Page 43 - MERCIAN Eagle 2021

Combined event where he delivered an inspired first run on the Super G, jumping from 138th to 61st place. Those who understand how much a slope deteriorates during a race will understand just how impressive that achievement is.
The conduct of our soldiers throughout their time on Ex FROSTED BLADE was outstanding. Much of this can be credited to Cpl Kelly. Due to the injuries the team faced Cpl Kelly’s chances of winning a
team medal were dashed. Despite his
lack of medal prospects, he continued to challenge his peers in the racing, and more importantly, used his experience to selflessly prepare each team members equipment each evening to give them the best chance of success in races where medals are often decided by tenths of a second. I have no doubt without him we would have likely come away with much less.
The experience FROSTED BLADE offers soldiers in 1 MERCIAN is second to none in the Army. It was an absolute pleasure
to see our soldiers dedicate themselves to developing their ability on skis and to see that hard work pay off in the race week. There is certainly potential for some of them to attend again in future and help
1 MERCIAN compete for medals. The
approach of our battalion to send so many novices paid dividends and has seen us spread this opportunity across as broad a range as possible, something I’m sure we will continue to do in future.
1 MERCIAN finished with a total
11 medals and an award. Thoroughly exceeding my expectations, I firmly believe we come away from the championships having done the battalion proud.
Pte Farah turns past a gate during the slalom race
Lt Wass at the start gate of the Super Combined Slalom Event
Adventure Training
SSgt (SSI) Ingles RAPTC
Deploying on operations at short notice to a theatre we were not warned off to be in would be an easy excuse to not deliver any Adventure Training (AT).
But despite the busy pace of being deployed on operations in Estonia, the
1 MERCIAN Battlegroup managed to load 445 soldiers on various AT activities. All troops deployed in the cold winter period to Sennelager, Germany, where
a bespoke team lead by Maj (MAA) Douglas RAPTC, delivered AT packages consisting of mountain biking, rock climbing and kayaking to multiple troops while deployed on Exercise TALLINN DAWN. The controlled exposure to risk continuously monitored by instructors enabled service personnel to develop fortitude, rigour, initiative and teamwork which were all fundamental requirements in preparation for Op CABRIT.
Kayaking
Shortly following arrival into
Estonia Exercise NORTHERN DAWN commenced which gave all deployed troops the opportunity to conduct multiple AT disciplines including sea kayaking, kayaking, mountain biking, ‘fat biking’ and windsurfing. Two endorsed civilian companies delivered packages throughout the 6-month tour across the whole of Estonia including Nelijarve and Parnu through 2 and 3 day packages, giving an invaluable opportunity for soldiers across the Battlegroup to decompress. During evenings soldiers stayed either in log cabins within Viljandi Country Sea Kayaking basecamp ranch, Nelijarve holiday resort or Hotel Strand Parnu. Within these locations’ troops had the opportunity to experience
true Estonian cuisine within the local community and unwind fully using spas, swimming pools and saunas.
For our more experienced soldiers, there were also opportunities to deploy on more technical and challenging AT
HQ Coy Adventure training
Who said Estonia was cold?!
trips. A 5-day sea kayaking trip was conducted around many of Estonia’s miniature islands including Torvanina, Manspe, Kassari and Heltermaa. On this trip soldiers camped out on beaches and enjoyed BBQs in the evenings.
AT builds self-discipline, teamwork, determination, and courage. As well as this all AT on operations provides balance in the busy lives of the serving soldier who is subject to the pressures of military commitments and periods of high-tempo operations and needs the opportunity to ‘breath out’ and gain some much-needed balance and context while deployed.
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