Page 42 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2015-16

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sport. Cpl Hunter (R) is seen here wearing the Silver he won on the ‘Tag Team’ event at the National Grand Prix, Manchester. He is also shown holding not only his Army but also his Combined Services Colours. LCpl Rana (L) is wearing the two medals he won for the Army Martial Arts Association Winter Open; the Silver for ITF Taekwondo Dan grade lightweight sparring competition and Bronze for WTF Taekwondo Dan grade lightweight sparring.
There is no doubt the last year has been extremely busy for this Unit, the number of commitments has been large, however they continue to place sport at the forefront of their activities. I am extremely proud to serve with a Gurkha Unit and look forward to the remainder of my assignment here.
On arrival at 11 EOD Regt in Jan 15 as the rst RAPTCI in post, I knew from a pre arrival recce and chat
with the CoC that I may have bitten off more than I could chew with this being my rst Major Unit position. Learning the ropes fast and asking every friend I had (not many), their assistance became a regular occurrence. With no Regimental PT policy, structure or manpower in place and my gym facility located within the junior ranks accommodation block, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned as to how I was going to make any form of impact whatsoever and with the limited resources the Regt possessed. With the CoC struggling to understand what an RAPTCI actually does other than run organised PT, it was my job to prove cutting around in a white vest wasn’t all we were capable of. This meant implementing PT policy,
SSgt (SSI) S Turner RAPTC
structure, purchasing new PTE and expanding the real estate within the various Sqn’s scattered across the UK in an attempt to put a positive imprint on this new job.
After time and with new found Sports OIC’s nominated, the big push for the year was to get personnel experiencing what else the Army had to offer other than EOD based activities and identifying sporting talent within the Regt. Not being part of the A-FORM cycle, the Regt constantly works in response teams where carrying pagers and just waiting for an incident to occur is normal practice. Being able to provide an escape from the mundane 12 hours shift pattern is a vital component to keeping PT interest within the Regt and sport is de nitely providing that avenue for the troops. With the Regimental Rugby team
heading to California mid-year and two JNCO’s heading to the Army Boxing team for the Combined Services Development Championships, selling sport within 11 EOD was beginning to prove a big hit and highlighting talent to the CoC through various avenues. When the winter months came the start of the X-Country League and this was proving of interest to the Regt with many personnel approaching me to enter a team for competition. Leading up to Xmas, the X-Country team were ying high sitting in 9th place in the Major Units League and with new Regimental tracksuits and strips, started to begin to look like a more organised out t (even though we know different).
With sport beginning to take off, a command task and con dence course day was organised utilising the facilities
The troops fully warmed up and showing huge interest at the start line!!
11 EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL (EOD) REGIMENT ROYAL LOGISTIC CORPS