Regimental Update: October 2019

The period since the last update can be best summarised as “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose”. Whilst everything has indeed changed, the immutable elements of being a Queens Royal Hussar remain. We may be in a new camp and adapting to UK soldiering but the finest traditions continue and we remain the preeminent Armoured Regiment. We may have lost our camp but certainly not our sense of pride, professionalism and dedication to each other.

Building on the successes of the Regimental BATUS deployment over the summer, a BATUS described in a recent letter from the Brigade Commander to the Divisional Commander as “the best seen in recent years”, the Regiment has certainly hit the ground running in Tidworth. Messes have been established and dressed, the QMs and QM(T)s departments have set themselves up in their new G4 Hub alongside MT, the Trg Wing has opened for business and all the while the Regiment has been conducting pre-deployment training for our upcoming deployment on Op CABRIT. The Regiment has also provided a Sqn to help activate the tanks from storage in Germany and prepare them for delivery to Estonia. With the Headquarters soon to deploy on a CAST in Warminster for two weeks, it has certainly been a busy start to our time in Tidworth.

Whilst the deployment to Estonia may be the first time that the Battle group draws breath, the pace of life will not relent for ‘C’ and ‘D’ Sqn who will remain behind to conduct troop and squadron tank training before integrating into a 5RIFLES and 1RRF Battle group respectively as they prepare themselves for a BATUS exercise each and a smaller deployment of half a squadron at a time to Estonia in 2020.

Despite all this activity the Regiment is still planning to get Officers and soldiers away skiing (Alpine and Nordic) and hopefully Cresta too. Though of course, the deployment to Estonia will naturally temper our ability to support as much as we may have wished. The same goes for this year Hodson’s Horse which may feature a rather smaller team than we would hope for. We are of course due to play the final of the Cavalry Cup football against the RTR very soon and the Regiment is very much looking forward to the opportunity to remind the RTR of which is the better Regiment politely!

So whilst the Regiment is settling into a new camp and a new routine our collective hands and minds remain as busy as ever as we strive to start this new chapter in the Regiment’s history. A chapter that will retain all that is beloved from before whilst forging ahead as a modern, deployable and constantly ready fighting Regiment.

Major B Erskine-Naylor, Regimental Second in Command

Related topics

  1. A Short History of The Queen’s Royal Hussars