Page 50 - Bugle Autumn 2014

Mournes Plod 2014
It takes a rare strain of delusion to volunteer for a midnight mountain marathon on
a Friday night. Thankfully the men of B Company stepped into the breach with gusto, fielding a 6-man squad for the
50km Mourne Mountains Plod, a 12-hour navigation event in the early Ulster summer. The start, deep in a midge-infested forest, was at an antisocial half-past midnight. Unlike in the day
Rfn Joshua Smith met us at RVs along the way in one of the Army’s most knackered VW minibuses, whose health deteriorated with the strength in our legs. Stage 2
saw us dropped off in the southern tip of the mountain park, bellies half-full with a breakfast burger and an intimidating 35km still to cover. Thankfully the daylight phases proved less sapping than the night slog
job, white-light head
torches were gratefully
deployed to assist our
trot up Slieve Donard,
all 853m of granite
boulders. Whilst the
remainder of the team
wore lightweight fell
shoes, Rfn Kyle Murphy set himself the additional challenge of wearing heavy tabbing boots, a tactic we were able to coax out of him by breakfast-time, and he nobly donned Maj Mark Shercliff’s trainers for the remaining 30km and thereafter led from the front impressively.
Two of the team, Rfn Sam Downs and
Shooting
from the Donard and we cantered around the Silent Valley reservoirs and leapt gingerly over the Mournes Wall a
few more times. By mid-morning our norwegian of range stew was cucumber-
cool but we were grateful for every mouthful as we braced for the final leg up and over the western flank of the Mournes. Sgt Stephen Hughes did the PT Corps proud in producing a surprise goodie bag of Ferrero Rocher and we had then no excuse for digging in for the final 15km to Tolleymore Forest.
Mountain goats: Rfn Sam Downs, Rfn Kyle Murphy, Maj Mark Shercliff, Sgt Stephen Hughes RAPTC, Rfn Cameron Smith and Rfn Joshua Smith pose victorious in the Mournes
Just under 12 hours after starting we managed an organised trot into the finish car-park, some 90mins ahead of the nearest team. Tepid prosecco and budget medals all round – a good day’s outing
for a scratch team. Taking part was the aim, winning was a happy finish. Taping the door back onto its weary hinges, we remounted the minibus and headed back to the pre-tour training travelator to continue unpacking our boxes from the unit move... Maj Mark Shercliff
Chief Mountain Goat
Thankfully the daylight phases proved less sapping than the night slog
In a period of eight months 2 RIFLES has been very fortunate to be able to provide
a Shooting Team to participate in various Competition’s held in the UK and abroad. 2 RIFLES held a Battalion Skill at Arms Meet (SAAM) in Ballykinler in November 2013. The first week of the Battalion SAAM was setup so that the range teams could practise running their given range smoothly and also for the Shooting Teams to get familiarised with the details of the shoots. Each Company in the Battalion entered three ten-man teams into the competition. This provided the opportunity for the Companies to compete within
their own Company. The SAAM consisted of shoots using a range of weapons including SA80, Glock 17 Pistol, LMG and the GPMG. The competition was made up of a wide range of shoots and scenarios.
The teams greatly enjoyed taking part in it and the Team Captains were making sure their team was treated fairly when
it came to the scoring. The prizes where handed out on the final day. A steady amount of silverware and medals won by the riflemen.
In May we decided due to 2 RIFLES being committed to so many things, that it would be a good idea to ask our fellow Rfn in 7 RIFLES to Join us in a combined team taking part in 38 Brigade NIOSC (formerly known as NISAAM). From the start we knew that this competition would
The shooting team about to conduct one of their successful Skill at Arms Meetings
be more about taking part and enjoyment rather than winning. Units taking part
in the NIOSC are Regular and Reserve, with some of the Reserve units spending most weekends purely shooting these competition matches. Our Team consisted of LCpl Poynter, LCpl Nutton and Rfn Gilson from 2 RIFLES and LCpl Frater, Rfn Coote, Rfn Cross, Rfn Morgan and Rfn Robertson from 7 RIFLES.
The matches or competition shoots consisted roughly the same layout as
per the Battalion SAAM that was run in November 2013. The Rifleman from 7 RIFLES really enjoyed participating with their brothers from 2 RIFLES. The blokes worked well together regardless the fact that they never met before and didn’t have the opportunity to zero until the first morning of the competition. The lads from
7 RIFLES enjoyed firing the SA80 with the new LDS sight. Many of who have not fired with it before. Most of them agreed to like it more than the SUSAT.
Less than a month later our shooting team was invited to take part in the 20 Brigade SAAM in Germany. I thank our fellow Rifleman in 5 RIFLES for aiding us in all departments, for us being able to participate in the 20X SAAM June 2014. The team arrived in Germany starting
off well with coming second in the Rifle ACMT and first in the Pistol ACMT. All the blokes enjoyed the competition and also all the outdoor activities that Paderborn brings to the table. I’m very happy with our results during the last eight months considering that mostly the riflemen were called to arms at short notice.
Cpl Heffer, Marksman
48 SECOND BATTALION
THE RIFLES