Page 56 - Wish Stream Year of 2016

from OCdts Leishman and Ratcliffe, with OCdt Hall providing sel ess support to both.
In spite of the heavy weather made of the sec- ond half, the two sides nished very amicably, allowing the squad to nish the cracking tour on a high in Auckland.
The RMAS tour to New Zealand proved a resounding success, and certainly achieved its aims. We played very competitive matches, and won both convincingly. We were able to expe- rience New Zealand’s rich culture, and gained experiences that will stay with us: I doubt anyone will watch an All Black haka without remember- ing fondly our own welcome. We made friends from the NZ Army who I have no doubt we will
meet again, either on courses or conducting operations. Finally, we saw and experienced how to run an exceptionally enjoyable interna- tional sports tour, and look forward to taking this experience to our Regiments, where we will hopefully be able to undertake our own tour in the future.
Huge thanks must go to the support staff and tour manager; Maj Davies, WO2 Bowman, Capt Hamblin, Capt Williams and CSjt Zwinjen, along with Lt Cameron Greig NZ Army, who all enabled us to have a really smashing time. Their graft behind the scenes, hours driving, energy and enthusiasm were the foundations on which we based our successes, and they must be thanked by all for their huge efforts.
Exercise DYNAMIC VICTORY 1
As OCdt Fairhurst hunched behind a rudimen- tary observation position (OP), staring out into the dark woods from the top of a hill, he may have wondered what he was contributing to Imjin Company’s efforts to clear the area of the PFLJ. A pang of regret ared as the sound of automatic re from over a mile away signi ed the springing of an ambush that had been set up to neutral- ise the enemy’s indirect re capability. That was where every cadet wanted to be, in the thick of the action, utilising every scrap of
nected attacks, which would teach us the basics of infantry soldiering but gave little opportunity to read into the situation. In the Senior Term this all changed as we moved into the contemporary operating environment and took part in dynamic, reactive serials. Typically this involved working in or near populations of ‘Local Nationals’ played by fellow cadets or regular soldiers. This goes a long way to replicating the layers of complex- ity and the range of problems faced by British
knowledge that had been gleaned from ten months of intensive train- ing in an aggressive, kinetic oper- ation. However, the day before, he had been kicking down doors and assaulting machine gun posi- tions, so he couldn’t complain too much.
This goes a long way to replicating the layers of complexity and the range of problems faced by British troops...
troops in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan and provides ideal prep- aration for likely future deployments.
The largest contributor to this com- plexity is the number and variety of issues that one is required to address, especially as a commander. In earlier exercises, options would be limited to assaulting from the left or from the right. However, in one serial on Ex DYNAMIC VICTORY, OCdt Dimech, in command of Imjin Company, was
This scenario was typical of the
eld exercises in the Senior Term
and illustrates the VUCA (volatile,
uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environ- ment that they aim to replicate. Our nal exercise, Ex DYNAMIC VICTORY played out over eight days in various environments with a develop- ing storyline in which each company was given a series of missions to complete in our bid to defeat the ‘insurgent’ group, the People’s Front for Liberation and Justice. Previous exercises consisted of a series of conventional, uncon-
required to plan and lead an assault on Kiten- see village. After suffering numerous ‘casualties’ and having to reignite a stalling attack, the vil- lage was nally cleared of ‘insurgents’. This was only the beginning. Local nationals immediately ooded into the buildings that we were occupy- ing, claiming that they lived there and demand- ing that we left and paid compensation for the damage that we had caused. Those of us who
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