Page 12 - Mercian Eagle 2012

10
It never gets old...
CSMs donning full Gore-Tex! The ability to get full analysis and after-action reviews of the guys’ performance was crucial for them to see how they were developing. It also saw Pte Buchanan taking the award for best operator.
With a slight lull in battle in between exercises, B Coy started getting vast amounts of cascade training planned. The 2IC had other ideas. With the amount of qualifications the Company needed to get itself into the best position possible for HERRICK 17, Capt Rager had to solve what can only been seen as a mathematically impossible problem; allocating the right guys to the right courses at the right time with the right qualifications. Throw in the inherent fastballs, injuries and other niff-naff and trivia, the Coy quickly saw muster parades of around 15 blokes. However we cracked on with various lessons run by the NCOs such as ground sign, CASEVAC and patrolling. To make sure that this had all
Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of the wise
stuck we deployed on to the back area for a 48-hour mini CFX.
Compound clearance
number of times in their Mastiffs, hatches locked and sealed and heaters on full blast!
With a few weeks’ summer leave, the Coy came back refreshed and ready to go for the final exercise of MST in Salisbury. With a
With the Coy coming back together for the first time since Kenya we got stuck into the CFX down in Stamford Training Area (STANTA). For many of the soldiers it was their first experience of
living out of a Forward
Operating Base (FOB)
and for 4 and 5 Platoon
a Check Point (CP).
For most it was also
their first time working
with Afghans as civilian
population and it clearly
made the soldiers think
a lot harder about Rules
of Engagement and
how they conducted
themselves around the Local Nationals (LNs). With a big Op planned, queue the torrential rain, with 5 Platoon conducting an eight hour cordon soaked to the skin after five minutes, and 6 Platoon driving past a
crazy early start the
For many of the soldiers it was their first experience of living out of a Forward Operating Base (FOB)
and for 4 and 5 Platoon a check Point (cP).
Battalion headed down for an MCCP check in South Cerney, or what actually happened: an eight-hour wait and an ID card check! Once into the full swing of the exercise a demanding patrol matrix was formed which saw
Sgt Miller head to CP Shingul to stag on! Apart from the odd casualty and contact for
B Coy it was a relatively quiet and successful exercise, which we’re hoping will be mirrored once we deploy to Kopak N at the start of October.
CWM
THE MERCIAN EAGLE