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MANCHESTER AND SALFORD UNIVERSITY OTC A weekend with the RAC OCDT O’CONNELL The journey down to Bovington, Dorset, was one of the longest we ever have to make for an OTC weekend, and we arrived just before the bar shut on the Friday evening. Nevertheless, we woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready for the day. First off was a map-reading exercise, with one of our teams achieving the best score of the weekend. The rest of the morning was taken up with being driven around in a Challenger 2 tank, which is the British Army’s main battle tank and which resulted in some of us getting quite wet. We were also given a full guided tour around the CR2 and other CVRT, which we found are much bigger on the outside than the inside. The afternoon was spent on the CR2 computer simulators which are used extensively in training the soldiers in respect of driving and gunnery skills. In the evening we attended the dinner night, which was a chance for us to mingle with the other OTCs and let our hair down. The next morning started off with an assault course, followed by a rowing race. Our technique for this was perhaps not quite correct, but we enjoyed ourselves nevertheless. After that it was presentation time, where we came a respectable fourth. Overall we had a very enjoyable weekend which showed us some key aspects of the Royal Armoured Corps. 42 (NW) BRIGADE OFFICERS’ STUDY DAY JUO BAGLEY Driving into the barracks on a Saturday morning at 7am is always going to be an emotional experience, however, I was being taken on a day hosted by the officers from 42 (NW) Brigade. Most of the morning was spent in briefi ngs on what is currently going on in the North West and on how the Brigade is made up. Next came a re-cap on the Combat Estimate, and it was really interesting and helpful to gain an insight into how they would handle a certain situation. It was very useful to see how current Platoon and Company Commanders would use the seven questions in a contemporary situation. The afternoon consisted of stands run by all of the component cap badges within 42 (NW) Brigade all of which were very informative and everyone got to eye up some kit. 4 LANCS’ stand was particularly interesting as it showed how a Battle Group would attack an enemy company in defence of a town, essentially a bigger version of our usual weekend platoon attacks. The day was rounded off with a curry supper in the Officers’ Mess. EXERCISE LIGHTNING STRIKE OCDT DOWNING On February 25th 2011, a team of 8 MSUOTC OCdts made their way to scenic Blandford Forum, Dorset for the annual Exercise Lightning Strike competition held by the Royal Signals. The competition commenced with various stands located around the camp; they varied in their content but all taught us about the roles of various Signals regiments with a related activity. 18 (Special Forces) Signal Regiment taught us about their role of supporting the various Special Forces regiments and showed us different methods of survival. Another stand involved hastily erecting a couple of masts so a cable could go over a road and OCdt Cross could talk over the phone to someone at the other end. (While many vehicles will harmlessly go over such cabling, some will crush it so it no longer works and so we must take the cable over the road). A general knowledge of signals history was included in another stand with various questions having to be answered after a short, but informative, lecture to allow the team to go from one side of a field to another (it was more intense than it sounds). One exercise involved interpreting mock intercepted communications between two enemy and allowed us to gain an understanding as to how the technology used by the Royal Signals gives us a large tactical advantage. We also learnt how we use the intelligence gathered as well as counter measures used by enemy radio operators. This event (and the end award ceremony) took place inside the impressive FOB Thorpe that has been made in the camp and which is used by regiments such as 246 Ghurka Signals Squadron. They use the FOB to conduct squadron level military and Computer Information System training which is intended to simulate the environment at Camp Bastion. By the end of all the stands we made our way up the hill to the camp airfield for the final race which had been set up for us. All teams had the same set of burdens to grab and race with towards a line of mine tape, at which point we had to use them, without touching the ground, to set up a cable to simulate points of communication between one side and the other, before running back with all the burdens. The signals camp also used this opportunity to use the last of the pyrotechnics they had lying around before the end of the financial year. After the final race we had 90 minutes until the dinner night began, which was greatly enjoyed. All in all it was a good weekend and it was nice to hang out with other OTCs. I would recommend it to anyone next year. 54 THE VOLUNTEER www.nwrfca.org.uk
HANG ABOUT WITH THE KIDS IT OFFERS A REWARDING EXPERIENCE BECOME AN OFFICER WITH THE CADET FORCE AND HELP TO TRAIN AMBITIOUS YOUNGSTERS FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.ACFOFFICER.COM OR CALL US ON 0800 756846
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THE OFFICIAL FREE MAGAZINE OF THE R
Page 4 and 5: PEOPLE & PLACES AGM The extensive r
Page 6 and 7: PEOPLE & PLACES CADETS HONOURED FOR
Page 8 and 9: PEOPLE & PLACES Tri-Service Cadets
Page 10 and 11: PEOPLE & PLACES Intensive training
Page 12 and 13: PEOPLE & PLACES Doddy salutes 156 T
Page 14 and 15: GUNNERS T THE 103 REGT RA
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Page 18 and 19: 207 FD HOSP ‘207’ EMOTIONAL WEL
Page 20 and 21: 4 LANCS OPEN DAY SUCCESS Corporal D
Page 22 and 23: TA Peak performance from TA in Anta
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Page 38 and 39: MERSEYSIDE ACF The Mayor and Consor
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Page 43 and 44: STOCKPORT ATC Top Cadets achieve BT
Page 45 and 46: ATC Upton Squadron celebrate succes
Page 47 and 48: LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY OTC RAC weeken
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Page 59 and 60: ADVERTORIALREMOUNT RETURNING FROM A
Page 61 and 62: SaBRE We’re all stronger with Res
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