Infantry regiment

Lt Craig Windslow - Ex Wessex Storm

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BY day he controls a class of nine-year-olds but at weekends he commands an army of men.

Craig Windslow (30) is a teacher at Werneth Primary School but he also has a second job as a lieutenant in the Army with Wigan-based B Squadron of the Queen’s Own Yeomanry.

Craig has been a reservist for six years and is a Reconnaissance Troop Leader in charge of four vehicles and 12 men.

He recently took part in a 400-strong training exercise on a bitterly cold and waterlogged Salisbury Plain.

Exercise Wessex Storm gave Lieutenant Windslow the chance to work alongside full-time soldiers of The Light Dragoons and hone his skills on the battlefield.

“Obviously this is a very different role to the one I have working with children, but a lot of the responsibilities I have are similar,” said Craig.

“I have to be aware of what’s going on around me, I need to plan well and be flexible, there is also the teaching element — one of my responsibilities is training my soldiers.

“I’ve had to try to explain to my class what it is I’m doing this week but, being nine-year-olds, I’m not sure they fully understand what the Army Reserve is yet.”

On operations, the QOY often deploys in advance of other friendly forces to gather intelligence on the enemy and this exercise tested their ability to do just that.

It saw them using the powerful and agile Land Rover RWMIKs (Revised Weapons Mounted Installation Kit) and the latest digital battlefield communications and surveillance systems.

Wessex Storm has created a dramatic and realistic test for the soldiers involved, complete with Apache attack helicopters, light artillery guns and mortar fire.

Craig said: “The RWMIK is basically a Land Rover on steroids.

“It has no doors or windows, but has a souped-up engine, armour, and a turret-mounted weapon. We go on the ground with it, locate the enemy, find routes and any other information useful to our higher command, and relay it back to our superiors quickly and accurately.”

The aim is to test the ability of regular and reserve units to mesh together on the battlefield under the Army 2020 reforms.