Page 52 - MERCIAN Eagle 2021

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Op ESCALIN
Pte Babington
Operation ESCALIN is an existing Ministry of Defence contingency plan to keep fuel moving in the event of a supply crisis. At the end of September 2021, the military was stood to for Op ESCALIN. I and many other 2 MERCIAN soldiers were amongst some of the 200 soldiers required for the Operation. I and two other soldiers from A (Grenadier) Company were tasked to go to Aldershot to receive a brief and be brought up to speed with the current situation of the Op. Upon arriving in Aldershot, we linked up with other members of the military, not just the army, who had also been assigned to the Op. There we received multiple briefs including
a dangerous goods awareness training package to allow us to work with and on the fuel tankers. Once all the briefs were completed and PPE was issued, we were split into two groups; the first half assigned to one fuel depot the other half another.
My group was assigned to a fuel depot just outside of Southampton, Hamble-le- rice. Upon arriving there we received an introduction into the depot which included another safety brief, and all the rules and regulations were presented to us. At this point the drivers’ mates had been assigned to drivers. I was a driver’s mate and had been assigned to a WO2 from the Fusilier Regiment. The PO who was overseeing our group of drivers released the first shift list and we realised that the shifts were 12 hours due to not being able to extend over allotted drivers’ hours. Drivers’ mates were required alongside drivers due to our lack of experience because this wasn’t a usual job for most of the drivers. For example
my driver is a CIS CSM, so this was a
new experience for most of the people assigned to the Op. Working alongside other regiments and branches of the military has been interesting and I have learned a lot about the differences between regiments and branches. Amongst my group were
members of the Royal Artillery, Fusiliers, and the Navy.
My role as a “driver’s mate” consists of navigating the driver to our destination by map because no Sat Navs were allowed
in the cab or for that matter any other non-intrinsically safe electrical items such as phones or smart watches. I used a
route card and if need be a map if certain roads are closed and a diversion route was needed. This proved difficult due to the 7.5-
ton weight limits the vehicle had meaning that limited roads and low bridges could be used. This became easier as we began to learn the local area and which roads were easily used by our vehicles.
In conclusion, the experience has been very different to what I’m used to doing at battalion, however challenging yourself is key for development in the army and being adaptable to all situations has made me a better soldier as a result.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE