Page 50 - RADC 2020

OR JOBS
Army Training Centre (Pirbright) Phase One Instructor Normandy Company
Cpl V Davis
The saying goes, ‘Soldier first, trade second’. As an RADC Dental Nurse, to be given that amazing opportunity of being
in that ‘soldier first’ role as a Phase One Instructor was probably the best and most rewarding job role I have ever done. The end result of changing a civilian into a soldier was not to be beaten.
During my two-year posting at ATC(P), I had the pleasure of being part of Normandy company as the only female section commander, working with fantastic training teams containing personnel from a variety of capbadges and trades.
Normandy is the Rehabilitation (Gold Platoon) and Retrain (Juno Platoon) company. As well as this, it runs the PCC (Preconditioning Course) and Reservist training Alpha and Bravo. It’s safe to say there was very little downtime in this role.
As a section commander within Normandy, we had to be qualified in all areas of soldiering, as well as in mental resilience, mental well-being, and have all-round empathy. All this was expected on top of maintaining discipline and always abiding by the instructor’s handbook. This was because the role often involved dealing with recruits that had failed parts of their 14-week initial training. They may have needed that extra lesson taught to them in a specific way, needed that little more one to one training, or even to be pushed that little bit more,
and it could have been in Weapon Handling, Exercise or Drill. So, we had to be able to do it all, and well.
Additionally, we were also dealing with injured recruits. Therefore, we had to ensure that they were still getting the training that they needed so when they returned to troop training they had not suffered from skill fade. We did this with a Bespoke Training
SSgt S Urban RA, Cpl V Davis RADC, Cpl C Hunter RS and Bdr G Brimble RA
Programme. I was lucky enough to be part of the original training team that took this new concept to the Initial Training Group (ITG).
With the Bespoke Training Programme, section commanders would write and deliver lessons to fit around the rehabilitation or retraining of an individual recruit, taking into mind any learning disability they may have or any struggles with fitness. This would mean every PT session, every exercise, every rehab session, and every lesson, whether
it be on the Drill square, in the Field, or on
PowerPoint, the section commander would be there coaching, mentoring, and training their section until they were to the highest possible standard to return to their troop. I can honestly say that in my sections I have had recruits that returned to training to win end of course awards; four winning Best Drill; two for Best Physical Training and
one for best endeavour. I have never felt so proud than when watching them march off the square as soldiers.
Other than training and retraining, my other (little) time at ATC(P) was spent competing in March and Shoots, pace sticking competitions, athletics, skiing and being on the mess committee.
I hope in the future that I can follow in the footsteps of Sgt Gemma Phillips and be given the opportunity to deliver the JNCO Development course and a future at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where
I can use the qualifications and knowledge that I’ve gained at ATC(P).
For those Dental Nurses looking to their future and thinking about this role, I strongly recommend it and I would be more than happy for anyone interested to get in touch.
48 RADC BULLETIN 2020