Page 96 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2016/17

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tour the ‘new’ instructors will probably move on to another wing of JSMTC to deliver courses at a higher level and the cycle continues.
In recent years there has been a drive to ensure that JSMTC does not focus too closely on the ‘hard’ technical skills of training, it has been recognised that the focus should be more on the ‘soft’ or ‘developmental’ skills involved in developing leaders. This shift has seen a renewed approach to training incorporating the Army’s
LEADERS model into training. As the Wing Sergeant Major I attend presentations given by the students at the end of each course, the presentations are about how the weeks training has developed and instilled the LEADERS model into the students. It is heartening to see that the students on course fully support and buy into the developmental aims of the courses whilst still having fun!
RAPTC AND INCREMENTAL INSTRUCTOR TRAINING
WO2 (QMSI) W Brant RAPTC
It has been another continuous year of course delivery on the AT phase of the RAPTC Instructors Course which has now settled into its new home at Indefatigable. This is now split
into 3 separate parts with potential RAPTCI’s visiting for 7 weeks in total.
As well as the hard skills the class one students are required to gain, we spend a large amount of time concentrating on the developmental aims of AT exploring them and using the student’s experiences of their previous roles to demonstrate how these can be implemented. This is all part of the secondary aim of the AT phase to prepare the potential RAPTCIs for roles within the
eld force in order that they can advise the chain of command about the bene ts of AT.
As part of Operation TOSCA there is a requirement to train a team of AT instructors to support that Operation. This has a varied output with the main requirement being the Sea Kayak 4 Star Leader, coupled with the ability to deliver DT courses in either rock climbing or mountain biking. This is quite a challenge as the students arrive with very little, if any AT experience. At JSMTC we have a large number of AT specialists from BCU level 5 coaches to MICs, used to great effect to deliver this training and the students are very quickly mentored into instructors, ready to take on the challenges of Type 2 delivery.
The Alpine Concentration (formally known as the Joint Service Alpine Meet – JSAM) was again this year ran out of Realp, Switzerland over the period of 3-16 July 16. As with all concentrations run by JSMTC, the aim is to allow those taking part to gain further knowledge and experience in alpine terrain and also gain the next level of quali cation. For me the trip started with a 2 day drive from Aldershot to Switzerland on a coach with the rest of the students. When we arrived we were accommodated in a small base owned by the Swiss Military, it was basic but provided an amazing setting right below some amazing alpine routes and locations. To put into perspective the height of some of these
Approach to an Alpine Hut
mountains, it is not uncommon to summit peaks almost 3 x the height of Ben Nevis.
As this means you are at altitude and the effect of the weather during the day, there are a lot of early starts (to avoid the heat) and also a lot of nights spent in alpine huts. This being my rst time alpine mountaineering, I had a perception that an alpine hut would be something similar to a Scottish mountain bothy. This however was not the case; an alpine hut is basically a hostel around 2000m up the side of a mountain (amazing), not cheap, but amazing!
ALPINE CONCENTRATION
SSgt (SSI) RS Harden RAPTC