1 MERCIAN UPDATE

Capt T PrettyJohn

The 1st Battalion is now fully deployed, standing firm on operations in Estonia as the NATO enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup. We are embedded within the 1st Estonian Brigade based at Tapa Camp in the north of the country, our mission: to deter any aggression against our Baltic allies on their eastern border with Russia. After a series of integration exercises we are now at full readiness to strike hard against any threat to NATO collective security. The Estonians have been impressed not just by our determination to overcome the challenges of our deployment, but our humility and willingness to learn from them about their history fighting for their freedom in the dense forests and marshes that range across the country.

To maintain our readiness in this role against the backdrop of COVID-19, we are committed to a robust programme of contact tracing and isolations while in country. This can be frustrating for our soldiers who want to get out, train and experience everything Estonia has to offer, but we place our mission first and must ensure our credibility and professional reputation amongst the Estonian people is of the highest order. We look forward to more tough training alongside our allies during the major Exercise SPRING STORM, when we rehearse the defence of Estonia across the entire country, and travelling to live firing ranges in Latvia to train with other NATO partners.

4 MERCIAN C (KOHIMA) COMPANY ON Ex SAXON SHIELD

2Lt Emile Mackney

Exercise SAXON SHIELD was a 10-day annual training exercise that enabled troops from 4 MERCIAN and a contingent 5RRF to complete Military Annual Training Tests (MATTs) in a tactical scenario. This mandatory training is designed to maintain Reservist's currency, competency and allows the Battalion to remain ready to support our Regular counterparts on operations and deployments.

The week started on the ranges where troops completed their Weapon Handling Tests (WHTs) and fired the Annual Combat Marksmanship Test (ACMT). Most had not fired for up to a year prior to this exercise so it was a well needed refresher for troops to regain confidence in their use of the personal weapon. Soldiers did not only undertake the IW SA-80 A2 WHT but also the opportunity to train in the GPMG and the Glock pistol weapon systems on the day.

Over the course of the week, the Battalion undertook some physical training sessions and despite the reduction in opportunities to train due to COVID-19, all members of the Bn made great progress and completed the training in the allotted time.

The troops also took part in a fire team strength, day and night navigation exercise while being tracked by a ‘hunter force’. This tested individual map reading skills and fitness whilst incorporating elements of SERE. Counter explosive ordnance, Diversity and inclusion, CBRN and battlefield casualty drills finished off the MATTs aspect, with everyone looking forward to a short confirmatory exercise in the field.

CONFIRMATORY EXERCISE

2Lt Ben St Clair Gray

The confirmatory exercise phase of Ex SAXON SHIELD saw a culmination of all the skills that had been learned throughout the week, aiming to apply them to a tactical scenario. A platoon of soldiers, as well as a Company Headquarters deployed to the training area tasked to disrupt and destroy enemy forces. The tactical insertion was followed by the establishment of a platoon harbour, seeing the return to the basic skills and drills that are fundamental for good soldiering. The next morning was marked by a visit from Commander 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade and the Brigade Sergeant Major who spent time talking to the troops and answering questions. Their presence and words sharpened the minds of the fighting troops as they prepared to conduct a recce and night ambush on an enemy weapon and IED exchange point.

As dawn broke, the enemy used IED chemical irritants against the platoon, leading to a challenging extraction in full CBRN PPE, Dress State 4 (Romeo) to a decontamination lane. Just as we were catching breath, two casualties were inflicted upon us and the exercise was concluded with a gruelling CASEVAC extraction back to camp and ENDEX.

4 MERCIAN HQ COMPANY SECTION COMMANDERS BATTLE COURSE

LCpl Jack Harley

When we arrived at IBS Brecon in January, the full extent of the weather had not quite hit, however, the ground was still littered with snow. We were all prepared and keen to push through the weather and to get stuck into the real meat of the course, section attacks. Having had lessons on the Section Quick Battle Orders slate (QAOS card), we started with a TEWT from our DS, who talked us through the fundamentals of the attack from a section commander’s point of view. Following this, we went straight into two days of attacks where each of the section members took turns in leading an attack as commander and then in the 2IC role. The attacks went well as we pushed through difficult ground and difficult weather conditions to take the positions from the dug in enemy.

We learned so much about the role and gained valuable experience from the course. After the section attacks, we moved onto complex terrain, namely urban operations and trench clearing, the latter being completely new to me. The trench phase was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had with the army to date. The trenches provided a valuable insight into a lesser known aspect of warfare from my perspective.

Moving onto the orders process, we were given a set of orders and had to extract from them the detail required to write our own set of orders. The process, while at first quite alien to me, soon made much more sense as we broke it down into stages and focused on the main effort of them. During the course we learned a great deal from our instructors, who all took the time to show us the proper way of doing things and gave us all incredibly useful knowledge from which we could use in our future careers as section commanders.

4 MERCIAN VOLUNTEERING IN KENYA - MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Pte Alex Boyer, HQ Coy

I went to Kenya in January 2021 and my experience there could be summarised as the best month of my life. I joined 4 MERCIAN in August 2020 in order to achieve a fruitful and worthwhile gap year before going on to university in 2021, and I wanted to add some variety to my experiences. My sixth form provided me with a list of gap year suggestions such as apprenticeships, scuba diving in Australia, becoming a nanny and building churches across the world, but a company called Africa & Asia Venture (AV) provided me with exactly what I needed; volunteering as a teacher, an unfamiliar country, a difficult task with plenty of scope for personal development. After much deliberation on which country to go to, I settled on Kenya.

Despite the third lockdown in the UK, I arrived in Kenya on 15th January 2021, along with 10 other volunteers and we lived amongst the locals in an Islamic town, which is made up of lots of smaller villages, called Msambweni. Kenyan people are the nicest and most welcoming people I’ve ever met. Army routine helped me settle in quickly unlike some of the other volunteers who really struggled during the first few days. On day four we were taken to our designated schools and mine was called Vingujini Primary School. I met the Head Teacher and the more ‘scary’ Deputy Head, a wise woman who had undoubtedly been through a lot in her life. As I am going on to study History at University, I managed to convince the Deputy Head into allowing me to teach Kenyan Social Studies (a combination of Kenyan History, Geography and Culture) with English and Physical Education to mainly the year 5 age group. School days lasted from 0815hrs until 1510hrs, with lessons only lasting 35 minutes due to the constant yet beautiful 30+ degree heat. Once a week I’d even attend the local Kenyan Scouts group and help them perfect their drill, the effort and enjoyment they put in was impressive. After school, we would relax for a bit on the beach that was 20 seconds away from our house in Mwambe Village, a stark contrast to life under lockdown in the United Kingdom at the time. During my relatively short stay I would organise weekend and evening activities, such as fishing, exploring, fitness, football with the locals, safari, trekking and we even attended a two day long Muslim wedding celebration.

All lessons in Kenyan schools are supposed to be taught in English as it is the official language of Kenya (KiSwahilli being the national language), however the majority of the children did not speak English fluently. This meant that all their textbooks were also in English and what really shocked me was that the English terminology that they were learning in year 5. I was teaching words and definitions that I had learnt when I was doing my GCSEs, such as population density, foreign exchange market and subsistence farming. Consequently it was little wonder that children were constantly held back in Kenyan schools. One boy in my class called Abdullah (who tried really hard) was 16 years old and had been in school for ten years and was in a class whose youngest was 9 years old (In fact the oldest at Vingujini Primary school is 24 years old). Motivating the children who had been held back for so long was also an instrumental task. After all, ‘who was this ‘*Mzungu’ who came all the way from rich England to teach them about their own country’? Testing knowledge throughout the lesson was initially futile, as when I’d either pick on someone to answer a question or ask the whole class, there would be silence or a clueless face. These children knew how to play the game as they are taught by Mzungu volunteers almost every year. I had to quickly think of a strategy to counter this problem, so that I wouldn’t be torn apart. Therefore, good communication was a major challenge when teaching my 60+ strong class of crammed Kenyan children of mixed ages.

Despite all the fun I was having, I had to mitigate the challenges I was facing during teaching. Chai (a brew) brought in a flask kept me going through the heat. And when it comes to teaching complicated English, there is a simple solution: slow it down. If I thought they were not understanding what I was saying, I’d take a step back, wait for a few seconds and simplify the sentence further whilst getting them to repeat to me what I had just said so that they would internalise the information. I’d keep them on their toes by testing their knowledge, this was made easier by rewarding them for putting in effort. Bribery with sweets and Bourbon biscuits worked brilliantly, however making the rest of the class congratulate the effort, or a simple “well done” also went a long way in motivating the students to be courageous in answering questions.

In PE lessons, I’d create competition within the class by making competitive mixed teams. I’d work each team up before the match and have them screaming that their team is better, which resulted in some of the best football I’ve ever witnessed from 10 -14 year olds. If the class had behaved well in the previous lesson I’d allowed them to continue the game into their breaks and after school (some of my favourite memories are from penalty shoot outs between teams Simba and Pumba after the school day had finished). Trying to control the class proved difficult. However, I knew that shouting and punishment is not the way to do it and rewarding good behavior is. After the first week, all I had to do was pause for a few seconds and the class would settle down, the hardworking students would tell the chatterboxes to ‘kimya’ (shut up), which would be accompanied by a slap on the back of the head (from them). Another effective tool for controlling the class was simple Swahilli phrases, which would shock the children each time I came up with a new phrase. It also created an illusion that I knew what they were whispering during my lessons, resulting in them getting paranoid, and ultimately completing their work. Teaching is challenging; however, that made it all the more rewarding, I loved every minute of it and I miss the children the most. I now understand how difficult I made the lives of my teachers at school!

Although I did not want to leave, I managed to achieve everything I wanted during my time in Kenya. My confidence has grown from the challenges of an unfamiliar environment and I fell in love with a country within a continent that I’d never experienced before. Teaching, while tough and something I don’t aspire to do as a career, has rewarded me with developing my leadership, communication and organisational skills. I can’t wait to go back.

*Mzungu - An East African term for a white person.

4919934 Pte ARTHUR ROLLINS - 1st Bn, SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT 1939-1946

On 4th February 21, Arthur Rollins celebrated his 104th birthday at his residential care home in Worcester, surrounded by family and friends. Representation from the Staffordshire Regiment’s ‘Watchman’ and the Band of The Mercian Regiment helped him celebrate this momentous occasion.

In December 1940, Arthur was involved in Operation COMPASS, the first large military operation of the Western Desert Campaign during WW2. In 1942 he was involved with Field Marshal Montgomery's 8th Army in other major battles in The North Africa campaign such as Tobruk and El Alamein and in 1944, he was sent to serve as a member of an Air Landing Unit during the 2nd Chindit Expedition operating behind Japanese lines in Burma.

In March 1944, a glider was to pitch Arthur into the thickest of hand to hand combat with enemy forces constantly at no more than bayonet’s tip away. Fighting over mountains, in dense jungles and waist deep water, close personal combat was the order of the day.

Arthur remained in Burma until the end of the war. In 1946 he was posted to India where the Battalion trained as a parachute Battalion. 1946 saw Arthur return to the UK where he went back to work at Royal Worcester Porcelain, he was made foreman and remained employed there until he retired. Retirement however was not for him and he became a gardener for many years at the Diglis House Hotel which still stands on the banks of the River Severn today.

STOCKPORT BRANCH CRA & MVRA THE MERCIAN REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATION

COVID-19

The Coronavirus pandemic has obviously continued to have a huge impact upon proceedings. However, we have embraced technology to facilitate both Committee Meetings, and also full Branch Meetings. The Branch Meetings have had members logging in from Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Newcastle on Tyne and even Preston! We are now looking at investing in this technology to enable the future face-to-face meetings to be broadcast internationally. This will also allow us to engage more fully with our less mobile members who perhaps find it difficult to be present at the monthly get-together.

73rd EAST CHESHIRE REUNION (ECR)

Covid also meant that we could not hold the 73d ECR in its normal format. The occasion was observed with a Covid-secure Act of Remembrance at the ARC Stockport to maintain the continuity. Planning is underway for the 74th ECR at Stockport on 30th October 2021. Ticket information to follow.

CHESHIRE REGIMENT MEMORIAL CONTRIBUTION

The Cheshire Regiment has no memorial at the NMA; this is now being rectified by a group co-ordinated by the Cheshire Regiment Association. Stockport Branch MRA was pleased to support this initiative by a donation of £2,000. Below is pictured Mike Pilkington (Branch Chair) presenting the cheque to Harold Riley (Branch Vice Chair – Cheshire Regiment). The photograph was taken between lockdowns in anticipation of the funding action (preparation and planning…etc!).

MERCIAN VOLUNTEERS REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATION

Obviously, our activities have been limited due the lockdowns, but we have been able to hold meetings using ‘Zoom’. Branches are keeping in touch with their members via, the Telephone and Facebook. We look forward to when we can meet again.

Kidderminster will be able to begin playing golf again and Stockport their long-distance walks. It is hoped that we will be able to hold our event at the National Memorial Arboretum in August, but only time will tell.

We were not be able to celebrate the Anniversary of the formation of the 2nd Battalion Mercian Volunteers thirty years ago, except on Facebook.