Page 23 - QARANC Vol 19 No 1 2021

The Gazette QARANC Association 21
Annual Continuous Training (ACT) during a Pandemic
I have been a member of 208 (Liverpool) Field Hospital (208 FH) for three years. In my civilian role I work as a practice nurse for Defence Primary Health Care (DPHC) where we provide health care for Regular and Reserve Soldiers across the Tri-Service. My role as a serving Reservist at 208 Field Hospital has enabled the development of military skills and knowledge which has also benefited my nursing role within DPHC.
This year due to the unexpected pandemic, 208 FH was unable to carry out the ACT (formally known as Annual Camp) which typically includes various aspects of military and clinical training in order to ensure serving personnel remain current. In addition to meeting training requirements, a pivotal aspect of ACT is to encourage engagement within unit personnel whilst building strong relationships across the squadrons. I believe this to be a significant part not to be overlooked as strong working relationships are the bread and butter of effective unit performance.
208 FH in the words of the Training Major, Major Gary Hayes “In a time where we could do nothing, we
chose to do something as that was the right thing to do”, decided to rally together and move this year’s ACT to the virtual platform of Zoom. This involved hours of work behind the scenes from unit staff with two weeks of clinical and military lessons converted to online and all ranks taking part to host varying lessons. These efforts did not go unnoticed by unit personnel with the overall consensus being positive.
Many unit members including myself had not previously used Zoom as a training platform, so this was a learning curve for many, with reservations plentiful at the beginning of day one. I, however, believe that the time and effort put in by staff quickly turned reservations around with a mixture of lectures, break out rooms, quizzes and home study; it certainly wasn’t ‘death by PowerPoint’. Instead I believe this year’s ACT offered members a chance to feel somewhat normal and socialise with colleagues and friends whilst completing essential training in order to remain clinically and militarily current.
I feel that this unfortunate pandemic has highlighted the importance of engagement and strengthening the
Corporal Alexandra Thomas at home ‘zooming into training’!
bonds at unit level and this I can say has been exceeded by 208 FH.
I hope that next year’s ACT will be away from a computer screen and back on the ground, but I am thankful for the efforts of the 208 family in 2020.
Corporal Alexandra Thomas
covering the West AO in Cyprus which is the largest and most unsettled AO in the BZ. Because of this we have trained for a series of violations ranging from minor to serious i.e. hunting, minefields, overmanning, migration, and fires to name a few.
Simultaneously, MRX preparation with the help of MTMC included a range of lessons on violations, minefield awareness, battlefield casualty drills/ mass casualty incidents, road traffic collisions and helicopter down incidents. Further to this, voice procedure techniques were practiced during the scenario-based learning phase. We also continued to study and apply the
TOSCA aide memoire as a platoon. During the MRX, the four sections of 1 platoon rotated through patrols for a 96 hour period; we patrolled in 4x4 vehicles and on foot. We were tasked with covering various routes which included mandatory visits to ‘hot spots’. We successfully reported and acted on numerous violations and incidents such as: construction violations, illegal farming and migrant crossings. Interestingly, we were also the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) involved in a mass casualty incident (road traffic collision) which was successfully controlled by all ground commanders. We received a special
mention from MTMC for arriving at the scene within minutes of the incident.
Moving on, I am currently in Cyprus at blood hound camp continuing to quarantine. Quarantining consists of more COVID-19 swabs, an acclimatisation programme, lots and lots of walking, eating, reading and banter. We have plenty of access to games, movies and a Rubik’s cube to keep us occupied! And we may be lucky enough to get a BBQ before we move out into Ledra Palace Hotel (Nicosia) for handover/takeover.
Corporal Jessica Hindley 208 (Liverpool) Field Hospital