Page 88 - Wish Stream Year of 2016

ning of routes and during the exercise itself that we were able to exploit these varying strengths within our sections. Excellent navigators were able to ensure that teams stayed on track, heavy lifters were able to carry more of the weight and each member of the team was responsible for keeping spirits up. Each member of the respec- tive sections worked for every other member. This sel ess commitment to other members of the team is what gave 21 Platoon the edge. We all realised that we were only as strong as our weakest member and only as fast as our slow- est. 21 Platoon didn’t win because each section was the fastest in the junior intake, 21 Platoon won because we worked together while under- standing and using each other’s strengths.
There can be no better illustration of sel ess commitment to other members of the teams than that displayed at the Command Tasks at each ‘Manned Check Point’ throughout the route. After a tiring 8km up and
Members of 21 Platoon climb a style at the start of the Ex. The sign reads “TO THE HILLS’
make the leader, and the group as a whole, look as strong as possible.
As well as military skill, the distinct characteristic of 21 Platoon throughout the exercise was our high morale. There were times during the exer- cise that sections within the platoon were walk-
ing through knee-deep marsh and bog, following a compass bearing for 2km at a time. There were times that during command tasks, cold, wet ropes were being pulled through hands at such a speed that it burned. It’s at this point that one needs to be able to turn to one of their friends and laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. It is this that 21 Platoon have in spades. It was this that made each team member give everything
they had for their designated leader. It was this that resulted in our platoon nishing rst overall and winning the Ex LONG REACH plate.
down hill, the last thing that mem-
bers of the sections want to do is
complete a Command Task under
the designated leader from their
section. These ranged from pick-
ing up a heavy casualty and think-
ing of a system to pass them over
a ‘mine eld’ and ‘electric fence’
using wooden plans and oil bar-
rels, to working out how to get an
entire section through a giant spi-
der’s web without touching any part of it or using a hole more than once. However, there was not a single time when the sections did not spring in to life, giving absolutely everything they had to
OCdt Spence
They say that hindsight is 20–20, and from the dizzying heights of Week Twelve of Junior Term, it is incredibly easy to gaze back on my hectic and bizarre rst ve weeks at Sandhurst with rose-tinted spectacles. Ah, the days when life was simpler, and all we had to worry about was being in the right place, at the right time, in the right clothing! It is all too easy to forget that despite never having to think for ourselves, the rst ve weeks was an unbeliev-
ably complex time for all of us, not just in terms of our own personal development, but also in the creation of a tightly-knitted team. It is this phenomenon of how Weeks One to Five brought together twenty-seven individuals from all walks of life, and churned out one cohesive platoon at the end, that is truly worth re ecting upon.
The metamorphosis from “I” to “we” started almost imperceptibly at rst. Standing to atten-
As well as military skill, the distinct characteristic of 21 Platoon throughout the exercise was our high morale.
Weeks One to Five: From “I” to “We”
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