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therefore no physical training was scheduled into the programme. This gave me the perfect opportunity get to know the permanent staff and how things worked within the Academy. Within ANAOA, female and male PT were kept separate. The Male Physical Training Wing (PTW) is very well established and made up of an OC, Sgt Maj and 15 PTIs, the Female PTW however was made up on just one PTI, Bridmal Maryam.
Bridmal Maryam had been in post for 3 months under the mentoring of Sgt Kemp. Prior to taking the post at ANAOA she had no previous PT experience however was keen, motivated and eager to learn. We soon set to work continuing to further her knowledge in PT and make her lessons better which in turn would help to produce better Officer Cadets (OCdts). Unfortunately, this was short lived as Bridmal Maryam was taken sick in late April. This left the Academy without a female PTI, with no female members of staff able to step up to the job.
The Academy upholds religious holidays in line with the Islamic calendar, Ramadan fell during May 19, right at the start of the training term. During this period Muslims cannot eat or drink from dusk until sunset. Although training didn’t stop completely all physical activities were paused. Without a PTI to mentor I set to work educating the rest of the female permanent staff on the basics of PT. This included how to conduct warm ups and cool downs, how to lead a run or loaded march and general fitness exercises. With no sign of Bridmal Maryam returning to work I was fully aware that there wasn’t anyone to take PT post Ramadan.
Ramadan finished and PT resumed however Bridmal Maryam was still away sick and no replacement had been found. I spent the next 3 months taking PT daily for the ANAOA OCdts and soon came across the challenges they face. Although most of the OCdts lacked general fitness, they more than made up for it with positive attitudes. Although the female OCdts wanted to get fitter, they had many challenges to overcome simply because of their gender. Something as simple as doing a press up was seen as seductive by the male members of staff, so therefore females were not allowed to conduct a press up anywhere that they could be seen by a male.
This made circuits interesting as many exercises were not allowed to be carried out.
In late September 19, Bridmal Maryam was removed from post and Bridmal Frishta (one of the section commanders) was given the post of PTI. Again, Bridmal Frishta had no experience in delivery of PT so it was back to basics once more. Over my remaining 12 weeks in theatre I worked daily with Frishta to get her to a standard where she was able to deliver most of the lessons to an acceptable level.
During this twelve-week period, the Female Gym was finally officially opened meaning we could now conduct PT inside and out of eyesight of any males. Having their own gym provided the females with much needed gym equipment to use during lessons and in their own time. The permanent staff were keen to learn how to use the equipment and what exercises they could do to improve their own fitness.
Although I encountered difficulties throughout the nine months we managed to move forward in some areas. With a new OC moving into the Male PTW who was keener for male/female interaction, he allowed a male PTI to conduct the Female OCdts PT when the Female PTI was absent. This had never been allowed before but was well received by both the males and females;
I still had to be present throughout the lesson for top cover however the lessons went very well. Gender integration was also improved during the President’s Banner Competition. The competition is conducted every term at inter-company level. It involves a range of activities such as Tug of War, a Log-Race and an Endurance
A brand new female gym. Sgt Barrigan, Interpreters, Bridmal Hadija and the Females from Junior Term
Race. During the events the females were generally left until last if they were allowed to take part at all, however with the new OC in post I was able to push for the females to take part and feel like they were part of the event and not an afterthought.
Alongside my main job of mentoring there was still plenty left on camp to be getting on with. With a huge range of different nations on camp, competition was high. We frequently put on competitions and events to build on team cohesion and improve morale within the camp. These ranged from Quiz Nights to Half Marathons and Powerlifting competitions. Every time there was white space in the diary everyone looks to the PTI to fill it, I lost count of the number of briefs, PT sessions and volleyball competitions I delivered. However, my largest task was arranging the servicing contracts for all UK Forces assets within OP TORAL and BLANCA, which turned out to be a larger task than initially thought. When I finally managed to get the Servicing Contractors into theatre, a Norovirus outbreak stopped them being able to get to all of the pre-planned locations, and the whole process had to start again.
Throughout my time in Camp Qargha I learnt a lot about myself as an instructor and hope that I left the Female PTW in a better position going forward. I got to work with a huge variety of different people from different nations and made some amazing friends, including two interpreters. I had never worked with an interpreter before, but they were incredible, they would do absolutely anything I asked of them even going out on runs and tabs in full body armour with the OCdts (even if they did complain the whole way round). Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time working at ANAOA. It was challenging, stressful but worth it for the times when you could see real progress being made.
Winning DANCON Team – Nov 19. Brigadier Wheeler, Capt Malekpour (ETS), Capt Lewin (RM), CPO Thomas (NZA) Sgt Barrigan.