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The Inaugural Exercise ALANBROOKE’S ADVANCE
OCdt Robson
Ex ALANBROOKE’S ADVANCE was a long- awaited exercise. Throughout Junior Term, we heard rumours of a 10-night exercise in Brecon,
but we were not entirely sure what the reality would look like until we stepped foot in sunny Sen- nybridge. It would not be, in the words of the New College Commander, as difficult as Special Forces Selection, a relief to us all. It would be, however, a step up from our previous three nights in the field on Ex MONTGOMERY’S MARK and would prove to be both a challenging and valuable learning curve.
The exercise consisted of two key phases in sep- arate areas of Brecon, with a battleprep day in between. Our introduction to Brecon was steep, and not just the final hill in the insertion! The first phase consisted of conducting a lot of advance to contacts, deliberate attacks and quick attacks, each of these at platoon level. The terrain added a whole new aspect to contend with. Most of the platoon had never conducted a combat estimate or delivered a set of orders in the field, so it was a great experience to do this and hone our skills. As a platoon, we learnt how to create a model pit in rapid time, conduct multiple casualty extractions, and work as a team when the tiredness kicked in. The battleprep day was welcomed by everyone, especially bacon for breakfast and stashes of Har- ibo appearing from somewhere.
The second phase of the exercise still included platoon attacks, over some even steeper ter- rain, but thankfully some variety was added in with the complexity of both ambushes and raids. Additionally, we wore TES for the first time, and
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