Page 22 - 2023 AMA Spring

EXPEDITIONNEWS
EXERCISE DRAGON CRUSADER
In his article, Mark Black recounts 16 Signal Regiment’s expedition to the Shenandoah National Park, the daunting apprehension of the next bear or rattlesnake attack, and how flexibility in response to changeable conditions will ensure overseas expeditions can still achieve their aims
Agroup of 17 service personnel from 16 Signal Regiment deployed to West Virginia, USA to conduct Ex DRAGON CRUSADER 2022 (Ex DC 22), a type 3 Adventurous Training (AT) package conducted in Shenandoah National Park over the period 3 to 13 May 2022. The aim of the expedition was to complete a 110km section of the Appalachian Trail, a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost 2200 miles (3540km) between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.
In the early hours of 3 May 22 we met at Beacon Barracks where kit checks were conducted and a final brief was delivered prior to departing. We soon arrived at London to depart on our long-haul flight to Washington. For the most part, travel went as smoothly as could be anticipated until we arrived at customs in Washington DC. LCpl St. Marcus who tends to have a slip of the tongue now and again found himself in a search room for saying the “wrong thing”. Once we eventually made it through customs it was time to pick up our transport. A nice and comfortable 9-seater SUV along with an American left hand drive combi-van were the vehicles of choice which were dent and footprint free (at least at that moment in time). It was a short distance (3 hours) to our temporary accommodation in West Virginia driven
by our great admin team of SSgt Dave McArthur and Sgt Krish (aka Sgt Crash).
The instructor team dived straight into securing maps, carrying out recces and having very friendly debates over routes, safety and especially timings. While this was being conducted, the rest of the expedition team were carrying out admin- istration to ensure their kit was prepared and ready to go. This included everyone apart from SSgt Rabin, Cpl Gyanendra and Capt Ashok Gurung who had the more difficult job of working out finances and the finer details of the expedition for the duration of the trip.
After a much needed rest, we grabbed our kit and set off early the next morning on our first trail. The group possessed a mixture of excitement and anxiety; for most of our travels to the US the main topic of con- versation was regarding black bears and rattlesnakes. These conversations were mainly led by the knowledgeable Capt Kennaugh who had clearly been spending a lot of his down time with David Atten- borough. “Do we shout at the bears?”, “do we stamp our feet?” and “what do we do if,,,? “ were the cries of the more junior members of the expedition, particu- larly Sig Fisher-Jones, as we approached the beginning of Skyline Drive. Within five minutes of the first hike, we spotted our first wild animal. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the very rare
and scarce...deer. A huge boost to our confidence that the Appalachian Trail may not be as dangerous as we once thought. After a very successful 18km hike we headed back to our accommodation.
The next day we experienced heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and high winds which led our expedition leader SSgt Rabin to conduct a dynamic risk assessment of the situation and change the itinerary. He decided it was much safer if we had an educational day in Washington. We then spent the day as tourists visiting the different sites the city had to offer including Capitol Hill, the Lincoln Memorial (which is an incredible site), the Museum of Natural History and the Washington Monument to name but a few. As you can imagine we had to visit the White House. Unfortu- nately, there were groundworks going on at the time and we couldn’t get a good view. This was a little bit of an anti-climax but it was still great to see such a famous building. We wished there were more hours in the day to see all the sites but unfortunately Washington is a large city and we just couldn’t cover everything. We finished the day with a meal at the famous Ben’s Chilli Bowl. It might seem like a bit of a skive, but after a quick foot rub and leg stretch the groups covered on average 18km that day, so the visit was no walk in the park!
The next day we were back onto the Appalachian Trail where we reconnoitred our campsite for the next few days and received a brief on the planned routes that our majestic instructor team had come up with. This was followed by some Q&A, mainly from the participants who wished to gain their SMF qualification. The maps were handed over from instructor to student to give them the chance to show SSgt Kaji why they should receive the award. The terrain was in the most part easily navigated although with the numerous small trails dotted around the national park it proved a little challenging
Soldiers and Officers from 16 Signal Regiment, posing for a quick photo at the entrance of Shenandoah National Park
22 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER