Source UK MoD

Soldiers from the Queen’s Royal Hussars are conducting a major live-firing exercise at the Hohne ranges in Germany. The exercise is part of regiment’s annual training, which also involves the transportation of heavy armour. Pictured, a Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank being loaded on to train transports in Sennelager.

28 mars 2014 British Army

A white-hot round is fired from a Challenger 2 tank's gun [Picture: Sergeant Russ Nolan, Crown copyright]

21 November 2013 Ministry of Defence and Defence Infrastructure Organisation

Reservists of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry have trained alongside former regular soldiers in a live firing exercise on Lulworth Ranges, Dorset.

Normally based at squadrons in Bovington, Salisbury, Cirencester, Barnstaple and Paignton, the reservists spent their weekend being rigorously tested at Five Tips Range – one of the premier firing ranges in western Europe – to make sure they are ready to become reserve crewmen on the Challenger 2 main battle tank, and to carry out important support roles such as medics in the future British Army.

By this time next year, the Royal Wessex Yeomanry will formally become the only armoured reinforcement unit in Britain and will be working towards fully integrating with the British Army’s 3 regular armoured units: the Queen’s Royal Hussars, the King’s Royal Hussars and the Royal Tank Regiment.

As a result, the Royal Wessex Yeomanry will also become one of only a handful of reserve units to be a part of the British Army’s reaction forces; ready to deploy anywhere around the world to protect Britain’s interests and national security.

This challenging and exciting new role was bestowed upon the Royal Wessex Yeomanry following the publication of the government white paper ‘Reserves in the Future Force 2020’ earlier this summer, detailing the future structure of the British Army and how it will operate. It also outlined the creation of a well-trained, well-funded, well-equipped and fully integrated reserve force.

In all, 4 tanks were involved in the exercise, each one crewed entirely by reservists and commanded by a former regular soldier. Everyone in the crew from the commander to the gunner, loader and driver were continuously tested by regular soldiers from one of the units that the Royal Wessex Yeomanry will be paired with in the future.

The teams worked together in the cramped and intense atmosphere inside the hull of the Challenger 2 tank to fire the weapon’s main armaments, the 120-millimetre (mm) gun and the 7.62mm coaxial machine gun – engaging and destroying multiple targets whilst travelling at more than 25 miles per hour across difficult terrain.

Commanding Officer of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, Lieutenant Colonel Chris MacGregor, said:

The capability of a tank comes through its crew. It’s not the individuals inside it. So, one of the things they’ll be practising is that interaction and integration and, in many ways, what you’ll find inside a Challenger tank is the microcosm of all the changes we’re making to the Army in that we have integrated crewmen.

In some of the tanks there may be a regular, and you’ve got reservists who are normally a civilian in some other occupation, and they are having to come together to work in absolutely harmonised ways to get the effects that you’ve seen today to reach that military capability.

One of the Challenger 2 tank gunners was Lance Corporal Rob Stiff, a senior IT project manager. Lance Corporal Stiff is a former regular soldier with 7 years in the infantry with the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment behind him.

Now Lance Corporal Stiff is a reservist serving with C Squadron, Royal Wessex Yeomanry. On returning to the military as a reserve he said:

I missed the camaraderie, I missed the guys and I missed doing something that fulfilled me completely. The Army always gave me that. I didn’t leave the Army because I’d fallen out of love with it; I wanted to start a new career before I was too old, and this gives me that fix.

I get to be with guys and girls of the completely same mindset. We’re all here for the same reason; good banter, good laugh, work hard, play hard, and we’ve got a really worthwhile role now in the Army going forwards.

Months of hard graft over countless weekends have been put in by the reservists in sophisticated simulators to earn the prerequisite qualifications to enable them to operate to the best of their ability inside the Challenger 2 tank.

The Army Reserve aims to recruit up to its full manning of 30,000 trained soldiers, with up to an additional 8,000 soldiers in training, to provide an integrated and trained Army by 2018.

British Army reservists stand atop a Challenger 2 main battle tank [Picture: Sergeant Russ Nolan, Crown copyright]

A Challenger 2 engages an enemy position using laser sights – a pyrotechnic element adds realism to the visual simulation  (photo  Richard Watt, UK MoD)

1 October 2013 Ministry of Defence

Army reserve soldiers from the Royal Wessex Yeomanry are this week training with Challenger 2 tanks on Salisbury Plain.

More than 100 soldiers are training to become crewmen on the armoured vehicles and this is the first time in several years that the unit has had the opportunity to train with Challenger 2 on Salisbury Plain.

The reservists are spending a week on the Plain taking part in Exercise Wessex Dragon, which is their annual training camp.

The exercise is also an opportunity for the unit to use and train on its new fleet of Wolf Scout Land Rover vehicles which were recently delivered to the unit’s squadrons as part of the government’s ongoing £1.2 billion investment to revitalise the Army Reserve.

Trooper Elliot Metcalfe said:

The training stands today have been very good and very informative on all different aspects of the Challenger 2, and I have enjoyed using the laser technology system which is fitted to our weapons so we can simulate firing and hitting a target.

Captain Damien Thursby said:

Since the Future Reserves 2020 announcement we are actually getting to see the tanks more and having more opportunities for all the guys to get out on exercise with regular units, which is great.

Corporal Nathan Howard said:

The is the first time we have been able to take the tanks out as a troop working under our own steam and it is very beneficial learning to live with our tanks out here for 3 or 4 days.

These reserve personnel are preparing to fulfil a vital role in the future British Army as, by this time next year, the Royal Wessex Yeomanry will formally become the only armoured reinforcement unit in Britain.

The regiment will be working towards fully integrating with the British Army’s 3 regular armoured units, the Queen’s Royal Hussars, the King’s Royal Hussars and the Royal Tank Regiment, who will be based together in Tidworth, Wiltshire.

As a result, the Royal Wessex Yeomanry will be one of only a handful of reserve units to be part of the British Army’s reactive forces which are held at a state of higher readiness and are prepared to deploy anywhere around the world to protect Britain’s interests and national security.

This challenging and exciting new role for the Royal Wessex Yeomanry was bestowed upon them following the recent publication of the white paper ‘Reserves in the Future Force 2020’. This document detailed the restructure of the British Army and the creation of a new, well-trained, well-funded, well-equipped and fully integrated Reserve Force.

In order to successfully fulfil this enhanced new role, the Royal Wessex Yeomanry will work closely with the aforementioned regular regiments and, from now on, will train alongside them in preparation for any possible future deployment.

Lieutenant Colonel Chris MacGregor said:

Integration is absolutely vital so we have borrowed for this training 8 tanks from one of our paired regular units, the King’s Royal Hussars, and a crew from the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, which is another. We also have instructors from these units permanently based with us.

There is a desire on the part of regular forces to invest in their reservists and likewise the reservists want the best capability they can get and that comes through great training and opportunities like this.

The UK Reserve Forces play a vital part in our nation’s defence. Find out how you can get involved and what is on offer for Reserve