Page 54 - Mercian Eagle 2014

2 MERCIAN Training Wing by Lt Sam Vause
With a mixed bag of emotions, from excitement at the opportunities ahead, and slight trepidation as to the sheer number
of Welsh Dragons to be removed from every surface of every room (and replaced with MERCIAN Colours) myself and WO2 Yates surveyed our new territory. We had just occupied the new Training Wing of The Dale Barracks, and were keen to begin the necessary process of ‘MERCIANISATION.’ Fortunately, we had been given a significant asset, and the facilities now available include a sizeable back door training area, a 25m Range, and the latest Dismounted Close Combat Trainer, to go with the usual classrooms and resources one would expect from the Training Wing.
Infantrymen. Otterburn has been used this year to run Infantry Section 2 IC courses from January to February, and from May
to June (hats off to the boys who survived the January/February course). The course is particularly demanding, and involves a challenging cocktail of battlefield fitness, command leadership and management skills, navigation, and tactical competence, which must all be performed with the requisite level of style and panache to
be expected of a JNCO in The Mercian Regiment, Royal Welsh, or Royal Irish. I absolutely believe that any of the LCpls
you see in the aforementioned Regiments have earned their stripe more than the vast majority of the rest of the Army, due to the intensity of this course, and the fact that the men complete it as Private soldiers. Rightly so too: the investment we make at this
level clearly has a direct impact on our soldiers lives when these men become commanders, and they certainly
value their rank upon promotion.
Further to running Infantry Section 2IC Courses, the Divisional
Training Team has the important task of readying our Commanders from across the Division to go on their next career courses, whether this be at the Infantry Battle School
or the Support Weapons School. For this we run a course which focuses on good Infantry basics; the combat estimate, orders extraction and delivery, battlefield fitness, and personal navigation skills. This course was delivered for the past year in December, April and July. As the majority of the students go on to Brecon after the course, (that Infantry heartland from the other side of Offa’s Dyke which we all know and love) this course is also run out of Otterburn Training Area, to exploit its similarly ruthless terrain. This is all designed to maximise the performance of our men at these schools, to ensure that they are best placed to do as well as they possibly can for themselves, and the wider reputation of their Regiment.
Whilst it is true that these courses
have formed the majority of our workload this year, we also delivered Command Leadership and Management Courses to both Junior and Senior NCOs in November, March and July, as well as preparing
our potential Instructors at Sandhurst
for the rigours of their Cadre in order to further improve our reputation at that establishment.
I eagerly look forward to the next year, and the prospect of adding Cyprus to the potential real estate with which we can prepare our soldiers for the challenge and privilege of command.
Stand Firm Strike Hard
2 MERCIAN is also providing the lion’s share of manning to the Prince of Wales’s Division Training Team, with WO2 Yates and I as Divisional
Sergeant Major and
OC respectively. This is
a task which involves
spending a great deal
of time at Otterburn
Training Area; a
place mainly notable
for the following: its
hills, its weather, its
archaeological significance, a propensity to produce phenomenally hardy Sheep and Cattle, and its hills again. Clearly then, this is the perfect place to train robust
Clearly then, this is the perfect place to train robust Infantrymen.
52 THE MERCIAN EAGLE