CO 1st Bn Royal Welsh Update

I received the following by email earlier today,I thought it may be of interest to members of this site

Colin John

Dear Judy,
I asked the CO of 1 R Welsh for an up date. See below. I think it is worth sending this out to all members of the OA either by email or as hard copy when you send out the OA Dinner notice.
Kind regards

Peter

Battalion Update. Since our return from Afghanistan last year the 1st Bn has been extremely busy – but hopefully in a good way. In addition to the various RAAT tasks and career courses the Battalion has taken part in a number of overseas exercises. In April we sent D Company to India for a month on Ex AJEYA WARRIOR, a combined exercise with a Battalion of the Indian Army. This was a very high profile event, so much so that a 2* General, Chief of Staff Land Forces, flew out to watch the final exercise. It was a huge success. We have also sent a Pl to Cyprus with 3 R WELSH and another Pl to Latvia to take part in a NATO exercise with US and Estonian forces. In Sep we hope to deploy a further two Pls to Kenya with 2 MERCIAN for six weeks on their ASKARI THUNDER Exercise. Sport and Adventure Training have also played a big part in the programme. The Rugby Team reached the Army Cup Semi-Finals, the football team reached the Infantry Cup Final and we have active teams in basketball, cricket, running, golf and cycling. We have also supplied soldiers to represent the Infantry in Rugby, Football, Cricket, Hockey and most recently Athletics. In Adventure Training we have completed four expeditions of various types with another four in the pipeline for later in the year. In fact, by September over 70% of the Battalion will have taken part in at least 7 days of AT this year. One of those expeditions was a week’s sailing off the Dalmatian Coast for soldiers wounded on H11 and H16. It was a quite outstanding week and congratulations must go to Capt Pete Hayward and Padre Simon Farmer for putting it together. Finally, one of the main areas of focus this year has been shooting. We have made significant improvements in our shooting and the Battalion shooting team came second (of 14) in the Brigade SAAM, was the first placed Infantry Battalion (by some margin) and has qualified for Bisley. The soldiers are, quite rightly, very proud of their achievements. I should also highlight that this has happened from a very sound administrative base. On our recent Combined Assurance Week the Battalion achieved ‘Greens’ across the board with a large number of ‘Best Practice’ comments. The QMs Dept is alive and well and excelling!
In amongst this we have also found time to spend a week in the Crimea. Last week we took a combined party of 29 soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Battalions there for a Battlefield Tour. Peter Knox provided expert guidance for what was a superb week. It comes highly recommended.
A2020. You will be aware that the A2020 announcements were made while we were just over halfway through our operational tour last year. I won’t comment on the decision to lose a R WELSH Battalion but I do fully support the Regiment’s decision to locate in Tidworth in the AI role (and Reactive Force) rather than stay in Chester (Light Role and Adaptive Force): It is nigh on impossible to get anyone senior to visit Chester and so getting my officers visibility of the wider Army is challenging (even though we’ve been on operations). Clearly, moving is a real shame – the families are settled, we’re close to Wrexham and we are an outstanding Light Role Battalion (built up over many years) but the key activity this year has been to make it happen in the best way possible. How will we merge?
Chris Barry (CO 2nd Bn) and I felt it was important that the merger should follow the principles of equal numbers, equal ranks and equal opportunity. The first two are relatively simple but providing equal opportunity is a challenge – AI skills come with experience. Therefore I needed to get as much experience as quickly as possible and the BATUS Exercises of Aug-Sep this year and Apr-May next year seemed too good an opportunity to miss. To that end:

• A total of 140 1st Bn soldiers will deploy to BATUS as part of the 2 R WELSH BG this summer. I started training soldiers in AI skills in Oct last year and we now have 59 soldiers trained as AFV crew members. The 140 will transfer to 2 R WELSH on 24 Jun, deploy to BATUS and on return to UK they will stay in Tidworth. Amongst these 140 are about 24 families. All bar two have been allocated MQ.
• From Jul-Nov my successor, Shon Hackney, will train the second batch of around 150. They will move to Tidworth during the period Dec 13 – Mar 14 and deploy to BATUS with the KRH BG in Apr/May 14. BATUS will provide a fantastic opportunity to merge Platoons and Companies very quickly with the aim that by Apr next year the Battalion will be as one.
• When I last wrote on this subject in February the major risk associated with this plan was the availability of accommodation (married and single) in the Tidworth area. This is still the case but there contingencies in place for the short term and the long term plan is being developed.
• So, most of the merging activity is taking place before 31 Mar 14 but that is out of choice – the Tidworth Bn will hold the Lead Armoured Task Force role from Apr –Dec 14 and we will be supplying sub-units to the KRH for their time in role (Dec 14 – Dec 15). I wanted the 1st Bn to be able to play an equal part in that – hence the need for early training and movement.
• I must also stress how forward leaning the 2nd Bn have been throughout this process. Between us we have always approached every decision in an even handed way with absolute trust in each other and the Colonel of the Regiment has been hugely supportive throughout.
There are other manning issues at the moment – Redundancy being a key one – but none of these have provided insurmountable challenges. Our soldiers come first, they know that, and we have been able to maintain the moral component throughout what could have been a very difficult year. Fortunately the 1st Battalion has exceptional strength in both the Officers’ Mess and the WOs and Sgts Mess. We are very fortunate - Being Commanding Officer continues to makes my heart burst with pride – as I’m sure it did for all my predecessors.
Lt Col S N Webb OBE MC

Sadly there are a great many units with a long affiliation to an area who are going to be moved and a lot of old barracks closing completely which will not only cause problems for the serving and there families but badly affect the local economy. HQ at Shrewsbury being a case in point, however this will of cause be good news for Telford where they are moving to.

I must say a big thanks to Lt Col Webb, he will no what for.