Page 13 - Bugle Spring 2025

2 RIFLES
B Coy Command Team pose for a photo post O Grp
FINAL TRAINING EXERCISE:
A hard-earned victory for the Battlegroup
Having completed the Battlegroup
Integration phase the Battalion moved onto
the Final Training Exercise, which consisted
of four attacks and two defensive phases.
The first attack was a challenging patrol up
a Wadi that quickly turned into a deep ravine
the further in we got with the banks 20-30ft
above us, a dream as covered approach
routes go for any Platoon Commander. Alas,
and much to our disappointment, after a
steep climb to the Company objective we
discovered an empty hilltop as the enemy
had fled the scene. But action was to come
once we withdrew back to a defensive
posture. Two days of tough digging into
rocky ground that wouldn’t give more than
an inch an hour, when finally, the enemy
attacked and the Company was raring to go.
In support, the rest of the Company rushed
in and over the hill came the BG reserve to
inflict severe casualties on the enemy sending
them tail tucked between their legs back to
their distant TCVs. The next pair of attacks
saw some particularly ‘interesting’ insertions,
usually involving some cutting through
undergrowth and some bouldering ascents.
But it was the last defensive phase that took
the ticket as the heavens opened above us,
drenching every square inch of every shell
scrape or trench; the wet season the locals
had been threatening was officially upon us.
Quickly getting into full CBRN kit, the Battalion
prepared to hold their ground to the last. We
quickly learnt how effective well dug defensive
positions were. But it was the hyenas that
won the day, stealing enough ration packs
(usually the whole daysack with it) to field a
small militia.
Now preparing for the final action which
promised to be something special, and
‘special’ it was. After successfully taking
the objectives, a surprise CPERs serial, with
107 having to be taken in and processed.
Seriously underpowered at this point it was
through sheer grit that they were all processed
numbering almost double that of their
captors. With a final gift of a persistent CBRN
agent released to extend the exercise, things
wrapped up.
Once the BG got into the swing of things
and ironed out the remaining small kinks, the
actions became a drill and the results clear
to see. The exercise itself finished with great
jubilation as those playing enemy and the 2
RIFLES BG came together for a final BBQ to
celebrate a hard-earned Green validation to
training level Foxtrot.
Lt Cassian Frost, 2 Platoon, A Company
Sjt Allott, Cpl Duck, Cpl Doran and Cpl Nicholls
discuss the following morning’s attack in low light
it was the hyenas that
won the day, stealing
enough ration packs
LCpl Ferrier, LCpl Harris, LCpl Hawkins and
Sjt Allot doing a map recce over a brew
RIFLES The Bugle 13