wireTHE June 2014 www.royalsignals.mod.uk The Magazine of The Royal Corps of Signals JUNE 2014 Vol.8 6 No: 3 The Magazine of the Royal Corps of Signals Established in 1920 Find us on The Wire Published bi-monthly Annual subscription £12.00 plus postage Editor: Mr Keith Pritchard Editor Deputy Editor: Ms J Burke Mr Keith Pritchard Tel: 01258 482817 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] 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. Accounts / Subscriptions 10th December for publication in the February. Mrs Jess Lawson To see The Wire on line or to refer to Guidelines for Contributors, go to: Tel: 01258 482087 http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/25070.aspx Subscribers All enquiries regarding subscriptions and changes of address of The Wire should be made to: 01258 482087 or 94371 2087 (mil) or [email protected]. Remittances should be made payable to Royal Signals Benevolent Fund CONTENTS Page June Edition News from Operations 2 Corps Subscriptions News from Blandford 7 (The One Day's pay Scheme) News from Training 10 Your money - what is it and where does it go? - Page 55 News from Formations 19 News from Regiments 22 Adventurous Training In line with the new policy of Wire submissions instead of News from Squadrons 89 formal PXRs, we have several AT reports from Units in this edition: Other Units 92 Ex FROZEN FELIX - 521 EOD Sqn skiing in Bavaria Sport 96 Ex CARRIBEAN WINGS - Sailing in the Carribean Adventurous Training 98 Ex REGAL SWAN - 30 Sig Regt skiing in Val Thorens Ex NORTHERN GOKYO - 2 Sig Regt expedition to Last Post 112 Everest Base Camp Ex DRAGON ALPINE - 22 Sig Regt skiing in Les Contamines, France FRONT COVER BACK COVER Poppy Lawes presenting HRH with a Posy. 15 (IS) Sig Regt Apr 14 during the recent Royal Visit to 15 (IS) Sig Regt Authors alone are responsible for the content of their articles. The opinions expressed in the articles of this publication are those of the individual 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. THE WIRE, JUNE Printed2014 by Holbrook Printers Ltd, Norway Road, Hilsea, Portsmouth © Crown Copyright 1 NEWS FROM OPERATIONS OC Maj P Stowell MBE SSM SSgt Miller The initial 5 months of the tour have disappeared in a flash with the closure of Lashkar Gah, MOB Price and Durai Junction all completed and the transition of mission secret users to the US Centrix-ISAF system well on track, it was time to focus briefly on development training. With a bit of imagination and exploiting the resources in Theatre the team have managed to generate some cracking training and below is a small taste of what’s been achieved. As you read this we’ll be back to the day job; closure of TFH HQ and the initial stages of Bastion remediation all need to be cracked before we hand over the mantle to 1ADSR in June. Grenade Range – by LCpl Scott On 2 April 2014 HICSSS personnel took part in a grenade range organised by SSgt Miller to revise grenade handling Post throw techniques and refresh our skills at throwing the L109 grenade at a fixed target. The morning started at 0745 where ‘throw!’ the grenades were released at the target with a we paraded to board the bus service to the grenade range. strong throw and the participants took cover tight into the On arrival at the range we were given our safety brief by SSgt HESCO Bastion. This was followed by the wait for the Miller and split into our details of six. We were then escorted explosion which seemed longer than 3-4 seconds and ensued to the troop shelter where we sought refuge in a buried ISO with a loud bang and a quake as the noise echoed though container surrounded by HESCO Bastion and comforted with Camp Bastion, which left its inhabitants quaking in their brew making facilities. We were then called to the range in boots. We then made our way back to the troop shelter with our details where we had to undertake a 200m run in full PPE a light hint of adrenaline helping us complete the 200m run to reach the range. On arriving at the firing point a final slightly faster. safety brief was given by SSgt Miller and we took our places to throw the grenade. Pre CLM Cadre - by Cpl ‘Briss’ Brissett It’s 24 Mar 14 in Camp BSN and 15 soldiers fully packed with osprey, weapons and day sacks holding all the gear you’d expect for a patrol, bar rations, make their way to the HICSSS compound. For those soldiers observing, the question being asked was whether the alert state had gone up. For those 15 however, their minds were focused on one thing. the Pre CLM Cadre organised by SSgt Miller. Although this week would see the end of the last 5 monotonous months, the scheduled programme of patrolling lessons, commands tasks, orders lessons and fitness tests would see us all surely exhausted by the end of the week… if we made it that far. Monday morning saw us all sat in the classroom we’d assembled just outside HICSSS compound, we were all seated with nothing but a pen. This meant only one thing, examination time. Many of us were nervous, trying to cast Pre throw their memories six or more years to basic training to remember acronyms and battle procedures. Some soldiers Each person had two or more grenades to eliminate the had spent the previous night trying to cram as much of the targets, which proved to be a harder challenge then military syllabus into their brains as possible, others would expected. Our objective was to land the grenade within 5 trust their natural military knowledge to shine through (at metres of the target to destroy the Figure 11 ‘enemy’. least that was the plan). The test was sat and the results collated, everyone did better than they expected which set us As we were given the order to ready the grenade by our off to a good start. Presentations saw us all working together individual safety staff, the safety catch was removed and the to give the answers the instructors were waiting to hear. index finger was placed through the pin. On the order SSgt Miller became a new man and as soon as his theory 2 THE WIRE, JUNE 2014 lessons on patrols started many were confused as to where skills and drills learnt in basics. LCpl Camm was later found ‘Milfs’ doppelganger had appeared from, at this SSgt Miller licking his wounds in the classroom and dealt with the could be seen smiling! Over the next few days we learnt a obligatory banter very well. multitude of military subjects ranging from patrolling and occupation of harbour areas to how to send MIST (AT) reports and create models. We all enjoyed the classroom lessons, not only were the instructors forgiving for any “skill fade” we had but in the back of our minds was the anxiety we all had knowing that the patrol lessons was fast approaching. The model pit Up LCpl Camm giving orders The most notable part of the course was the orders. For many speaking to an audience was a worst fear, for others the speaking part wasn’t the problem but knowing what to say was! Everyone took turns giving their orders and one by and over one we put on our osprey and headdress to issue orders to the section. Certainly everyone had their unique quirks in So came the patrol lessons and we were taken to RSOI via briefing others, some were quiet others were loud and coach, from there a small brisk walk to the training area. For dramatic. What everyone did have in common was the beads those of us that were prepared, the first bit of kit to emerge of sweat running down their faces and the sweaty shirts and from our day sacks was a set of knee pads. SSgt Miller, UBACS beneath the osprey. We all had fun picking each informed us that the lessons were not to be a ragging but others' orders apart but also all learnt something valuable in that didn’t stop us all from wishing we’d also packed elbow the process. After all, it's good to learn from your mistakes pads. Dry runs of the drills we’d been taught came only to but even better to learn from someone else’s. give those without knee protection a chance to recover. The CO, followed closely by his entourage, came to visit us to observe how the lessons were going on. This was a chance to Burns Night – by Cpl ‘Sleeper Cell’ Usher impress! After all the pleasantries a small demonstration of how to locate the enemy, the demo section all geared up, got As the senior Jock within HICSSS it came to be that Cpl ‘Rigid’ into extended line and prepared to patrol forwards in the Reffin was to organise an event that would knock all events direction of the enemy.