Page 72 - Rifles 2017 Issue No 3

3 Ri es instructors testing medical skills in the West African Desert
Short-Term Training Teams
THIS FLAT, OPEN, STRETCH OF WEST AFRICAN DESERT WAS THE TRAINING AREA WE HAD TO PLAY WITH
I was being led up a rocky outcrop elevated above the desert oor. From this vantage point one was able to gaze across the at open desert all the way across the peninsula to the sea on the other side. My guide was a host nation Colonel and commanding of cer of the sub-unit we were there to train. He outlined that this at, open, stretch of West African desert was the training area we had to play with. Our Short-Term Training Team (STTT) had been placed here to teach low-level infantry skills and tactics to the NCOs of a newly formed infantry subunit.
The situation I found myself in that morning in early February 2017 is familiar to many personnel from 3 RIFLES who have undertaken STTTs in the last year. My experience was the epitome of mission command: own somewhere; given an intent; a team to command; some real estate to play with and parameters within which to act. It was a fantastic opportunity.
Personnel from 3 RIFLES have accumulated huge experience of these STTTs in the past few years. But in the last year alone the pace, frequency, numbers involved and duration have all accelerated. We have
broken out of our former area of responsibility for defence engagement, the Gulf, and have delivered, or helped to deliver, STTTs in Eastern Europe, north, east and west Africa, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia. In all, over fty personnel have served in eight different countries in the last year. These tasks have had a huge variety of training objectives from Sniper skills to instructional development, from Communi- cation Information Systems (CIS) to Close Quarter Battle (CQB). The training audience has been just as varied. We have seen anything from highly experienced Warrant Of cers wanting to improve their instructional technique to raw infantry recruits needing a rm grounding in infantry skills. One thing all had in common: our training and our ability to train is regarded as world class and many will come for miles to be a part of a British STTT.
A few themes have emerged from our collective experiences of these defence engagement tasks. Firstly, these projects and operations give our people the chance to experience the frictions and challenges of working with foreign armies and offer valuable insights into working in coali- tions. Secondly, they enhance the capability and experience of our junior instructors who have the freedom and resources they might not have at Regimental duty. Thirdly, many training audiences will have received instruction from other western allies and whilst tactics, techniques and proce- dures can vary between these nations British skill at marksmanship and marksmanship instruction is held at an especially high premium. Finally, they offer opportunities for the post HERRICK generation to ‘get out of the door’ and do some soldiering.
3 RIFLES has certainly cemented its reputation for being one of the best and most experienced battalions at Defence Engagement in the British Army.
Capt Rob Baggott la Velle, OC Mortars
Training the Kenyan defence force in Close quarter battle skills
70 THIRD BATTALION
THE RIFLES