Celebrating the achievements and influences of signallers in 2022

In January the Institution recognised the extra-ordinary contributions of signallers, of any rank. At the Institute of Directors, London the Master of Signals, Lieutenant General Sharon Nesmith hosted 290 guests including Lieutenant General Tom Copinger-Symes CBE, the Deputy Commander of United Kingdom Strategic Command. General Tom ‘s address emphasised the need to generate a whole force able to exploit not to merely exist in the digital age. Following Dinner the Master of Signals presented the high level Awards for 2022.

The Princess Mary Medal, a rare honour, was awarded to Major Grant Wallace for a sustained contribution at the cutting edge of cyber warfare and instrumental role in delivering Western Europe’s largest participation cyber defence exercises.

Corporal Alastair Hart was awarded the Royal Signals Institution Silver Medal for exceptional signals intelligence tradecraft on three strategic operations, identifying new signals of interest and dramatically increasing collection. Major David Pooley received for engineering leadership and delivery of a state-of-the-art prototype Command Post.

The Master of Signals Award was presented to Corporal Christopher Ash for exceptional engineering leadership during the transition of Defence’s OpNET operational capability to the Army, while Staff Sergeant Andrew Maidment was recognised for the pivotal contribution to the development of the Army Cyber Information Systems Operations Centre. General Nesmith recognised Staff Sergeant Katie Smith-Roberts’ exceptional contribution to Specific Learning Difficulties and Warrant Officer Class Two (Yeoman of Signals) James Wilson, an accomplished Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ambassador. Finally a Team Award was accepted by Staff Sergeant Timothy Bartlett on behalf of McBean Troop for their catalyst work to allow trainee soldiers to remain competent in their military and trade skills and ensure high morale and good discipline.

In absentia, the Master of Signals was pleased to present, for a second time, the Institution’s Medal for Adventurous Endeavour to Staff Sergeant Richard Simpson. Richard, a winner in 2013, played a pivotal contribution in a highly remote, arduous and challenging scientific Antarctic expedition – Antarctic Quest 21.

Other people celebrated that evening include: Warrant Officer Class One (Foreman of Signals) Tom Wilson, the 2022 winner of the Professional Engineering Institutions’ prestigious prize, the Churchill Medal; Lieutenant Alexander Howe, an outstanding junior officer, received the Whistler Trophy; and the Deane-Drummond Prizewas presented to Warrant Officer Class Two Carl Mansell for his conceptual investigation augmented and virtual reality technologies.

Details the winners’ achievements can be found in the Summer 2023 Journal. The complete list of Institution Awards for capstone academic attainment and for achievement, and the best Deane-Drummond Prize reports are published in the Winter 2022 Journal.

Link to full article.