Page 45 - Bugle Issue 18 Auntumn 2021

nation vehicles and helicopters. We intermixed this with some competitive volleyball.
As the Company was made up from Regulars and Reservists, we decided that having a Section from each of the Battalions (8 RIFLES, 2 RIFLES and 3 SCOTS) would work best. Each Platoon was commanded by a reservist Platoon Commander with a mix of regular/reserve Platoon Serjeants and Section Commanders. This worked well and lots was learnt by involved, with genuine comradeship and respect between the Riflemen from different battalions.
Although the majority of nations could not operate at night, we chose to lead the way and conducted patrols and ambush drills led by Captain Chris Hoggard, D Company Commander 8 RIFLES and AWO2 Wallye Walcott from Y Company. Our Riflemen were also the only participants that conducted a Company attack and any meaningful kinetic activity placing us ahead of the other nations and gaining praise from our Serbian hosts.
Sports day was an opportunity to display team spirt and another chance to swop t-shirts. To be fair it was difficult trying to work out who was in which team because it looked like a RIFLES’ recruiting event. We may not have won on goals, but we definitely had the most yellow cards for being “passionate” about sport. We also took part in a rather serious shooting competition that was suspiciously won by the Serbians who were also running and scoring the targets. It helped that their
top shot also shoots for their Olympic Team and their Special Forces made up the rest of their firers.
After this came the penultimate Final Training Exercise (FTX). We were given different scenarios and had to use our new skills combined with our own knowledge to react to everything from IED strikes and
ambushes to refugee scenarios. This challenge gave our commanders valuable experience dealing with real situations in a controlled learning environment. The CO and RSM joined us for the final week and set the Company a challenge in the form of a complex Company attack on an area of the training ground that was unfamiliar to the Platoon Commanders.
It allowed us to move away from the routine UN peacekeeping serials and do some good old-fashioned Platoon attacks on multiple enemy positions.
Following the FTX, we had a cultural day which gave us a deep insight into the links between the UK and Serbia dating back before the World War One. This took place in a town called Nis in central Serbia which included many medieval forts, a Nazi concentration camp and a British World War One memorial. This memorial held the grave of Louisa Jordan,
who was a Scottish nurse that died during the Serbian typhus epidemic. Her namesake is also commemorated in the naming of the COVID hospital in Glasgow, NHS Louisa Jordan, which was particularly poignant given the ongoing COVID pandemic.
The final phase was the Distinguished Visitors Day, attended by the SofS Defence Ben Wallace, the UK Ambassador to Serbia, Brigadier Johnny Bowron and the Defence Attaché, Colonel Nick Ilic. The visit culminated in a major demonstration using helicopters, APC’s and a serious amount of ammunition that was designed to bring together, in a Hollywood style production, everything we had covered in the previous weeks. This visit highlighted the importance of the Exercise and the Riflemen had starring roles in a Serbian version of “We Were Soldiers”.
Maj Steve Watts, 8 RIFLES QM.
8 RIFLES
MOVE!
Following the FTX, we had a cultural day which gave us
a deep insight into the links between the UK
and Serbia dating back before the World War One
ENEMY!
It was difficult trying to work out who was in which team because it looked like a RIFLES’ recruiting event
RIFLES The Bugle 45