Page 108 - MERCIAN Eagle 2015

106
ITC Update
The Prince of Wales’s Division, ITC Catterick
Major AJ Bell, Officer Commanding
2015 has been an increasingly busy year
for the Permanent Staff (PS) of the Prince of Wales’s Division (PoW Div) at ITC Catterick, with several elements of churn and friction in addition to the challenge of training recruits. A slow start to the year, due to a lower than expected recruit input was put down to the integration of the new recruiting organisation. This meant a very busy end of year to meet the required number of recruits for the PoW Div, but all ranks rose to the challenge and continued to provide high quality individuals. It is
worth noting the efforts
of our Regimental
Recruiting Team in
meeting the required
numbers arriving at ITC,
when other elements
of the infantry are
struggling with manning.
A restructure of the
training Divisions means that MERCIAN instructors are now operating under the command of every Division in 1st Infantry Training Battalion (1ITB). PoW Div has,
in return, gained a Scots, Kings, Queens and Rifles Division Training Team. This is a great opportunity for our instructors to be compared with the best that the infantry, and therefore the best that the Army has
to offer. Identifying best practice from other regiments means we continue to develop as instructors, commanders and soldiers, and is another way in which ITC is a truly career- enhancing post.
There is an air of continuous improvement all around at ITC, and the CIC is constantly evolving. The ‘March and Shoot’ competition, completed in the last week of military training, now consists of a four-mile route march at CFT pace, a timed two-miler, assault course and a CQB shoot followed by a casualty evacuation; a much more challenging prospect than the previous iteration. I can personally attest to this, having decided to complete the course
with two consecutive sections. The words
relatively known structure of HERRICK force generation and deployment, and into the unknown of contingency. The training at ITC reflects that: if you can do the basics well, we have set a strong foundation on which to build. While the training environment may have changed since some of us left the doors of our respective establishments, the core elements of fitness, marksmanship, fieldcraft and the will to prevail have not changed, and continue to stand our young troops in good stead at the start of their careers.
“Anything the recruits can do I can do two off. How hard can it be?” were swiftly regretted!
Having proved and refined the concept of Values Based Leadership (VBL) at ITC and throughout the School of Infantry,
it has now been rolled out to the entire
Field Army under the guise of the Army Leadership Code (ALC). In addition to setting the example to others in all that we do, whether as a commander, instructor or peer, ALC takes into account the needs of the individual and their part in the team. This allows instructors more flexibility to identify the best motivation and teaching techniques for individuals. This in turns helps develop them into a more rounded soldier.
This flexibility of mind in our commanders and soldiers will be ever more necessary moving forward, as we move away from the
Identifying best practice from other regiments means we continue to develop as instructors
THE MERCIAN EAGLE