Page 74 - The Bugle Issue 12 Autumn 2016

NEVER HAD I HEARD SO MANY BAD ATTEMPTS AT AN ENGLISH ACCENT AND THIS CONTINUED AS A THEME FOR THE ENTIRE FOUR WEEKS OR SO
Exercise RATTLESNAKE took place in the heart of the Deep South in Louisiana USA. Its purpose was to look at the frictions and interoperability of a British company group, including re support assets, working within a US Battalion.
We were greeted by the US Battalion making jovial comments like ‘Alwight mate’ ‘Cheers’ and ‘do you want a cup of tea?’ Never had I heard so many bad attempts at an English accent and this continued as a theme for the entire four weeks or so.
My answer to the question of whether I wanted a cup of tea (which they didn’t have any of anyway, so the British tea addicts suffered) was ‘no thanks, I drink coffee and I take it black’ which prompted the response ‘You must be American!’ I explained that it is not only Americans that drink black coffee. I was then offered a welcome cup of my preferred refreshment, accompanied with a friendly ‘cheers mate’ (another sincere but poor attempt at an English accent).
Coffee might seem an insigni cant element, but those who have worked in a Battalion Headquarters and had the joys of planning this exercise will under- stand its importance - we had interoperability ‘box one’ ticked! From the beginning the exercise was conducted as if we were at war, with no exceptions. For example, if the ‘enemy’ attacked and destroyed the ration resupply, we would go hungry until a resupply arrived.
This led to a large amount of waiting around. The rst phase was an air assault, where 1800 or so American soldiers parachuted and secured a drop zone and dirt runway. Two days later, B Company was inserted by helicopter. B Company moved quickly into a hasty harbour and began battle prep. I was located at the Battalion Headquarters (known as the Tactical Operations Command) where the staff were frantically trying to account for over 1000 soldiers that had just arrived on the battle eld. The rst phase began with a defence of the southern boundary and plans were rapidly nalised ready for orders the next day.
Throughout the night we could hear re ghts taking place around the air eld. The enemy, a battalion complete with tanks, Special Forces and an insurgent group were systematically attacking the Brigade supply lines. The following morning I set off for a liaison meeting with the Brigade Headquarters and as I crested a small rise on the drop zone, saw all
the equipment and resources that had been talked about, which stretched as far as the eye could see. There were tented headquarters; Apache attack helicopters, Chinooks and masses of vehicles. The tented brigade headquarters was so massive that without a guide, one could become lost inside and not see the light of day for week!
Over the next ve days B Company took up defensive positions, a mixture of conventional positions to defend against the expected armoured attack and vehicle check points to secure the area, but maintained the ow of traf c for the role playing civilian population. These routes allowed the insurgent force to attempt in ltration of the defence, but with no success. Even the 501st Battalion Commander struggled to get through the intricate network of defensive positions, with Ri emen demanding that he stepped out of his vehicle, ground his weapon and produce identi cation. After all, one can never be too careful!
The enemy were a free play force with a mission of their own to retake the town next to the drop zone. I found out at the end of the exercise that they had parachuted in to ‘seize and hold the ground’, preventing our forces from seizing it. They conducted a number of reconnaissance missions on B Company’s positions, but considered them too well defended and carried out their assault from a different direction.
Once the defensive phase was complete, the battalion prepared itself to conduct offensive opera- tions and an assault on the enemy stronghold, a large town. It is rare for exercising battalions to achieve this mission, on most occasions breaking into the town is not achieved, but B Company were placed on the battalion main effort and successfully made a swift break in on the objective. This allowed a substantial portion of the town to be cleared of enemy forces by the time the exercise came to an end.
Once the exercise was over it was time to experience some of what Louisiana had to offer and this started with a visit to Fort Polk which is the local US camp. It is nothing like a British camp as it was about 7 miles from our accommodation to the front gate!
We rolled out of camp in a convoy of 15 vehicles headed south to New Orleans, ‘The Big Easy’, for 4 days rest and recuperation (known as R&R) with planned visits to the national World War II museum and a battle eld tour. The rst thing to hit us was that driving in straight line for hours at a time can be extremely boring, and requires a reasonable amount of coffee. Stopping for coffee slightly off the beaten track showed the rst of Louisiana’s laws which made most of us take a second look and a split second to register - you can openly carry a rearm in Louisiana. The number of people doing this was surprising to us but apparently very normal for them. On Saturday morning B Company headed off to the National World War II museum where we discovered the rst link to the regiment’s history; a maroon airborne beret with an Ox and Bucks Light Infantry cap badge was proudly placed in the British Airborne section. On Sunday we headed out early for the battle eld tour about 8km east of New Orleans on the grounds of Chalmette plantation.
Exercise RATTLESNAKE
Close interoperability was proven
72 THIRD BATTALION
THE RIFLES