Page 134 - The Bugle 2018

WE WERE REMINDED OF AFRICAN TIMINGS AS THE BAGGAGE WAGON FINALLY ROCKED UP NEARLY 2 HOURS LATE
Anti-Poaching Training Team, Gabon
In April 2018, I was selected to participate with 2 RIFLES, our paired battalion, in a Short Term Training Team to support anti-poaching efforts in Gabon.
It was late evening when we stepped off the plane in the capital, Libreville, and the humidity hit us hard - very hard! It had been a long day since leaving British soil in the early hours of the morning. The training team of 15 was welcomed by an unimag- inable thunderstorm that first night which was impossible to sleep through.
With a plan to get going early to the training area (an 8-hour drive), we were reminded of African timings as the baggage wagon finally rocked up nearly 2 hours late. During our ordeal, we encoun- tered road surfaces on all spectrums of the scale from spectacularly smooth tar to the impact area of a mortar range. With occasional downpours and the state of the roads, it wasn’t surprising there were small accidents and overturned lorries along the route. It was just before dark when we arrived at Camp Joseph Mokekou, with the kit 3 and a half hours later.
The morning light revealed six wooden huts with tin roofs; four for accommodation, a kit hut, and an ops room. A small toilet block and shower hut were just on the edge of camp. After we had settled in, the seven instructors were assigned interpreters as Gabon is French speaking. Our eco-guards arrived soon after and were put into sections. I had 10 students, of whom 4 were female. The eco-guards’ experience ranged from 4 weeks basic training up to 4 months - an icebreaker revealed I had an ex-poacher and previous STTT washlady! It was apparent that little training had been previ- ously received on navigation. As this was a key part, several days were spent on navigation training.
I left my section with a couple of compasses and maps and after a weekend break, it was clear to see that they had practised. During the weeks’ training, we threw in Vehicle Check Points, detaining suspects, camouflage and concealment, model building and more navigation exercises. The eco-guards wanted to learn as much as they could, and displayed an excellent attitude to learning with more and more questions as the course went on. Confirmation periods in lessons were carried out with excellence all the way. VCPs were incredibly thorough, along with the detaining and questioning of suspects. The navigation exercises were challenging but giving huge confidence to the eco-guards and it showed.
Marking out the routes for the nav early one morning showed a lot of activity by elephants. Although none had been seen, we were right behind them. On one occasion, you didn’t need to be a
YOU DIDN’T NEED TO BE A TRAINED ELEPHANT TRACKER TO KNOW HOW CLOSE THEY WERE AS THE ELEPHANT DUNG WAS STILL STEAMING!
trained elephant tracker to know how close they were as the elephant dung was still steaming!
The last lesson for the week was Observation Posts. After the theory side, they all got stuck in, building one OP per section. Following on from this, a short serial was played out and the section gathered very accurate information about an ivory sale.
After the weekend’s break, I returned to a section whose enthusiasm was as keen as ever. We started with basic patrol skills and obstacle crossings. In the afternoon, I gave them the chance to go over a VCP and they strip searched a vehicle flawlessly, finding all the individual items, documenting them correctly and successfully detaining the driver.
Close target recces were part of the training as well and while I was acting as a poachers’ camp with my section, I was introduced to one of the best natural firelighters ever. This was sap from the Okoume tree which burns hot and for a long time. I also drank freshwater from a cut vine. We never did see the section carrying out the CTR – credit to their newly learned skills!
Strike Ops were introduced to the training with great results from all sections in their practice phases. We were now left with only one day to go over anything that the sections wanted before
140 EIGHTH BATTALION
THE RIFLES