Page 30 - The Wish Stream Year of 2021 (Crest)

Elections, terrorism and public unrest: Exercise DYNAMIC VICTORY
COVID-19 has been a central theme for the OCdts of Commissioning Course 202. The Senior Term was to be no different, with
a period of isolation forcing the cancellation of Exercise TEMPLER’S TRIUMPH. This exercise, typically held on Longmoor Training area, is the culmination of the Contemporary Operating Envi- ronment module, where OCdts learn to operate in the urban environment and must manage the complex needs of competing ethnic and reli- gious groups that plague the fictional country of Gorgas. The need to still complete this training saw major changes to the iconic Ex DYNAMIC VICTORY, which has been the final exercise of the Commissioning Course for generations.
The exercise was now split into two phases. Firstly, a week in the coastal town of Lydd, where the contemporary operating environment would be recreated; the second element would see the OCdts move to the infamous Brecon Beacons to conduct their final training.
In Lydd, the two companies would take turns at being the security forces, or as the civilian popu- lation. On arrival, we quickly moved into our new home for the next three days – Forward Oper- ating Base (FOB) RICHMOND. This was a wel- come difference from the woodblocks and shell scrapes that we could now see on a rather wet and Welsh horizon in our near future. Potentially it also provided a false sense of security that the other company, played by our sister company, was sure to challenge in the coming days.
After establishing the FOB and beginning to patrol out into the mock village that surrounded it, the ‘DYNAMIC’ in the title of the exercise quickly reared its unruly head. Beginning as security forces, small things out on patrol, or even inside the FOB, could have consequences later in the exercise or during specific training serials. A prime example of this happened when a Victim Operated IED was detonated near the polling booth during an election; chaos ensued. The response to this action determined the level of aggression from civilians for the next serials. To summarise, the civilian population had not responded well to our controlling of the situation.
Small scale riots and demonstrations ensued outside the FOB. Potentially fuelled by friendly inter-company rivalry, Gaza Company made a good show of being angry members of the pub- lic, and certainly caused many from The Somme Company to work up a sweat in their attempt to manage the crowd and mitigate any damage to the community.
Shortly after this serial, the roles were reversed, and The Somme Company now became the civilians who would live within the village. Beyond being able to take hot showers and eat some- thing other than rations, highlights of this phase also included being able to antagonise Gaza Company as much as they had us previously. Although this was admittedly satisfying, it also served the purpose of creating interesting and interactive serials that not only required profes- sional competence in personal skills and drills, but also consideration and planning from eve- ryone – be they in role as section commanders or working away behind desks in the Ops room. This again culminated in a final small-scale pub- lic order scenario before the FOB was collapsed, MTP was once again donned, and the coaches were pointed towards the Welsh border for a final push against a conventional enemy...
This phase of the exercise helped to bring to life some of the challenges we may face as future junior officers. The complexity of a situation and how events could escalate so rapidly was a vital lesson to learn.
‘Inquisitive’ civilians attempt to interfere with a patrol on their return to the relative safety of the FOB
28 SANDHURST