RTR ASSOCIATION LONDON BRANCH

NEWSLETTER

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2012

BADGER AND THE WARTHOG

Badger Squadron of 2RTR manned the new Warthog ATPMV on its first deployment to Afghanistan in late 2010 in the role of Protected Mobility for the infantry battlegroups operating in Helmand Province.

1 Message from the Colonel Commandant

Gentlemen, 5th July 2012

The Secretary of State for Defence has announced the future structure of the Army, under the programme known as Army 2020. This will see the Regular Army reduced to 82,000 and the Reserve increased to an employable strength of 30,000. Twenty three Regular units will be removed from the Army ORBAT as a consequence of the move to the new structure. As far as the is concerned, there are to be two fewer units than there are at present, and the CGS has written to me to inform me that one of these reductions will be brought about eby th merger of The First and The Second Royal Tank Regiments. In addition to letting you know that this is to happen, my purpose in writing this letter is to describe how this came about, to tell you what I think it means for us, and to outline how we will approach this change. I expect the contents of this letter to be widely disseminated amongst the members of the Regiment, both serving and retired.

Starting from first principles, I believe that it was not unreasonable of the Government to expect the Army to take a share of the public expenditure reductions necessitated by its debt crisis. I would also observe that the Army has gone to considerable efforts to design a structure capable of generating a first class fighting force. In its intention to make better use of the Reserve, and its emphasis on overseas engagement and capacity building, and on UK engagement and homeland resilience, Army 2020 has the potential to be an improvement upon today. And in the Reaction Forces it will maintain robust formations capable of projecting force anywhere in the world and of fighting in the most demanding operations.

The and RAC have been proportionately less hard hit than some elements of the Army, I suspect to the surprise of those commentators who have written us off. There are to be three large armoured regiments, each equipped with 56 Main Battle Tanks, three armoured cavalry regiments, initially equipped with CVR(T) but in due course with SCOUT, three light cavalry regiments, each of which will be equipped with JACKAL and partnered with a Yeomanry Regiment, and a further Yeomanry Regiment to provide replacement crews for the armoured regiments. This all adds up to a total of nine Regular regiments, four Yeomanry regiments in the Reserve, and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

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To bring about this structure, two Regular regiments will have to go. How this is to be achieved has been the subject of a process which involved all the Cavalry Colonels and I, and the Army Command Group (ACG). I consulted the Deputy Colonels Commandant and the Commanding Officers, eand fiv former Colonels Commandant, before the process began. My first suggestion was that the Regular element of the RAC should become either one or three large regiments. I made this proposal because I felt, and continue to feel, that the structure of single battalion regiments on which most of the RAC is currently based is significantly harder to sustain than a large regiment approach. It is, I believe, no coincidence that more officers and soldiers have sought to join the RTR and HCav than other units in the RAC. Part of this is due to the breadth of the offer which our larger regiments have been able to make. Sadly, though there was some support for this idea, it did not carry the day. Instead, responding to a request to recommend an RAC that would be reduced by three Regular regiments, and using principles that have governed similar reductions in the past, a meeting of the RAC Colonels Commandant at which I was present recommended the amalgamation of 9th/12th Lancers and Queens , the amalgamation of the Queens Dragoon Guards and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, and the merger of 1 and 2 RTR, in that order. I argued against this recommendation, primarily on the grounds that it did not take sufficient account of amalgamations before those of 1992/93.

In the final event, the ACG decided to reduce the RAC by only two Regular regiments. However, unfortunately, it also concluded that the most important principle that should apply in delivering this reduction was that the number of cap badges to be lost should be minimised. As a result, it decided that the right thing to do was to merge 1 and 2 RTR and to amalgamate 9/12L and QRL. As you would expect, I did not agree with this, and have made this clear to the chain of command. RTR regiments have been amalgamated or disbanded in all three previous Reviews in the post war period. This decision will make it four out of four. In contrast, some regiments will survive untouched that have been amalgamated only once in the same period. From World War strengths of over 45% of the RAC and HCav, and a current proportion of 18%, we will reduce to 11% once this reduction has happened.

This is very hard to take after all that the Regiment has done since its formation. But as strongly as I disagree with the outcome, I believe equally strongly that the Army has the right to make these decisions as it sees fit, and to expect not only that we will follow orders, but that we will put our best foot forward as we do so. So that is what The Royal Tank Regiment is going to do. No date for the merger has

3 yet been set. It will not be before April 14 in order not to interfere with both Regiments’ operational commitments, but I would expect it to be complete by not later than 2016. The RTR Council has decided that the merged Regiment will be called The Royal Tank Regiment and that we wish to be one of the armoured regiments in the Reaction Forces that are expected to be based around under Army 2020. But the Army is only now starting to write the detailed plan on roles and basing, so we cannot yet be definitive about these things, (though I would be surprised if the RTR had an enduring home in Honington). Nor is it clear what happens in the interim as we transition from our current state to our future state (other than our operational commitments, which are not expected to change). For example, though I have seen nothing definitive in writing on the subject, it seems highly likely that A Squadron’s training support role in will end. But whether this will be before or after the rest of 1 RTR has left Honington is not yet clear.

What we can say is that two further tranches of redundancy are expected to be required to deliver a properly structured Army of 82,000. The ’s intention is to do this across Arms and Corps, by rank, trade and length of service, and to take applicants over non‐applicants wherever possible. There will also be opportunities for transfer elsewhere in the RAC or wider Army, should people so wish. In his letter to me, CGS says that being in a regiment selected for merger will not affect an individual’s likelihood of selection for redundancy: it will be important to demonstrate that this promise has been kept over the next couple of years.

I regret what is going to happen to the great institution that is the RTR. I am also acutely aware that there will be continued uncertainty for individuals, even if the end‐state for the Regiment is now significantly clearer. Together with the Deputy Colonels Commandant and the Regimental Colonel, I will assist the Commanding Officers and the chain of command to work through all the detail over the coming months. You can expect us to provide accurate information as and when we know it, and to be striving to ensure that this whole process is as painless as we can make it. But I would expect you now to make the best of this going forward, as you always do. Our aim must be to generate the strongest Regiment in the RAC, in all respects. Fear Naught.

Major General Deverell Colonel Commandant Royal Tank Regiment

4 BADGER AND THE WARTHOG

A Warthog of Badger Squadron 2RTR kicks up the dust as it begins a patrol from a Forward Operating Base in Helmand Province. This vehicle is armed with a .50-calibre Browning heavy machine gun.

During its illustrious service from Flanders to Afghanistan, 2nd Royal Tank Regiment and its forebears have used a wide variety of Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFV) from the rhomboid tanks of the Great War via Saladin armoured cars to Centurion, Chieftain and Challenger Main Battle Tanks (MBT). In its final years, the Regiment was equipped with the formidable MBT but such heavy AFVs were deemed unsuited to the particular circumstances of the campaign in Afghanistan. Instead, during the Regiment’s deployment on Operation Herrick 13 in 2010, Badger Squadron became the first unit to field the Warthog All Terrain Protected Mobility Vehicle (ATPMV).

Against the ever-present threat of Improvised Explosive Devices or IEDs, it became vital to provide the infantry with greater protection during tactical movement across country in Helmand Province; defined as Protected Mobility. Any culvert, any hedgerow, any ditch was a potential hiding place for IEDs that have proved difficult to detect and time- consuming to disable: let alone as the principal cause of casualties within ISAF (International Security Assistance Force). In the age-old cycle of threat and counter-measure, the vehicles of the in Iraq and Afghanistan have ranged from the Northern Ireland era Internal

5 Security Snatch Land Rover to the massive 6X6 Mastiff 3 Patrol Vehicle with a whole host of other Tactical Support Vehicles including Coyote, Husky, Jackal, Panther, Wolfhound, Buffalo, Vector etc.

These however were all wheeled vehicles and lacked the cross-country mobility that was necessary in large portions of Helmand, particularly the ‘Green Zone’ with its innumerable irrigation ditches that were often impassable to wheeled vehicles. For this purpose, the British Army deployed the Swedish designed BVS10 Viking ATPV manufactured by BAE Systems Hagglunds that was originally procured for the Royal Marines for use in Norway’s snowy terrain as part of NATO forces protecting its freezing northern flank. The terrain and climate in Afghanistan could hardly be more different and the need for vehicle heaters as installed in Viking was soon superseded by the need for air conditioning in the searing heat of the Afghan deserts.

A Warthog is modified to Theatre Entry Standard at the Thales facility at Llangennech in Wales prior to deployment to Afghanistan.

First deployed in late 2006, the Viking was fitted with extra bar armour protection to thwart the threat of Rocket Propelled Grenades or RPGs

6 but further armour to counter IEDs soon compromised its mobility to an unacceptable degree as its weight increased to 16 tons. Over time Taliban IEDs destroyed almost a quarter of the Viking fleet. Accordingly the British Army procured a much-enhanced vehicle that was readily available on the international market through the Urgent Operational Requirement or UOR procedure. The choice fell to the 19-ton Bronco developed by ST Kinetics of Singapore and a contract was signed for 115 vehicles at a cost of £150 million in December 2008: the first AFV to be manufactured for a Western army by an Asian company. Named the Warthog in British Army service, the first vehicle was delivered on 19 November 2009 and ahead of schedule of the date stipulated by the UOR contract.

Powered by a 7.2 litre engine producing 350 bhp, the Warthog was procured in four versions including troop carrier, command vehicle, ambulance and a repair and recovery variant. Once delivered from Singapore, the vehicles were modified by Thales at their facility at Llangennech in Wales to meet the British Army Theatre Entry Standard or TES with additional armour protection, weapons fit, electronic counter- measures and communications equipment raising the overall weight to 22 tons. With a top speed of 35mph, the basic troop carrier is capable of transporting up to 12 soldiers and is armed with either a 7.62mm GPMG, a 40mm grenade launcher or a .50-inch calibre heavy machine gun. This formidable array of firepower together with its enhanced protection and high mobility have proved crucial in any encounter with the Taliban after the Warthog was first deployed in December 2010 to Afghanistan where it first served with Badger Squadron of 2 RTR as the ‘Warthog Group’.

In the words of the officer commanding Badger Squadron, Major James Cameron, - “You can put Warthog into places you would not dream of with other armoured vehicles as it has very low ground pressure giving us the ability to move around the battlespace in a completely different way. We have been able to manoeuvre in an extraordinary way. Literally we can go over ditches, swim rivers or go up ravines getting right in behind the enemy where they least expect us. We run on them at speed and before they know anything about it we are right on top of them”. On one occasion Major Cameron was in an engagement with 30 Taliban in which he fired 1,200 rounds from his turret-mounted GPMG. Towards the end of their six-month tour, radio intelligence revealed that Taliban commanders repeatedly warned their men - “Don’t fire at the tank”.

7 It is a cry that has been heard from the dawn of armoured warfare when the British Army first deployed an armour protected mobile weapons platform capable of crossing fire swept broken terrain that became known as the ‘Tank’ in September 1916. Just under 100 years later in the year 2012, 2ND Royal Tank Regiment is scheduled to be disbanded and the last tank factory in the UK is to be closed. Great Britain no longer has the capacity to build tanks that were once among its most significant innovations in weapons technology. With the demise of yet more armoured regiments, there are even fewer men able to conduct armoured operations - even in low-intensity warfare. It is not an auspicious time for the Royal Tank Regiment or for British defence manufacturers.

Armed with a 7.62mm GPMG, this Warthog ATPMV displays the bar armour protecting the twin cabins of the articulated, all-terrain vehicle that is one of the most important and flexible Protected Mobility assets currently available to the infantry in Afghanistan.

With thanks to Maj. James Cameron RTR and MoD Defence Images

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RTR AWARD FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE

It is with great pleasure and pride that the Royal Tank Regiment Association London Branch celebrates the recognition afforded to one of its stalwart members with the presentation of the Royal Tank Regiment Award for Meritorious Service to Mr Ron Calcutt.

Ron has been a member of the RTR Association for many years and remains a regular of both the London and Oxford Branches. He joined the Oxford Branch in 2003 and immediately volunteered for the role of Deputy Standard Bearer. Three years later he became Branch Standard Bearer and subsequently performed as the Standard Bearer for the 2nd/3rd/6th Reunion Standard. Ron Calcutt has proudly carried these Standards on numerous occasions both in this country and abroad. Since 2009, he has carried the Standard at almost every Repatriation Parade at ‘The Final Turn’ in Oxford to honour all our fallen service men and women as they arrive at the John Radcliffe Hospital at the end of their sad journey home from foreign fields. Remarkably, Ron has undertaken all these duties at his own expense using public transport since at the age of 82 he does not drive.

The RTR Council officially granted the award on 11 May 2012 and it was presented to Ron by Colonel Steven May.

9 TANKIES’ TALES

PEE FOR PROMOTION

My claim to fame came in 1958 after I had re-enlisted into 2 RTR, which was then stationed in Munster. I was selected to go on a cadre course with the end prize of a lance corporal’s stripe. Out of 18 troopers, six would be promoted. At this time I was 28 years old and to my mind a bit long in the tooth to be climbing ropes, scaling up walls, drilling and more drilling, but I had no choice so I went along with it. The final day of the course came with our passing out parade. The inspecting officer was the CO, Lt. Col. Pat Hobart, with in attendance our drill instructor, Sgt. ‘Taff’ Evans and the RSM. The CO came on to the parade ground with his dog – a scruffy old thing attached to a length of string. I stood there at attention with boots gleaming, belt and gaiters blancoed (no black RTR webbing then). The colonel looked me up and down but then his dog cocked his leg on my battledress leg. I could feel my right boot filling up with pee. I could only stand there like a good soldier. The RSM, two steps behind the colonel, whispered in my ear – “You’ve passed my lad” and I did. John Walker RTR

In Pensioner John Walker enjoys the company of young female singing performers at Tankfest 2012 at Bovington that was much more preferable to that of the CO’s dog when on parade serving with 2RTR. Please send more Tankies’ Tales to the Editor

10 TANKFEST 2012

The annual TANKFEST at the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset, is one of the highlights of the summer months and several branch members attended this year together with some 11,000 other visitors. TANKFEST 2012 marked the tenth anniversary of this highly successful open two-day event of Armoured Fighting Vehicles from the remarkable collection of the Tank Museum. This year some 60 vehicles were on display and one of the highlights was the appearance of a replica Mark IV Male tank that was fabricated for the Steven Spielberg film ‘War Horse’. Following the completion of the film, the World War 1 tank was presented to the Tank Museum and will feature in many future displays thus saving wear and tear on the museum’s original vehicles that are now too elderly to run on their tracks. Another favourite of the crowds is the formidable German Tiger-1 that was the source of so much fear and anxiety to Allied tankmen during World War 2. The Tiger will make its last appearance this year at the Wartime Military Vehicle Show at Bovington on Saturday 22 September. TANKFEST 2013 will be on 29 -30 June next year with yet more historic vehicles on the move.

Tiger-1 131 trundles around the arena following further modifications to its temperamental Maybach engine. (Photo courtesy of Peter Burton)

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ROYAL TANK REGIMENT ASSOCIATION LONDON BRANCH www.rtr-london-branch.org.uk

PRESIDENT MAJOR GENERAL R. W. M. McAFEE VICE-PRESIDENT LIEUTENANT GENERAL A. D. LEAKEY CMG CBE MA

CHAIRMAN Derek Folgate 96 Upton Road, , DA6 8LT 02083013490 [email protected]

VICE-CHAIRMAN Barry Wicks 29 Muybridge Road, New Maldon, Surrey KT3 3EH 0208241355 [email protected]

SECRETARY Eddie Sear 27 Sandwood Road, Sandwich, Kent CT13 0AQ 01304612980 [email protected]

TREASURER Eric Locke 75 Sandhurst Drive, Ilford, Essex IG3 9OO 02085993129 [email protected]

EDITOR Simon Dunstan 37 St Dunstans Avenue, London W3 6QD 02089929823 [email protected]

WELFARE OFFICER David Francis 18 Franklin Avenue, Cheshnut, Hertfordshire EN7 5DX 01992632372 [email protected]

PUBLICITY & RECRUITING Bruce Gaff 11 Antony Road, Welling, Kent DA16 3EH 02088548477 [email protected]

George Smith 11 Wyseman Place, Catawade St, Manningtree, Essex CO1 1QB 01206391434 [email protected]

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