Page 33 - Bugle No. 17 Spring 2021

MISSION READY ON OP CABRIT
5 RIFLES
It certainly hasn’t felt that long since 5 RIFLES were last here in Estonia. It has been great to re-engage with the Estonian Defence Force, and the Danish Company attached to the Battlegroup bring a great energy with them. When we first arrived
on CABRIT 7 we keenly sought out an opportunity to understand the local training area, test the fleet we took over from the
1st Fusiliers, and fully integrate with all the attached arms on the team. We called this opportunity Exercise Furious Bugle, and it began with a readiness exercise to prove our credibility. Readiness is rightly taken very seriously, and we got the call to move at a fresh 0500 giving us six hours to be ready to move. It was fantastic to see a Battlegroup of vehicles lined up and ready to go.
The first few days of the exercise gave each subunit the chance to become familiar with the terrain around them. The woods
of the central training area are dense, akin to a jungle in places, and interlocked with deep swamps which have now claimed cause to many thrown tracks. It takes time to learn the best ways to employ armoured vehicles in this terrain, how best to navigate
vulnerable points and isolate obstacles. The three main tracks moving up the training area, that would become the battleground
for a battlegroup advance north against the Estonian Scouts formidable CV90, often offer little option for mounted manoeuvre off-piste. As such blocking obstacles can elicit a signif- icant effect. The Estonians pride themselves on camouflage and concealment and are true masters of both in their environment. This skill, combined with devious engineering, is far removed from the rolling plains of BATUS which used to test the prowess of a Battle- group. BGHQ were also well tried; conducting two planning cycles and a trial of a dispersed method of command and control. The latter was a success, symbolic of the rest of the exercise. Each subunit learned lessons on flank protection and the freedoms generated by Estonian gunlines but recovered back to Tapa the stronger for it, well set up for the tests to come.
Just a week later the Battlegroup found itself deploying 800 personnel and 130 armoured vehicles 190 miles South down
to Adazi Training Area, on the edge of Riga, Latvia for Ex FURIOUS AXE. The exercise saw
The Squadron in Latvia
The woods of the central training area are dense, akin to a jungle in places, and inter- locked with deep swamps which have now claimed cause
to many thrown tracks
the 5 RIFLES Battlegroup operate alongside the Estonian Scouts Battalion, all under the 1st Estonian Infantry Brigade HQ. In front
of us (and sometimes behind us) was the somewhat perplexing multinational eFP Latvia Battlegroup. Comprised of a Canadian HQ with sub-units from Spain, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Canada, every Rifleman was tested on his AFV recognition, desperately trying to remember the differences between a T-72, an Ariete and a Leopardo II tank. With 3 battlegroups operating at high intensity
on a small and sandy training area, Rifleman and machine (and our REME workshop) were sorely tested over 8 rainy days. Ultimately some glorious actions from Anti-Tank Pl and 0D delivered a self-proclaimed victory for eFP BG Estonia, proving once again their lethality, energy and fighting spirit.
Capt C Needham, Regimental Signals Officer
Cpl Price’s ‘War Face’
Air Defence covering their arcs
A Coy combat team live fire in Adazi
RIFLES The Bugle 33