Londons (RGJ) A lot of us are currently looking forward to the Battalion skiing expedition; Ex COCKNEY GREEN SLIDE 3,which will take place in Chamonix, France for the second year running. As always this exercise is generally well supported by F and G Coys with about 75 per cent of the group being made up of RGJ personnel.
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In the first weekend of February the Battalion SAAM will take place in Pirbright. We will use it in preparation for the London District SAAM due to take place in the middle of May.
We have been tasked with being the Admin Unit for the CENTSAAM at Bisley; therefore summer camp will be totally directed towards the running of this event. I n early July there will be a planned Battlefield tour in France, currently the details are sketchy but we are keen to participate in this LONDIST sponsored event. No doubt Maj John McEwing and Capt Stephen Lowe will want to get involved in this event after the success of the last Battlefield tour of Vietnam. We plan to take part in the Cambrian Patrol Competition. Last year the British Columbia Regiment took part, but along
with many teams they were forced to retire due to hurricane conditions. Lieutenant Colonel James Cunliffe arrived as CO in October. The Battalion 21C Major Tim Matthews is due to handover in January on posting to the London District Specialist Training Team. The Adjt Capt Julian Puddick is also departing having completed his tour with both 4(V) RGJ and the London Regt. Capt Adam Rout will be in post by the time you read this. Capt David Lawn QMIMTO is to depart in the spring, apparently he can remember when Davies Street was being built! W 0 2 McCartney will be leaving F Coy in February having spent 2 years as SPSI with W 0 2 Pearce from 2 RGJ replacing him from UNTAT in Warminster.
Royal Rifle Volunteers (RRV) RGJ Coys
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We intend to begin the year by concentrating our efforts on training, recruiting and raising the profile of the Regiment in Oxfordshire. Our first Recruit Selection weekend will be held in January, training continues in February with a Battalion Study Day for us all to look forward to.
we hope will convey the message that Royal Green Jackets in Oxfordshire are alive and well. A Charity Concert on 22 March by the Waterloo Band and the Oxfordshire Youth Band will raise money which will go to the Riflemen's Aid Society and The Lord Mayor of Oxfords Charities.
our efforts are rewarded with Lots of new recruits. We are already planning and looking fonvard to our Annual Camp in Cyprus in July. the recce will take place in February where we hope that care will be taken to ensure that the beer is cool enough and suitable for the Riflemen.
In March there will be a major recruiting and PR campaign. Amongst a variety of events we intend to hold a dinner where we will invite members of the local community, including the Lord Mayor's of the larger Oxfordshire towns, representatives from local radio and television and managers of the larger businesses in the area all of whom
As a finale to the publicity and recruiting efforts we are having a TA Day on 31 March. We will target our efforts in the pedestrian thoroughfares of Oxford. There will be static displays, the Waterloo Band and the 95th Historical Society will be there to support us. Mobile recruiting teams will be in the area and we hope that
In closing may we wish all Riflemen, worldwide, the very best for 2001.Whatever the trials, traditions and vagaries of soldiering, we will rise to the challenge, keeping our faces to the sun, so that we may not see the shadows, and with a smile - after all, we are Green Jackets and we chose this profession willingly!!
A (RGJ) Company
tional recruiting methods have been bolstered by innovative approaches, for example we got some TV coverage when the Actor Richard Todd (Ox & Bucks Officer in the Film: The Longest Day) visited the Company. Both the Waterloo Band and A Company are up to strength, though the battle to retain all those we train remains to be won.
we have a new CSM - WO2 Lee Harrison. We continue to provide a steady trickle of soldiers to the regular battalions - indeed, one of our better soldiers, Rfn Harwood liked 2RGJ so much during their tour in Kosovo that he joined them as a Regular Soldier. He is pictured on the front cover (closest to camera) of the previous issue of Swift & bold (2000).
As for moves of members of the 'A' Team in January we said farewell to W 0 2 'Dutch' Holland, W 0 2 Pete Logan replaced him as the SPSI. Sgt Mark Seymour replaced our very own Gulf War Veteran - C/Sgt 'Billy' Billison as the MILAN PSI. Billy Billison left on completion of his 22-year engagement, he lives in Devon and is an active member of the Association. We wish him and his family every success in 'civvy' street. We welcomed LCpl Herring from lRGJ, he is vital to the continued need for Officers Mess facilities here at Slade Park, for the benefit of the wider aspects of the Regiment. On the Territorial front, Lt Xavier Griffin joined us from Oxford OTC, L t Rupert Crew has gone to the BSTT and
Our training weekends are many and varied in style and content. Whether on Salisbury Plain or Stanford, getting to grips with conventional infantry skills, climbing and trekking in Snowdonia or - perhaps on the rifle ranges honing up the principles of marksmanship - there has been realistic and worthwhile training for all. The year culminated with a Battalion skills competition, Carol Service and Christmas dinner on Salisbury Plain. We are happy to report that A (RGJ) Company won the competition overall and that E (RGJ) company came a very close second. Proving yet again, that despite the typical Green Jacket soldier not appearing as clean and tidy, suave and well dressed as
The year 2000,despite all the historic hype, has been as busy, as varied and as satisfying as all the other years in the history of the Royal Rifle Volunteers, - well actually, for the one year and six months since our foundation as the oxford based Royal Green Jacket Territorial Company of The Royal Rifle Volunteers, with Battalion Headquarters based in Reading. It has been both challenging and rewarding. Belonging as we do to a multi cap badged unit, we try just that little bit harder to display the Green Jacket standards and to show off our unique differences to the other Regiments that are represented within the RRV. The Green Jacket ethos of being quick witted, allowing commanders at lower levels to make decisions and not allowing the whole thing to become clogged and bogged down with beaurocracy has paid handsome dividends. Under the principal direction of Captain Terry Roper, our Company 2i/c, recruiting has been buoyant this past year. Conven-
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his line regiment counterpart, when it comes down to 'brass tacks' - the results are never in doubt.
the Freedom parade in Milton Keynes closely pursued by Ex EAGLE STRIKE in Scotland.
On a fine and rainy weekend in September, five members of the Company: Sgt Hussey, Rfns' Kader, Anderson, Lyon and Heinrich took part in the Marlow half marathon; running as a squad with full kit. Kader had only just rejoined us from his attachment to lRGJ in Belfast. His aspiration is now to join the Royal Marines as a Regular. We must train them well eh!
T h e focus of the new year will be on the new training cycle. I t begins immediately and our task is to concentrate on operations in the urban environment. T h e culmination of the first six months of 2001 will be the deployment of a rifle platoon to Cyprus for Ex LION SUN.
Our Annual Camp 2000 took place in the Borders Region of Scotland, notably Galloway Forest. T h e task was to act as enemy force against the newly formed 16 Airmobile Brigade - who were bolstered by the attachment of the United States lOlst Airborne. We acquitted ourselves well, leading the defence during the final assault of the Exercise to a predictable and glorious defeat. It was during this phase of training that the SPSI - W 0 2 Logan was given the nickname of 'midge'; after the beastly, incessant pest of the forest - he was, allegedly, 'always in the face of the less than fully professional Green Jacket'. A (RGJ) coy have enjoyed a very successful year and now look forward to 2001 with confidence and enthusiasm.
E(RGJ) Company E (RGJ) Company found that the second half of 2000 tested our flexibility with
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Then later in the year our Mortar Platoon will conduct Warrior training with 2 RGJ in Paderborn. This training will greatly enhance their future deployability on operations. Farewell and congratulations to Sgt Marcus Dicks, now 2 L t Dicks RRVIPWRR, who has successfully passed out of RMAS and taken up a platoon commanders appointment in C Coy. Congratulations also to W 0 2 (Now Capt) Mike Scott-Hyde, on his commissioning.
Waterloo Band & Bugles T h e Waterloo Band & Bugles has had a very busy year providing excellent music to a wide variety of functions and events throughout the land. All this, despite the limited availability of Man Training Days.
ITC Catterick This year saw a change to our Remembrance Day commitment; we played at the Oxford City Cenotaph instead of the previous format at the Slade. Our final event of the year was the Battalion Carol Service held at Baden Farm on Salisbury Plain. It was wet, muddy and chilly - but the Christmas dinner served in the barn by the Officers and SNCOs' was worth waiting for. Another event worth noting was our first reunion, pulling together many old friends to a rehearsal followed by dinner and dancing at the Four Pillars Hotel near Witney. The Band & Bugles welcomed back into the fold, Bugle Major Pat Mannion. Bugle Major Dave Hutchinson is reverting to Cpl. The band & bugles thank Dave for all his hard work. We look fonvard to 2001 with all its musical challenges, trials and tribulations with confidence in our ability as a first class Band. Life at ITC Catterick is interesting as far as the Royal Green Jackets are concerned. Theze have been two main developments.
2 4 Swift a n d Bold
Firstly, the trial course, for a joint Phase 1 and 2 has been completed. The Light Division training team taking part has had particular success. The new 24 week course, though in need of some adjustment, has shown marked benefits over the separate Phase 1 and 2 courses. Not least of these benefits was the fact that the Green Jacket wastage rate has been dramatically improved. Across the board it has been reduced from just below 50% to 25%. The second main development has been the arrival of CSgt Pashby, taking up the permanent post of Light Division Retention and Liaison Officer. Though based at Catterick he also visits Winchester, Glencourse and AFC Harrogate. The personal interest taken in the Riflemen has paid off with interest. The retention of the RGJ recruit is now amongst the best! It has also had the benefit of increasing the feeling amongst the recruits that they are joining a Regiment different from any other. The standards set by those in permanent staff positions continues to be of the high-
T h e first half of the year saw the band playing at dinners for the recently enhanced Oxford Squadron of 202 Field Hospital, the Felixstowe Branch of the RGJ Association and also the Milton Keynes Branch. We participated fully in the TA Open Day at Slade Park Barracks on 25 March and got to fire our weapons at the Bn SAAM in April. Now the Band on any firing range is quite a sight - but we are soldiers and it must be done. Our Annual Memorial Concert for Wantage Police on April 22nd was well supported and a very enjoyable event. T h e highlights of the year were the marriages of Cpl Graham Salsbury and Cpl Rachael Gwyther in April, and Msn James Grundonner and Msn Joanne Dawson in September. The second half of the year was just as busy with the band & bugles performing for the RGBW Association, in Devizes, Reading and in Salisbury Cathedral. We played for the annual RGJ Association reunion in Winchester for RGJ Weekend, Thame Tattoo, Hever 2000 at Hever Castle, an open day at Stirling Lines in Herefore and our annual outdoor concert here at Slade Park. We played at mess functions at Bracknell for the Staff College, Westcourt Mess in Arborfield for our own Officers Mess, Worthy Down Sgts mess and at RMC Sandhurst for General Deverell - IGTA. Last but not least, the Band & Bugles also played during the spectacular RMT2000 at Horseguards in London, and at the Freedom of Milton Keynes.
est quality. A third consecutive Royal Green Jacket, Cpl Dennis, has been selected to move to Detroit Platoon, the retraining section, taking over from Cpl Case. This is a high profile position within ITC Catterick, for which Royal Green Jackets have proved themselves highly suited. The arrival of different courses at different times still means that unfortunately, we still have Light Division platoons being trained by non Light Division staff. The standard of recruits from Winchester, judging from feedback, have impressed these staff. However we still have to fight to keep our traditions, the most obvious being RGJ recruits learning heavy drill. Royal Green Jackets are still well represented here from L t Col David Brown, commanding the 1st Battalion to the NCOs of the 27 RGJ posts. We have one new arrival, Capt Turner from 1 RGJ who has replaced Capt Sale. Across the ITC, our NCOs work selflessly to instill the Regimental ethos into our recruits and to train them to the standards of our Regiment. These efforts are reflected by the amount of Light Division platoons winning Best Platoon long may it continue!