BC's Update Major David Walker RA

It is with great pleasure that I write my first foreword for the Battery webpage. Having notionally “taken over” from Major Joe Power on 20 July 2009, I have actually only just completed my first week as SO2 Joint Fires in Lashkar Gah, having spent three weeks standing in for another Battery Commander during his R&R. As such, I have had limited contact with 49 (Inkerman) Headquarters Battery thus far, but have already been impressed by the range of tasks being undertaken and spread of locations occupied by the Battery’s personnel both in the Rear Operations Team in Northern Ireland and spread across the Helmand Area of Operations (AO).
In terms of my background, after a brief flirtation with Close Air Defence (nobody’s perfect), I served in three consecutive posts in 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery: first as a Fire Support Team Commander, then as Regimental Signals Officer and finally as Amphibious Operations Officer. I therefore consider myself to be very much a “Light Gunner” (mentally if not physically!). Following the Intermediate Command and Staff Course (Land) I served two years as SO2 Targets in Headquarters 1st Artillery Brigade before being selected to command a Battery in 40th Regiment Royal Artillery (The Lowland Gunners).

In terms of life for the Battery in Afghanistan, it could be said that in some ways little has changed since Joe wrote the last foreword: most of the Battery’s personnel are still engaged in the same tasks approaching the final weeks of Operation HERRICK 10 as they were at the outset, many in the same locations. However, this would be to misrepresent the tempo of operations here, which have continued at a tremendous pace. All ranks of the Battery have stood up magnificently to the mental and physical challenges this has generated, whether as enablers in Bastion, facilitators of Command and Control in the Task Force Headquarters in Lashkar Gah or fulfilling a number of roles in Forward Operating Bases and Patrol Bases across the length and breadth of the AO. Every soldier’s perceptions and experiences of an operational tour will vary, and some may feel they have seen little of “the war” – but every contribution has been vital to the success of the Regiment on Operation HERRICK 10; I echo Joe’s pride in commanding such a resilient, robust and professional Battery, and look forward to taking it forward into next year and building on the successes achieved on this Operation.

Lastly, a massive thank you to Joe Power for affecting a difficult “tailgate” handover, and leaving me well prepared to take up the reins – a difficult proposition in camp and face-to-face, very much more so on operations and by telephone and email. Joe will be greatly missed by all ranks of the Battery, and we wish him every success as BC 6/36 Battery.

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The Battery title in 1993 was re-designated

 49 Inkerman Headquarter Battery

and is a sub unit of

40 Regiment Royal Artillery