Page 11 - RADC Bulletin 2018

task, one that you would previously not have been able to achieve, and then given the opportunity to achieve it. This was the goal of Phase 1 training, civilian to soldier transformation.
From then on I was no longer the average retail worker I thought I was destined to
be, I was on my way to being a worthwhile attribute of the British Army, and I was proud. And being proud was something
I had never felt before in my work. I had often heard people say “choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life” (later I would realise this was a stolen quote from Confucius), and I thought this was only a reality for multi-millionaires or actors, but I had finally achieved this
and I was only a few months into my Army career, and working longer and harder than I had ever done before! Despite the lack of sleep, long hours, being away from family and incredible physical effort, this was all for my own personal development, to make me a better me. Before, I had only ever worked to make someone else profitable but now I was learning skills that maybe one day would keep me and others alive. I couldn’t possibly list all the things we had been taught during these 14 weeks but the change you get to see in your new friends and comrades was impressive.
What stood out for me during my training was the shooting. For the first two weeks of using the rifle I was awful and I would have to concentrate on getting a close grouping of the shots fired at the target. With every lesson the recruits groupings would get tighter and improvements were seen, mine, however, got worse and I saw no improvement. At one point I said to
my friend, “I’m just gonna pop these off I don’t care” and I would snap the shots off knowing they would land wherever they wished on the target. “Good job you’re joining the Dental Corps Brand” said one
of the training team. Hmmm, I didn’t want to be that guy, a one trick pony, neglecting sides of being a British Soldier was not me. What’s the point of me being here if I’m not going to improve? So that night I set myself
a personal goal in my recruit training diary, a goal that generated a few laughs from both my colleagues and training team. I set myself the goal of achieving Marksman by the end of training. Now I’m pretty sure some thought I was joking and even my section commander, who I believe thought I was a pretty rational guy, thought this was optimistic. I worked hard, changed my position, sought advice from everyone and worked on it. Slowly I started to see improvements, but I was still behind the other recruits, but I never lost focus of my goal and referred back to it every week.
Week 12 arrived, the week of our Annual Combat Marksman Test (ACMT). The test wasn’t until Wednesday so we had practice shooting on the Tuesday, I was confident. My shooting was up there with the best in the troop, the hard work had paid off and
I was on my way to achieve my goal. The only thing left to do now was do it!
Wednesday arrived, the day of the test.
I arrogantly told my Troop Captain and instructors that I was here to pick up my award. They smiled but did not share my confidence. However, I knew I could do it. Five days later I was awarded my Marksman award, a very proud moment, and proof that if you set yourself a goal and work hard it can be achieved. This excited me and made me realise that if you put your mind
to it you really can achieve anything - I used
to think that was something only the really lucky said.
Phase 1 training concluded with ‘Final Fling’, a week long exercise in the field consisting of everything we had been taught. No one was looking forward to this. One of the hardest weeks of my life was Half Way Exercise, held in week 8 and where no one had a good time, and we expected the same for Final Fling. “Maybe final fling is a myth, maybe it’s just one big holiday and
the idea is to keep it secret to other future recruits” - a romantic dream from one of
the other recruits as we had our last proper meal for a week in the cookhouse before leaving. We hung onto this dream the whole way there until we arrived at “middle of nowhere forest” in Surrey to fight the “Surrey Enemy” (as our briefing had instructed us to), and I used to think Surrey was such a nice peaceful place.
But Final Fling was nothing like the hell
of Half Way. We worked hard together as
a troop and completed our mission given
to us. We realised Final Fling wasn’t easier than Halfway - we were just different people to whom we were then.
The training had worked, we had become trained British Army Soldiers and we stood proudly in front of our families on the pass out parade. Phase 1 training completed - bring on Phase 2!
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