Page 26 - 2012 AMA Summer

Lead climbing on Grim Wall, Very Severe 4c, Tremadog, North Wales
Type 3 AT – Expeditions, and Type 2 AT – Unit Training
The execution phase of an expedition (known as Type 3 AT in the JSAT Scheme) brings unique challenges for our young leaders as they embark into the unknown. In the extreme they will be in a foreign land that may have very limited or unreliable mapping, com- munications with the local people may be limited to gestures, there may be no medical support in reach, and no way of communicating with the outside world short of sending a runner back down the valley (this may sound like France to some less adventurous read- ers). Uncertainty becomes a fact of life, and the impact of a hole in the plan will not be rectified by a quick call on the mobile phone or
popping back to camp. Big holes in the plan may have disastrous effects on the exercise participants.
We must also be cognisant of the fact that there is no discipline sys- tem to fall back on in the hills or on the rivers. Dealing with misbe- haviour or an unwillingness to participate is done at the most basic level through raw leadership ability. You can’t invoke the assistance of the chain of command, and the threat of formal disciplinary action (although in serious cases it may be the final result) is going to be of little help with another 2 weeks of isolation ahead of the group. The expedition members must have confidence in their leader if the exercise is to be successful. Above all the leader must lead by example and be sensitive to the needs of the group – listening is an often overlooked but essential element of leadership.
Planning and running Type 2 AT (as Unit Challenge Pursuit type camps are now defined in JSP 419) may not have the isolation, risks or foreign travel elements common in expeditions but they still demand first class organisational skills, and the planner must still navigate through the complexities of land clearance, equipment bids, ration and MT accounts. They demand effective delegation and organisational skills as you tend to be dealing with often quite large groups of individuals, which comes with its own challenges.
Instructor Qualifications and Coaching
Having discussed the benefits of the planning and execution of AT exercises let me now turn to the merits of our people becoming qualified as AT instructors and coaches. The reader should note that there is widespread muddling of the terms leading, instructing and coaching4, and the terms are employed differently in each of the disciplines.
Leader qualifications under the JSAT Scheme are primarily about giving soldiers the opportunity to experience an activity or environ- ment, rather than being about teaching skills. The definition is not hard and fast though, and in specific cases (for example the Joint Service Mountain Expedition Leader) qualified leaders may award Foundation5 level qualifications through the Distributed Training scheme (see below). We should not mistake AT Leaders for some sort of tour guide though. In fact, almost uniquely, in the mountain- eering environment the safety of the leader depends in a most fun- damental way on the ability of their charges to carry out the actions they have been taught quickly and effectively (belaying being the obvious example). Even relatively simple days out are, therefore, an excellent vehicle for the development of teamwork, mutual trust
24 ARMY MOUNTAINEER