Page 24 - WishStream Year of 2023

Exercise SELF RELIANCE
OCdt Marsden
We’ve reached week 5 of Junior Term and officially learnt that walking is no longer necessary, and that marching is our new found method of travel. We’ve also been taught the basic soldiering skills and are ready to deploy on Ex SELF RELIANCE; 4 days of living out in the field. We’re doing our best to thrive in our new surroundings rather than purely survive. Ex SELF RELIANCE encompasses all the basic soldiering skills we’ve been taught such as navigation, estab- lishing harbour areas, sentry duties
Navigation was one of the main tools we had been taught throughout our first 5 weeks at Sandhurst. It was now time to utilise those skills. We were split off into fire teams (four OCdts) at night and given a series of grid references to tag within a specific time limit. What they didn’t tell us was that our starting point was in the middle of a pond. ‘Wet & dry’ drills are a set of life-saving drills that would prevent us from “going-down” with cold injuries, so we needed to practice them properly. Once the
and some basic fire and manoeuvre practices. This was our first time as 12 Platoon formed up and ready to tackle Barossa training area on our first exercise.
You wouldn’t have thought that digging a small sleeping hole in the ground would take that long, and neither did I
task had been completed, wet kit off, dry kit on. This was hammered into us throughout the entire time. We were blessed with the weather, so our wet kit dried relatively quickly while navi- gating; however, still a vital lesson to take onboard.
We were given a number of lessons by some of the most experienced, and, in my opinion, the best Senior NCOs the
After a tactical patrol into Barossa,
we eventually occupied and estab-
lished our very own harbour area.
This involved digging out shell-
scrapes and sentry positions. You wouldn’t have thought that digging a small sleeping hole in the ground would take that long, and neither did I. However, I soon noticed that the exact location I decided to dig mine and my fellow OCdt’s shell- scrape was full of roots and rocks. There’s some- thing special about digging throughout the night. You can’t see if you are actually making the hole deeper or if you’re just refilling it with the dirt you’ve tried to throw out over the edge. However, the more experienced members of 12 Platoon swiftly helped the individuals struggling with their shell-scrapes and we were soon set up for the night.
British Army has to offer. Target Indication, judg- ing distances, and our platoon favourite: fire control orders. There’s something about a Corporal Major
12 Platoon’s long journey back through Barossa to Sandhurst
12 Platoon enhancing their practical navigation skills
22 SANDHURST