Page 54 - Rifles 2017 Issue No 3

Counter-Poaching Short Term Training Team, Gabon
Gabon Short Term Training Team 3 with Mr Sean Pattrick, counter poaching expert from Kruger National Park
In response to an agreement between the UK and Gabonese governments, the UK agreed to provide assistance to Gabon’s National Agency of National Parks personnel (the Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN)) in order to increase their counter- poaching capability; a six-iteration training package was agreed over three years. Short Term Training Teams (STTT) 1 and 2 deployed in October 2015 and May 2016 respectively where they success- fully focussed on low level ANPN eld skills. STTT 3 consisted of two simultaneous and mutually
THE STTT RECEIVED WIDE MEDIA COVERAGE IN LINE WITH PUBLIC INTEREST WITH THE COUNTER POACHING OBJECTIVES
supporting training packages: a middle management level delivering analysis and incident management, and an operators’ level delivering individual and collective training. Training was conducted at the Mokeko Training Centre as per the previous two iterations.
The training started with a combined week for both courses, ensuring the park managers had the opportunity both to experience what their park rangers would be being taught, but also an oppor- tunity to show their subordinates their willingness to get back to basics. As the training progressed the audience was split down, with the very best of the park rangers being streamed into a speci c tracking course run by a tracking-trained junior non-commis- sioned of cer from 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Regiment. The end of the course of instruction saw a two phased nal exercise with both park rangers and managers working alongside each other to display the new skills they had learnt. The nal
Captain France, Lance Corporal Rowbotham and Corporal Kalakoda deliver a lesson on basic life support to the ANPN
Captain Sawers gives
a contact drills lesson with the ANPN, Mokekou Training Centre
52 SECOND BATTALION
THE RIFLES