Page 87 - The Rifles Bugle Autumn 2019

WHILE THE FOCUS OF THE ‘CHOSEN MEN’ OF
THE 4TH BATTALION HAS FIRMLY BEEN ON OPERATIONS AND TRAINING, WE HAVE ENGAGED IN A VARIETY OF OTHER SPORTING AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Exercise Wessex Storm allowed some to experience the slightly less glamorous Salisbury Plain.
An important part of the contingency phase remains career development for the Riflemen; many individuals have found themselves travelling to Brecon or Warminster for career courses. February 2019 saw A Company enter the training phase for the second time. This is a significant event, marking the first complete rotation around the Spec Inf operational and readiness cycle. Lessons learnt from the first rotation were used to re-design from scratch the training activity the company would complete over the next eight months. This culmi-
nated in deployment to Kenya and Uganda on Exercise Askari Spear. A Company’s performance on the exercise confirmed the suitability of the training pipeline and it will be used as a template for other units across the Spec Inf Group.
As the company prepares to transition from training to operations once more, Riflemen across the company are looking forward to re-establishing links made on the first rotation, such is the persistent nature of the role and the hallmark of Specialised Infantry.
Maj Mike Elliott
Cpl Buckle, Team 5, part of a multinational stack!
THE RIFLES
FOURTH BATTALION 85