Major N R Lloyd – Chief of Staff Headquarters Brigade of Gurkhas
Major Lloyd commissioned into The First Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles in December 2003 and two days later found himself on a flight to Bosnia to join C (Mogaung) Company for Christmas. Staying long enough to collect a medal he returned to a winter Platoon Commander’s Battle Course the first in Brecon. As a Platoon Commander based in Shorncliffe he soon deployed with the battalion on Exercise POND JUMP in Canada and the Long Nepali Language Course. The summer of 2005 was spent attached as a Platoon Commander in Belfast with the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish on Operation BANNER, conducting frequent public order tasks over the marching season.
After Short Term Training Team deployments to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and another few months back in The First Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles (1 RGR) in Bosnia, he attended the new Javelin Anti-tank Platoon Commander’s Course, then moved to join 1 RGR in Brunei, where he rerolled the Platoon to Javelin, then to Tracking, and started the Battalion’s conceptual development of Fire Support Groups (FSG). As an FSG Commander he deployed to Kandahar on Operation HERRICK 7 conducting discreet FSG, Company Group and Battle Group operations into Helmand, Kandahar, and Oruzgun provinces. The tragic death of the Officer Commanding Lex Roberts early on, and then his replacement Leigh Roberts hitting an IED meant that Major Lloyd stepped up as Officer Commanding for half of the deployment, as a 2nd year Captain. On returning to Brunei he assumed Battalion Operations Officer and was quickly absorbed planning a multi-environment exercise in Brunei with 40 Commando Royal Marines, HMS Bulwark, HMS Ocean, their aviation, a Company of US Marine Corps and Bruneian security Forces.
Following the unit Move back to the UK he spent a short spell in HQ Brigade of Gurkhas as a Projects Officer before deploying again to Afghanistan on OCE. This time with the USMC MEF HQ in Camp Leatherneck as Staff Officer J2 Ops, overseeing 1 RGR on the ground in Nar-e-Saraj South (through UAVs) and monitoring local elections from Lashkar Gar. His third tour as a Captain was spent as a team leader at the Joint Counter Terrorist Training and Advisory Team (JCTTAT) on Operation MONOGRAM, conducting capacity building for FCO containment objectives on the Kenya-Somali border during the run up to the Olympics. Promotion and ICSC(L) were followed by the Infantry trials and Development Unit (ITDU) as SO2 Surveillance and Target Acquisition, trialling NVGs and fused (II/TI) sights for the SF. He also covered SO2 Command & Battlespace Management where he demonstrated the C4I benefits of Dismounted Situational Awareness (DSA).
Major Lloyd was proud to be able to return to C (Mogaung) Company in Brunei for Sub-Unit Command, and relished his second period in the jungle and living in SE Asia. His SG2 role was as SO2 Defence Engagement in 11 Inf Bde, aligned to East and Southern Africa. His focus though was on developing and professionalising Operation CORDED, the MOD’s fledgling Counter-Poaching Capacity Building programme in Malawi, on behalf of DEFRA. As the Lead Planning Officer he was key to achieving ‘Accompanied’ patrolling in an extreme risk environment, as well as responsible for opening up Zambia as a new country for Operation CORDED. He then attended Cranfield University to study for an MSC in Information Capability Management, before working for STRATCOM Special Projects Information Systems and Networks at Hereford. After a year he took the opportunity to assume Chief of Staff, Brigade of Gurkhas.
