Post by aghart on Nov 6, 2010 19:41:17 GMT
21 members made it for the November meeting. A very good turnout. The green fields was a nil return, minutes of the previous meeting were carried. The Bristol and London branch newsletters were available to view. The Standard bearer confirmed that the branch standard would be paraded at the remembrance service held at the war memorial in Poole park on 14 November.
£50 was voted to cover the costs of raffle prizes for the December buffet. The December meeting is not a "proper" meeting, no agenda just a buffet (everyone brings food)a raffle and a laugh. Returns for the ladies lunch in January were asked to be returned by 7th December.
No further business so the chairman closed the meeting and introduced the guest speaker.
2Lt Andrew Wood of A Sqn 1RTR accompanied by Tpr Andrew Hart (son of Tiny) kindly made the trip from Warminster to address the branch.
He told us that the Demo role that A Sqn fulfill is very popular because the soldiers of A Sqn have more "tank time" than anyone else in the RAC. They are on the plain (Salisbury)every week and are a very experienced MBT Sqn. New recruits to 1 RTR are once again going first to A Sqn to get tank time before eventually moving to Honnington and the CBRN role.
He talked about the recent defence review and put everyone's mind at rest when he said that there will be no RAC cap badge losses, no disbandments or amalgamations as a result of this defence review. The rumoured amalgamation of 1 & 2 RTR is not going to happen. Once British forces have withdrawn from Afghanistan though then things may change. For the RTR the decision to volunteer 1 RTR for the CBRN role is looking more and more like a master stroke! Andrew confirmed that the government feels the CBRN role is vital and is looking as safe as safe can be in the current financial climate. He did state that 1 RTR will be sending light CBRN teams to Afghanistan in the near future, quite separate from any other RTR deployment to the "stan"
Questions from the floor followed. The first was " Are tanks going to be sent to Afghanistan?
Andrew stated that Canadian and Danish Leopard II tanks have been a huge success in Afghanistan and that commanders want this option to continue. The Canadians have announced a withdrawal (including their tanks) from Afghanistan next year. Tpr Hart informed us that rumour control on the shop floor is that the US will deploy M1 tanks to Afghanistan next year to replace the Canadians and that a number of CR2 will go as well! Of course rumour control on the tank park and decisions in No10 Downing Street may be on different hymn sheets.
Trojan vehicles of the Royal Engineers are already out there and are based on CR2 so who knows?
He talked about 2 RTR as well, They have now deployed to Afghanistan and do have 1 RTR soldiers with them. The cross posting of soldiers between the two regiments continues but for the soldiers these are postings only, they are being attached to the other RTR not being transferred. For the officers nothing has changed, they are commissioned into the RTR not a specific RTR and will serve with both regiments.
Another question was whether there are any plans for a CR2 replacement? Andrew stated that CR2 had the best protection of any tank in service and that the vehicle had plenty of life left in it and would be able to be upgraded for a number of years to come, and no replacement was on the cards.
A well received presentation from a well attended branch meeting.
£50 was voted to cover the costs of raffle prizes for the December buffet. The December meeting is not a "proper" meeting, no agenda just a buffet (everyone brings food)a raffle and a laugh. Returns for the ladies lunch in January were asked to be returned by 7th December.
No further business so the chairman closed the meeting and introduced the guest speaker.
2Lt Andrew Wood of A Sqn 1RTR accompanied by Tpr Andrew Hart (son of Tiny) kindly made the trip from Warminster to address the branch.
He told us that the Demo role that A Sqn fulfill is very popular because the soldiers of A Sqn have more "tank time" than anyone else in the RAC. They are on the plain (Salisbury)every week and are a very experienced MBT Sqn. New recruits to 1 RTR are once again going first to A Sqn to get tank time before eventually moving to Honnington and the CBRN role.
He talked about the recent defence review and put everyone's mind at rest when he said that there will be no RAC cap badge losses, no disbandments or amalgamations as a result of this defence review. The rumoured amalgamation of 1 & 2 RTR is not going to happen. Once British forces have withdrawn from Afghanistan though then things may change. For the RTR the decision to volunteer 1 RTR for the CBRN role is looking more and more like a master stroke! Andrew confirmed that the government feels the CBRN role is vital and is looking as safe as safe can be in the current financial climate. He did state that 1 RTR will be sending light CBRN teams to Afghanistan in the near future, quite separate from any other RTR deployment to the "stan"
Questions from the floor followed. The first was " Are tanks going to be sent to Afghanistan?
Andrew stated that Canadian and Danish Leopard II tanks have been a huge success in Afghanistan and that commanders want this option to continue. The Canadians have announced a withdrawal (including their tanks) from Afghanistan next year. Tpr Hart informed us that rumour control on the shop floor is that the US will deploy M1 tanks to Afghanistan next year to replace the Canadians and that a number of CR2 will go as well! Of course rumour control on the tank park and decisions in No10 Downing Street may be on different hymn sheets.
Trojan vehicles of the Royal Engineers are already out there and are based on CR2 so who knows?
He talked about 2 RTR as well, They have now deployed to Afghanistan and do have 1 RTR soldiers with them. The cross posting of soldiers between the two regiments continues but for the soldiers these are postings only, they are being attached to the other RTR not being transferred. For the officers nothing has changed, they are commissioned into the RTR not a specific RTR and will serve with both regiments.
Another question was whether there are any plans for a CR2 replacement? Andrew stated that CR2 had the best protection of any tank in service and that the vehicle had plenty of life left in it and would be able to be upgraded for a number of years to come, and no replacement was on the cards.
A well received presentation from a well attended branch meeting.