1 Troop Professional Development Plan

By Tpr Graves
4 June 2009

 

Once again 1st Troop Recce Squadron is taking on a new and exciting tasking. Upon returning from Exercise Desert Ram, 1st Troop Recce has now been tasked to recondition and care for 15 end connectors that will eventually become part of the troop family.

 

On May 14, all was quiet in Recce Squadron until 13:30 when 1 Troop’s kit inspection began. A few soldiers in the troop didn’t have all their kit together and marked properly. Well as you can imagine, it didn’t go over very good with the Sergeant! As a result, after a sound verbal thrashing, Sergeant Rob “make them shiny like my head” Likely called the troops into the weapons cleaning room where each member was issued an old rusty end connector to shine, recondition, restore, and babysit for the leave period and beyond. Once the new members of the Troop were brought to a shiny finish, we then had to name our own end connector. Sergeant Likely then advised the troops that “if you guys can’t look after your issued kit, then you will look after your very own end connector until otherwise instructed”. (Expletives omitted because this is a family show.) The end connectors have to be on our person and be ready for inspection at any given time. Sgt Likely called it “professional development” and we all quietly agreed.

 

Reconditioning end connectors started as a tasking but has now turned into a competition between the troops. We are competing to see who can achieve the shiniest end connector. Cpl John “Hillbilly Willy” Johnson started with the best one, and set the Troop standard. The guys in 1 Troop are working really hard, so there’s no telling who will have the shiniest connector at the end of this tasking. Sergeant Likely will have a hard decision to make on choosing whose track end connector has best come from junk to trophy in such a short time.

During the Melfa River Sports event the CO and RSM were on hand to inspect the end connectors and choose a winner. The best end connector belonged to Tpr White. It was a hard decision as all members of the troop had become much better at paying attention to detail.

 

Even though Tpr White was the eventual winner, we all learned a very valuable lesson. You should always double check your kit prior to inspections!