Page 31 - WishStream Year of 2023

discovered our PS didn’t just kill us off to get log race preparation in with CASE. Although we were well prepared, having had lessons on these pre- viously, we had never conducted either as a pla- toon. OCdts that delivered orders on these were stretched out of their comfort zones by adapting the usual ‘deliberate attack’ set of orders for their specific mission. The platoon was also stretched as we began to learn to do these effectively, espe- cially with tiredness kicking in even more by this point; there is nothing like trying to stay awake in an ambush whilst listening to snoring coming from somewhere in the platoon! The importance of rehearsals became increasingly apparent as the platoon wandered round the pitch-black woods to find their positions.
Following a successful 10 days in Sennybridge, our exercise finished off with a company attack. This involved an early start at 0200hrs, followed by a route in through a stream and tunnel, then two simultaneous platoon attacks followed by 12 Pl as the reserve assaulting through onto a third position. This was all coordinated by the OC, Maj Robertson SCOTS, to form a successful company attack. This was a huge learning curve for us, as we had never conducted a company action before, but it has set us up well for the Senior Term, where we will begin to operate at a company level more
often. Overall, it was an enjoyable, albeit knacker- ing, 11 days on exercise, which bonded us in our new platoons, gave us confidence with platoon level operations, and set us up well for the rest of our time training at Sandhurst.
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