Page 22 - The Bugle Issue 12 Autumn 2016

OC: Maj D Murch, MBE
Div Captain: Capt J Longmate 2IC: Capt IR Cullen
CSM: WO2 S Lansdowne CQMS: WO2 C Bannon
1st Infantry Training Battalion (1ITB) – Infantry Training Centre, Catterick
Change at ITC brings, as ever, challenge and opportunity. Fewer Ri emen are now directly under the aegis of Ri es Company HQ, and steps have been taken to address some of the issues with the training programme. The Ri es at ITC have adapted quickly, increasing retention and dominating competitions such as the March and Shoot. Importantly, our corporal instructors frequently set the standard.
Battle Grouping
In April 2015 the Ri es Training Company was directed by ART DG and Comdt SCHINF to adopt a battle group formation as part of 1ITB. The aim was to reduce the company HQ span of command and enable better supervision and delivery of training. The new ORBAT ensures a more even spread of training teams between each company, ensuring the current RAP requirements are met and to enable future expansion and contraction of the number of training teams.
The Ri es Company now commands three Ri es platoons, with a single platoon from each of the divisions forming the remainder. Five additional Ri es platoons are dispersed across the other divisions, with one in each of the Scots, Queens, and Kings Divisions, and two in the PoW Division. Where possible all Ri emen are trained by Ri emen and conduct Ri es drill, however, not all can be captured. Agnostic loading of recruits has also been brought in, loading recruits into a platoon regardless of cap badge as soon as they are ready to start training. The aim is to reduce the time recruits wait to start training, and for the small number that are not directly trained by Ri emen the drill is a training
de ciency that we address before they pass out and nish the course.
Changes to the Combat Infantrymen’s Course (CIC)
We are already seeing the bene ts of the revised programme and the introduction of CIC 16. All areas have been dissected and, where necessary, re-sequenced, with the main muscle moves being around tness, weeks 1 – 7 and the number of working weekends on the course.
CIC 16 will allow the Ri emen to “get t to run” rather than “run to get t”. There is a greater emphasis on physical strength and conditioning early in the course which should see a reduction in the injury rate, which has typically been high. The physical critical output standards remain the same.
The aim of the week’s 1 – 7 review was to de-heat the initial period of the programme and address the voluntary out ow rate of around 30% experienced by The Ri es over the previous decade. Weeks 1 – 7 has signi cantly contributed to this and therefore must be considered a critical period of the Ri eman’s time in the Army. Consideration has also been given to our corporal instructors who are in most frequent contact with the recruits during this initial seven week period. Time has been speci cally allocated for instructor administration, reducing the burden on the Ri emen in the evenings. The work carried out to de-heat the rst seven weeks of CIC 16 should set the conditions for its successful delivery to our Ri emen.
Working weekends were carefully considered as part of the review. Previous CIC’s saw a total of 11 from 26 weekends being allocated to various core military subjects including lessons, assessments, live ring and exercises. The CIC 16 programme has ve working weekends; three within the rst four weeks that are a mixture of military subjects and team bonding periods, one for LMG Camp mid-course and a full working weekend over LFTT and Final Exercise in week 23. All the Introduction Exercises and Tactical Exercises are conducted within the working week and have appropriate post exercise administration at the end of the exercise prior to the weekend.
These changes to the template are welcome, and the overall success of CIC 16 will balance on the attitude and administrative pro ciency of those responsible for its delivery.
The Army Leadership Code
The Army L eadership Code has gathered pace amongst our instructors at the ITC. It is a devel- opment of Values Based Leadership (VBL), and
Cpl Staddon takes Ri es 6 Platoon through a strength and conditioning circuit
20 TRAINING
THE RIFLES
TRAINING
ITC CATTERICK