3 Field Squadron RE

Update 25/05/04.

Taken from: http://www.army.mod.uk/royalengineers/org/22regt/index.htm

3 Armoured Engineer Squadron.

SETTLING IN
By Capt S C Back RE - Sqn 2IC

3 Armoured Engineer Squadron deployed to Basra in Iraq on Op TELIC 4 in April 2004. The Squadron’s numbers have swelled to 235 men and women after being augmented by 121 Territorial Reservists from 71 Engineer Regiment (V) (from Scotland and the North East of England), 73 Engineer Regiment (V) (from the midlands) and 75 Engineer Regiment (V) (from various places in the UK). Some of these troops deployed with 22 Engineer Regiment and the remainder had already been in theatre for three months.

The Squadron is based at a camp called Fortress Lines in the north of the city of Basra along with 5 Field Squadron. The vast majority of the Squadron has now arrived, we have taken over operations from 37 Armoured Engineer Squadron and made ourselves at home. The camp is basic but offers some good temporary accommodation, a gym and a supply of phones and internet terminals. The chefs are doing sterling work and producing three excellent meals a day with plenty of variety. It would be a brave man and highly critical man who could find fault with their very hot work.
The Squadron has begun engineering work on a number of projects and there is certainly no shortage of tasks to entertain us. In future issues you will see what we are up to and the conditions that are being worked in.

LIFE WITHIN FORTRESS LINES
By SSgt C Jones - SQMS

After the normal delays in deploying, we finally got to our new camp where we started to take over from our previous unit. Our accommodation here is tents that house between 6 and 8 soldiers. These contained a variety of hand-me-downs ranging from beds and chairs to budgies and an aviary. All have a seating area outside which the lads have a get together after work. The tents are fitted with air conditioning units to keep the air temperature pleasant. The QM recently managed to acquire some new mattresses which improved living conditions.

The chefs under the direction of Sgt Charlie Boyd are producing a superb array of food in probably the most arduous conditions imaginable. The coolest place in the kitchen sits at 68°C but there plans in the pipeline to install some air conditioning units to bring the temperature down. There are 2 dining tents, both with large TV screens, with one connected to Sky News.
We have a well stocked Sqn ‘rest area’, with a large TV ready for the forthcoming European football championships and Olympics should the work programme allow.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF LAURENCE - CHAPTER 1
By Cpl J Shrigley - 73 Engr Regt (V)

After serving 22 years in the Regular Army all my thoughts were of settling down to a civilian way of life. On a sunny winter’s morning when the postie brought me the BIG BROWN ENVELOPE - my compulsory callout notice. After frantic communications with others in the unit I realised that I was not alone. We said our goodbyes to our loved ones before going off to RTMC. However my other half was going with me as she had been mobilised as well. After going through the sausage machine at Chilwell and Grantham turning TA soldiers into Regular soldiers, we still came out as TA soldiers!

This was spotted almost immediately by OC 3 Armoured Engineer Squadron who on our arrival at 22 Engineer Regiment in Tidworth laid plans for turning a rabble of Jocks and Geordies (and the odd Mackam) into 1 Troop. This was done with the help of LCpl Steve Austin who insisted on running myself and 1 Troop ragged in the gym. The range staff at Lydd Ranges kept us occupied whilst most of 3 Sqn was on a night out at the British Legion in Tidworth (also I’d like to thank Cpl Stig Jennings for drinking my share of the beer that night). Then finally Sgt Bret Sinclair and Sgt ‘Ginge’ Mackie had the task of putting the final cutting edges to 1 Troop.

After 2 weeks well earned rest I found my self sat in a 747 heading for the Middle East……You must be joking… I sat at South Cerney for 9 hours…. delayed at Brize for 4 hours… sat on a 747 for 6 hours… waited at Qatar for 2 hours… sat on a Herc for 2 hours… then finally arrived at Basra and sat around for another 2 hours before heading off to my Bedouin tent at Shaibah Logistic Base.
I was always led to believe that the desert was hot and dusty; never in a month of Sundays would I see my tent washed out twice, thanks to some cracking rain storms. The OC must have felt sorry for us as he packed us onto trucks like sardines and moved us to Fortress Lines, our new home for the next few months.