Page 84 - Mercian Eagle 2014

Infantry Cricket Fusilier Lokukumarage, A (Fusilier) Company, 4 MERCIAN
Fus Lokukumarge
Having moved to Birmingham in 2012,
I transferred to A (Fusilier) Company,
4 MERCIAN, following several years with PWRR in London and It was here I was invited to try out for the Infantry Cricket Club (ICC). Over 100 soldiers applied, but only 25 were successful in the selection. Thankfully, I was one of the lucky few, which made me the first soldier to represent 4 MERCIAN within the ICC.
The first competition was in June 2014. The 15 man squad competed in the Army T20. This was a three-day tournament and the first real test of the newly-formed team. Four games of 20 overs per side were played, with the Infantry going up against the Signals, Engineers and RLC. Due to some outstanding bowling, the Infantry reached the final with ease and were
pitched against the Royal Artillery. The final allowed the batsmen to perform and after a short match, the Infantry were victorious and won by eight wickets.
The ICC’s latest test came in the Army Inter-Corps 50 Over Fixtures. These were played over a two-month period, and once again the Infantry managed to reach the final, this time against RLC. After a close game the RLC won and became 2014 Champions.
I am now heading off to Cyprus on Operation TOSCA in support of 2 MERCIAN and I hope to find time to train hard for next year’s cricket season. When I return I have aspirations of retaining the Army T20 title, and stealing the Army Inter-Corps 50 Over fixtures crown from the RLC is high on my agenda.
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lesson and welcomed any input he had. Once he had shared his experience and gave us examples of the current TTPs used in Somalia, we decided to make changes to the lesson. I would advise anyone else deploying to remember to stay flexible and take into account what the UPDF will be doing as part of their mission. This will allow the UPDF to improve what is being done
as opposed to teaching something that will not be used. The resources available to us on camp were minimal and I would advise sourcing some permanent aids to lessons if this is going to be an ongoing commitment.
The training started well with minimal problems, mainly the MT running late but nothing show-stopping. All classes arrived eager and in high spirits despite the long days and heat. Sgt Fred, our instructor, assisted with translating for the first few lessons but was soon eager to take
over under our direction. He made the lessons run smoothly and his high level of professionalism and passion for the subject was repaid with the utmost respect from each class. Lessons were delivered to Coy Groups over a two-day period. The lessons were quickly committed to memory, which allowed us to maintain the condition of the class and to react to changes especially when things like our area of training had to be changed.
After each teaching phase the relevant battalion would then deploy on exercise
to put into practice what had been taught. Each battalion had different strengths and weaknesses. But for my involvement in this I was to assist running enemy serials and DS on different tasks and general low level skills and tactics employed. A benefit of this
CO’s PT
was seeing the troops for a prolonged time and allowing them to become used to our presence, which helped us to get a better picture of how they operated without being observed. The idea of staying out with the exercising troops over night was toyed with but decided against. If this were to happen in the future all DS would need to be informed prior to departure so as to pack appropriate kit for sleeping/living in the field.
After both battalions had conducted the teaching and exercise phase the camp was closed down and we ran the three- hour gauntlet which was the trip back to the hotel. Being a passenger in a vehicle driven by a local is certainly an experience. We had a night in a hotel which was an excellent end to the deployment and gave all instructors to enjoy the social side of Uganda. All personnel were released on arrival at the hotel with no curfew and
trusted to be in good order for the flight the next day.
In total 24 members of 4 MERCIAN led by the CO, deployed as part of a 36-strong STTT comprising members from the MPS, MSSG and a US stabilisation battalion based in Djibouti.
In summary: I really enjoyed my time as part of the training team and am keen to do it again. It gave us a good opportunity to conduct PT, either individually or as groups at altitude in very nice surroundings and over tricky terrain. Teaching the UPDF and working in a group such as this was a huge learning experience. It has furthered my teaching knowledge and the use of translators, skills which I believe are very important and have proven vital in theatres such as Afghanistan. It has also given me invaluable experience of working in different surrounding with different nationalities.
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