Page 54 - Mercian Eagle 2017

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Operational Tracking Instructors Course
Cpl McDermott
Having already completed the Jungle Warfare Instructor Course (JWIC), I jumped at the chance of being a last minute addition to the Operational Tracking Instructor (OTIC) course in Brunei.
We had our rooms for the night in Dering Lines, Brecon and moved to the infamous Sarah Siddons for a swift pint. The next day we were taken by coach
the jungle. After returning, we had another weekend off and the following week saw us move onto the advanced elements of tracking practice, which included a quarry; I had the joyous exposure of submerging chest deep into an area of quicksand.
After a week of honing our tracking skills in varying environments, we spent the
to London Heathrow,
where we began the
long journey to Brunei.
Luckily we flew with Air
Brunei and had access
to on-flight and decent
food throughout the
journey, which included
a layover in Dubai for a
couple of hours. After
we landed, it was about
a 2 hour journey by bus
to Medecina lines, with
plenty of water but no toilet break, which was slightly emotional for all!
After we arrived in Medecina, we had the evening to sort our admin and bed spaces out. The next day we began the two week Ground Sign Awareness (GSA) course which involves a large amount of lectures and theory tests. The lessons were quite intense and required lots of revision in the evenings. I would certainly recommend that anybody wishing to go to Brunei in the future, must be willing to study and revise, we were expected to know the subjects thoroughly in the coming weeks.
That being said however, there was still plenty of time to use
the gym, swimming
pool, or go into the local
weekend learning to abseil which progressed from a tower to a helicopter. After we had finished learning all the tools we needed, we deployed onto the final ex as a tracking team. For the final exercise, we were deployed from a patrol base by boat, truck, and helicopter, pursuing our enemy
to build up a picture
of where they were going. Once we had a good idea of where the enemy was moving to, we were lifted by helicopter and abseiled into the jungle, to a site where we picked up the enemy sign and pursued them. Some two days later we found the enemy encampment. At this stage, we took a grid of the area and arranged our extraction. The journey to the extraction site took us through a swamp; I was at fault as I was in command and picked the route! However, we managed to push through the swamp and onto the extraction site where we got lifted by helicopter back to Medicina lines. We then prepped a brief for Recce Pl to
‘It was about a 2 hour journey by bus to Medecina lines, with plenty of water but no toilet break, which was slightly emotional for all!’
Cpl McDermott / Helicopter Insertion / 2017
town of Seria for food and any supplies we needed. There was also an exceptional tailor
in town who charged us next to nothing for repairing or making any alterations to our kit.
‘The journey to the extraction site took us through a swamp; I was at fault as I was in command and picked the route!’
move in on the area, this was to enable them to conduct a close target reconnaissance. That marked the end of the operational tracking instructor’s course.
In summary I had a great time out in Brunei, having been fortunate enough to complete both JWIC and OTIC.
I felt that the courses
The second week
was more practical, our
ability to teach GSA lessons was tested and we completed several observation lanes. After the first two weeks, we had a weekend off and were encouraged to explore the island of Borneo. Onto week three, we began the initial skills phase which was an exercise teaching us the basics of how to survive and operate in
delivered by the Jungle Warfare Division are exceptional and definitely learned many new skills from some outstanding instructors.
I would highly recommend anyone who is able to get out to any of the courses run by the Jungle Warfare Division to do so if the opportunity arises.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
Cpl McDermott / Abseiling in Brunei / 2017