Page 17 - The Wish Stream Year of 2021 (Crest)

rooms. This was an excellent opportunity for us all to learn more about the regiments that we aspire to join as well as learning about the significant and wide-ranging experience of our instructors. We received our ten and five minute warnings in traditional Sandhurst fashion with a trumpet.
OCdts were stunned to walk into a dining room which had been transformed from the daily ‘scoff house’ to a well lit and decorated formal dining room. OCdts took their places standing behind their chairs for the arrival of the top table. Equally impressive a transformation was the food which had changed greatly from the normal menu required to sustain us in training to elegant, res- taurant quality food served to us by the silent heroes and heroines of RMAS – its Mess Staff. Although very much still in a formal setting, all OCdts thoroughly enjoyed being able to relax and talk to fellow members of our platoons with no time pressure and, dare I say it, a glass of wine.
As the dinner drew to a close and with the bang of the gavel, we were able to practice the toasts. As well as a speech from the Officer Command- ing Blenheim Coy, the Company was also treated to an excellent poem. This ode to the misfortunes of OCdts across the Company was undoubtedly the highlight of the evening’s entertainment and an excellent way to conclude a fine dinner.
Ex LONG REACH – Winter Term 21
October 2021 saw the Junior Term complete Ex LONG REACH – a gruel- ling patrol over the Black Mountains in
Wales. The exercise is the second major exer- cise that takes place during Junior Term. This year marked the return to the Black Moun- tains, where the exercise is usually held; how- ever, due to COVID-19, the previous few itera- tions had been moved to Dartmoor. Exercise LONG REACH is an arduous exercise which involvesOCdtsnavigatingfor36hoursacross a 70km+ route completing command tasks at various checkpoints along the way – all done whilst carrying weight upwards of 25kg.
For The Somme Company, spirits were high prior to deployment on the exercise. A nerv- ous anticipation for many as the significance of LONG REACH as a rite of passage is well understood by all. Undoubtably, the memo- ries and lessons learnt from the exercise will be engrained on all OCdts who took part.
The exercise was a rollercoaster of extreme highs and extreme lows. Moments of pure
OCdt Carvell
elation and laughter and others which saw many doing some pretty serious soul search- ing. The Somme Company in particular had some notable highlights, generally caused by a series of personal administration errors on the part of some OCdts!
For most, if not all OCdts, the experience of LONG REACH taught invaluable lessons which they will take with them throughout their military careers and beyond. Firstly, those who are ‘up’ help those who are ‘down’ to keep their spirits up and to keep moving, because in another few hours, the situation will no doubt be reversed. Secondly, the extent to which individuals can push their body and mind beyond where they thought possible. For many, seeing two sun sets with- out sleep certainly was an experience not previously endured.
Despite it all, Ex Long Reach was a huge milestone passed in the OCdts’ journeys on the road to commissioning – and one which they should be immensely proud of.
SANDHURST 15