Page 61 - MERCIAN Eagle 2017

C-Coy / Definitely not set up and completely natural / Brunei / 2017 The second quickest way to travel in Brunei
Lessons from the Jungle – The Jungle Warfare Instructors Course (JWIC)
Lt O’Connell, OC 7 Pl, KOHIMA Coy, 2 MERCIAN
There are many lessons that can be taken from the jungle and applied to a far more conventional operating environment. The jungle holds a lot of mystery and draw for the infantry soldier but for all the ‘allyness’ that is involved the biggest lessons to be learnt can be boiled down to the basics.
The maxim of ‘Basic drills, done
well’ should be followed throughout preparation and deployment and will ensure effectiveness. Unfortunately, this means that I’m going to write a lot about admin and not much about anything fun. In a place where there is the ability to hide within feet of the enemy, there is nowhere to hide bad admin, parangs dull in hours, weapons rust in minutes and kit waterproofed for the worst days in Brecon gets soaked within seconds.
Resupply in the ‘J’ is always difficult,
as well as the physical difficulty of moving kit to forward troops. Coupled with the requirement for concealment is of the utmost importance, making it impractical to resupply as often as intented. This results
in the weight of the kit carried quickly increasing to an uncomfortable load, with several days of scoff, ammunition and mozzie rep! Seeking to lighten the load, tough decisions had to be made about the number of socks to take and the Ipad had to go. Saving a few grams here and there had to be balanced against the several days of discomfort for forgetting a key piece of equipment. Attention to detail in the smallest items is also key, having enough
oil and rag to keep weapons rust free for 9 days etc are things that do not have to be thought about in other environments.
Comms are a constant difficulty, bowman reaches about 20m with line of sight and only if you are shouting loudly, this leads to carrying dozens of batteries and setting up complex antennae systems several times a day. Understanding all the kit, what works where, and fault fixing are all necessary, as
there are no signallers getting their head down at the rear of the battle group, waiting to issue replacements or refill an e-purged radio.
The environment can conceal enemy soldiers and locations within metres of friendly positions and allows covered movement and occupation; there are no clear fields of fire or effective ISTAR to
cover approaches so battlefield discipline needs to be rigorously enforced by all members of a patrol. Silence is your biggest friend when it comes to avoiding enemy ambushes. A whispered shout/blundering through a bush/piece of kit rattling may
be the difference between who initiates a contact and who is on the other end of the volley. All the basics learnt in training and so often forgotten, shortly afterwards, quickly become the daily norm.
Navigation in the jungle requires constant attention to map, compass, pacing and the
elevation around you. The most arduous places in the UK still allow for good fields of view, in all directions, and with maps that are incredibly accurate. In the jungle maps are often drafted by air and actually display the heights of the tops of the tree rather than the ground. Again, there is no magic solution to it, but paying attention to the compass, pacing and miniscule detail on the map are what can save you from several hours of additional tabbing and missed H-hours.
All of the basics talked about here are easy to forget, rod off or short cut in a conventional environment, and in isolation may be forgivable, but if compounded together make for some massive reductions in effectiveness. For all the mentions of boring ‘attention to detail’ and ‘doing
the basics right’; the Jungle is a mega environment to operate in and requires quality soldiering.
Does it contain an enemy battalion? Probably not. Does it contain a CSgt Instructor ready to pick you up for not having enough leaves on your bergan? Almost certainly / Brunei
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