Page 62 - Bugle Autumn 2014

The Recce Platoon team consider the next stand on the Cambrian Patrol Sjt Watson and Cpl McKie rehearse the river crossing in Dreghorn pool
Cambrian Patrol
Exercise Cambrian Patrol is held during mid-October every year; teams come from across the British and foreign militaries
in order to test themselves and compete over a famously gruelling 36 hour patrolling competition. It takes place on private land and SENTA, following a 50+ mile route interspersed with a number of stands, most of which are unknown to the participants prior to the exercise.
The 3 RIFLES Recce Platoon were to
be the sole entrants from the battalion in 2013, and there were no illusions as to
the pressure which the platoon was on to perform. With half the platoon deployed
to the Falklands supporting A Company,
the remainder were thrown into a busy training programme designed to prepare the team for any eventuality. The training covered a broad range of skills, from ‘arty target’ to river crossing drills practised in the swimming pool. The preparation culminated with a 3 day exercise on Otterburn, designed to mimic Cambrian Patrol as much as possible. Unfortunately, OC Recce decided to fall off a cliff during a CTR, ending up in Newcastle hospital; on the positive side, this proved an effective test of step-up command and ground casevac.
The patrol itself started on a very early Wednesday morning as the team drove to the designated RV. The first mission involved patrolling to CTR an objective during daylight, before tabbing overnight to rendez-vous at a friendly forces base. The patrol started well, with a quick insertion before moving onto the objective itself. Here, the team had to contend
with numerous other patrols around the objective at the same
become a mud slide as 50 teams had all dragged bergens out of the lake.
The last phase saw the exercise move
to SENTA for the last ten hours where
the stands were fairly fast and furious,
but also more enjoyable. Section attacks, IED casualty scenarios and of course, the mandatory ammunition resupply serial were all familiar fare for the team. The final debrief saw a high level of information retention
time, which resulted in a large amount of compromises, luckily none involving 3 RIFLES.
3 RIFLES Recce Platoon were to be the sole entrants from the battalion in 2013
from the team as well as good analysis expected of recce patrolmen.
The effort and professionalism of
the team were very impressive; it certainly way of testing some
The overnight tab
proved to be one of
the greatest challenges of the patrol, as
the cross-country route turned out to be extremely slow-going. The morning saw one of the most infamous aspects of Cambrian Patrol, as the team patrolled down for
the river crossing. Having come up with
a specific procedure for this in training, involving ratchet straps around the bergen floats, the team performed very well on this stand, despite having to contend with a mandated exit point which had effectively
was a very effective
core recce and military skills in fairly arduous conditions. Slightly disappointingly, 3 RIFLES were awarded a Silver Medal, perhaps somewhat attributable to the lack of Cambrian experience in the team. 2014 will see another Recce team entering and looking for a Gold medal.
Capt James Reaney
OC Recce Platoon
Brigade Operational Shooting Competition 2014
At the beginning of April the Third Battalion’s shooting team, primarily consisting of the Sniper Platoon, took part in the Brigade Operational Shooting Competition (BOSC,) hosted by 2 MERCIAN in Magilligan Camp, Northern Ireland.
Many of the old style competition shoots have been improved and renamed to bring them more into line with the requirement
of operational shooting, so physical fitness and marksmanship were tested, along with complex transitional shoots utilising different weapon systems.
In total there were 25 teams competing from all different cap badges across 12 (Mech) Brigade. 3 RIFLES performed admirably in the team shoots and despite
Mainly from Sniper Platoon, the successful shooting team
a lack of training prior to the competition, placed 8th and 9th overall, with some respectable individual scores.
The 3 RIFLES teams saved the best for last by beating the majority of the teams on the falling plate shoot on the final day; the A and B teams finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. The performance of both teams was excellent and showed real determination, even teams that we had already beaten were behind 3 RIFLES, cheering the A team all the way to the final shoot where they were sadly beaten by
a very experienced team from the REME (clearly they had more practice time!)
All in all a good competition and we hope to improve the team and ready ourselves for 2015.
Cpl Cassell
Sniper Platoon
60 THIRD BATTALION
THE RIFLES