for the winter chill of Catterick!Here Peter became Adjutant of the Officer Training Wing of theSchool of Signals until 1957. He was then promoted Major andposted to command the Army Boys’ Trade School in Singaporean appointment he found very rewarding.

In September 1960 Germany beckoned and Peter was posted to2 Sig Regt in Bunde but within 18 months the family were on themove again, to Canada in an exchange officer post. Based inOntario it gave Peter & Mickie wonderful opportunities to traveland their social life was very good.

Mid 1964 Catterick beckoned yet again and he became 2IC of 8Sig Regt for the next 2 years before moving to Signals 35 at theMOD. Here he was deeply involved in the introduction of the newBRUIN system for BAOR and for his sterling work he wasawarded the MBE in 1969. Promotion to Lt Col followed in 1970and Peter moved to another MOD appointment, on the GeneralStaff, before taking early retirement at the age of 50 in August1973.

Peter and Mickie moved to Broadstone in 2000 and he dulyjoined the Poole Branch of the RSA, becoming their President in2009. He rarely missed a monthly meeting and he and Mickie

attended all the Branch outings and social events right up to lastChristmas.


260 SIGNAL SQUADRON (SAM) ASSOCIATION

With the coming of spring and the warmer weather members of260 Sig Sqn (SAM.) association came out of hibernation andmade their way to the Royal Hotel, Llandudno on the weekend 23- 25 April for their annual reunion.

Most members arrived at the hotel on Friday afternoon/evening.Apologies were received from Rod Webdell, he could not attendthe reunion as he was scheduled to go into hospital for a bypassoperation, or in his words a piece of garden hose fitted. We allwish Rod a speeded recovery.

Later that evening Steve Freeman Pannet the associationchairman received a phone call from Helen and Sam Sahota

asking for directions to the hotel, they had travelled from Cyprusto Llandudno but could not find the hotel. A little bit of volcanicash was not going to stop them from attending this year’sreunion.

The AGM was held on Saturday morning. At the meeting Sam

Sahota was elected president of the association as Peter

Lenthall had resigned due to ill heath; the remainder of thecommittee were re-elected into their current posts.

On the conclusion of the meeting most members made their wayto the tram station to visit the popular local tourist attraction theGreat Orme. Lynda and Les Harrison took themselves off tovisit a stately home in Anglesey, a place they had always wantedto visit.

A dinner was held in the hotel Saturday evening followed by araffle organised by Beryl and Geoff Scott, treasurer andsecretary to raise money for the 260 Sig Sqn association.

Sunday morning adventure training was arranged by Ann andChris Conroy, a trip up Snowdon. Members were advised towear warm clothing and a hat, this instruction was questioned bysome member as it was a beautiful sunny morning when we setoff. The Snowdon mountain railway in early season stops at thethree quarter point on the mountain – Clogwyn. The train stopshere for 30mins to allow people to stretch their legs beforereturning back down the mountain. The views were spectacularuntil we hit the cloud base. At the stop very few membersventured outside due to the wet and windy weather. Pauline andMick Rose from Aberdeen did go out saying the weather wasjust like back home.

On return to the station at the base of Snowdon Steve Freeman

Pannett and fellow EDs where seen gazing at the enginemuttering Cummings engine, drive shaft, disc brakes.

Most members departed on the Sunday afternoon promising tomeet up again 6 - 9 May 2011 at our reunion in Dortmund.

Ex members of 260 Sig Sqn(SAM.) who would like to join us inDortmund please contact Beryl and Geoff Scott on Tel 01422373075 or E mail. [email protected]

The 2010 260 Sig Sqn (SAM) association reunion

REUNIONS

POWELL - Eric Edward Powell 1919-2010

Eric was born 1919 in Bute Crescent, in the dock area of Cardiffand was the elder of 2 boys. Howard his younger brother by 2years died almost 30 years ago.

He was brought up in a family who had very strong connectionswith St Mary the Virgin Church in Bute Street. They had an openhouse to all the clergy and Eric came to know many greatcharacters. As a young boy he was a server and carried theincense boat before joining his father in the choir when he was 7years old. Howard also became a chorister and all 3 would joinin and sing very ambitious anthems and cantatas. In later yearsEric was to become choirmaster himself.

The 2nd World War played an important part of Eric’s life. Hejoined the Territorial Army and was then called up on 2 Sept 1939to serve with the Royal Signals. As a l9 year old he was sent toFrance and was to become one of the last to be evacuated fromDunkirk. As a Class 1 Signal Officer he was attached to variousRegiments and spent time all over the world. He was Mentionedin Dispatches, involved in the invasion of Sicily and eventuallyfinished the war based in Florence and Milan in charge of themain telephone exchanges that connected the whole Europeannetwork.

During the war years he married Mary and had two sonsMalcolm and John and eventually became a proud grandfatherto Tom.

After the war years he trained as a teacher and taught in Kentbefore returning to Cardiff where he taught in Splott and Ely andalso became Tutor Organiser in Cardiff prison. He was appointedHeadteacher of Llanedeyrn Junior School when the schoolopened and saw the number of pupils rise to over 500 before heretired.

His fight for justice and working conditions for teachers throughNASUWT Teacher’s Union, both in Wales and nationally, is wellknown and he was honoured to become National President in1982.

He was Chairman of Rhiwbina Recreation Club for many yearsand once again continued his fight for better facilities. Heenjoyed being a member of the Bowls section and made manyfriends. During his life he enjoyed his sport and for many yearsplayed cricket for Cardiff Schoolmasters. He not only playedhimself but enrolled all the family to make up the numbers.

He became involved with the Cardiff branch of the Royal SignalsAssociation when he retired and became Chairman for 20 years,producing a monthly newsletter right up until he entered hospital.As a representative of the Branch he met Royalty on manyoccasions.

His love of music continued throughout his life and after heretired he learned to play the flute and became a guiding force inthe Cardiff Flute Ensemble. His quest for learning never ceasedand only recently he decided to learn the Welsh language.

His involvment with St Edeyrns Church goes back to 1975 whenhe was asked to play the organ as a stand-in, not knowing hewould continue playing for 3l years. He loved the Church andcontinued to be involved and worship there even becoming aChalice Bearer only 2 yrs ago. One of his greatest wishes was tosee the organ refurbished.

His first wife died in 1994 and he then married Daphne andtogether they have had l5 years together which to both of themhas been very precious indeed.

Eric was a man of many talents, full of stories, someone whocould hold an audience in the palm of his hand, a genuine orator.He was a man who cared about his family, who cared aboutjustice for his fellow human beings and a gentleman who was atrue Christian. We shall miss him.

wire - Royal Corps of Signals

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