Page 42 - The Cormorant Issue 24 Crest Publications

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Perspective from Bangladesh
Col Mafizul Islam Rashed
THE UK ACSC IS very well known
in Bangladesh as a very demanding course, and all the officers who have been here since 2007 are very well appreciated back home. Personally,
I had completed my staff course in Bangladesh back in 2007-08. So after almost a decade, I again attempted another rigorous assignment. I arrived at the lovely Shrivenham patch in October 2020 with my family. It was a difficult year under COVID-19 conditions.
We started in full swing, with my wife registering at the English Language Center and my two daughters joining Watchfield Primary School. My daughters enjoyed their school, making lots of new friends and getting a few “gold card” awards in the process. We enjoyed the “first snow” and the “first beach trip” as a family here in the UK. Trips to Scotland, London, Dover, Bath and Bristol will remain blissful memories for us.
The biggest challenge in ACSC was the academic essay writing. Remote delivery due to COVID for the first two terms caused a slight disappointment and some frustration. However, as time passed and term 3 arrived we started the face-to-face sessions and the good times started rolling on. While at ACSC,
I have been impressed by the brilliant lectures, the diversity of the cohorts and the professionalism of the Directing Staff, students and the wider ACSC team.
The international students have been very well integrated into the course
and I have made friends and fond memories which I will treasure for many years to come. Unlike other ACSCs, we remained in the same syndicate for the whole year. My syndicate mates helped me a lot to follow the course curriculum. My sincere thanks to my A4 Syndicate mates, DSs and other course members. You all were amazing!
Exercise CORMORANT FINALE Lt Col Neil Drapper
FOR ACSC 24, COVID restrictions posed an especial challenge for
the end-of-course capstone event, Exercise CORMORANT FINALE. In “normal” years this would be a set of overseas visits, but such travel was not possible in 2021. Solution? Run the exercise in the sunny climes of southern England instead.
So it was between 5th and 8th of July that students, DS, and DSDs visited
six sites of historic interest in a plan
of such fiendish complexity that it made the D-Day landings look simple: Greenham Common, Southwick House, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Tangmere Aviation Museum, the
Battle of Britain Bunker at Uxbridge, and Bletchley Park. Each site was an opportunity, to paraphrase Lt Col Jacob Freeman, to use the past to illuminate the present and to consider the future.
Whilst perhaps lacking some of the glamour of international travel, each
location was nonetheless thought- provoking and fascinating. Greenham Common forced us to consider the challenges that democracies face
in times of war and heightened competition, and Southwick House offered lessons regarding the challenges of coalition warfare and the nature of operational art.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard was
a great chance to understand the effects of maritime power, with tours
of HMS VICTORY, HMS WARRIOR,
the remains of the Mary Rose, and the Royal Navy Museum. Especially evident here was the way that technology and its application has played such an important part in the prosecution of war. It was also abundantly clear that technology can only be successfully utilised when leaders understand its potential and its limitations.
Tangmere’s aviation and Special Operations Executive connections let