April 2013 - The Boys' Brigade

The most memorable moment of the
Endurance Course for me, and probably
everyone else, would be the last tunnel
we went through which was completely
under water. We split into threes and got
into a pool of water; two at one side and
one at the other. One person had the job
of pushing someone down through the
tunnel while the other person had to
stick his arm in and grab whatever he
could to get them out. This was quite
scary because we had to trust people
we didn’t know to get us out! The water
was freezing and you were under for
about 4-6 seconds so it defi nitely
got my heart pumping, but when you
got out it felt amazing!
When we got back we had hot showers
and went for scran. I had never seen
so much food on our plates! We then
got a talk with the Royal Marines
L MARINES
and learned about what
equipment they use on the front line.
Wednesday 21st
Today was the assault course and
thankfully it had stopped raining. We
did a warm up run followed by some
demonstrations and practices. It started
with us running and jumping over a pit of
water and landing on both feet. A few of
us (including myself) jumped too late and
landed in the water! We were then faced
with a wall that was slightly higher than
us so we had to jump and lift ourselves
over. Next were monkey bars over water,
bunny hops in boggy ground, then
leopard crawling through more boggy
ground. Another wall was blocking our
way, but it was smaller than the fi rst. We
then vaulted over a metal gate feet fi rst,
crawled through a tunnel, climbed up a
mesh net and jumped down the other
side. Needless to say, we were all out of
breath, wet and muddy but it wasn’t over
yet! We were told that we had to do it
again, but this time we were being timed!
In the afternoon, we headed to the
gymnasium for our Royal Marine fi tness
tests. This consisted of the bleep test,
push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups. There
were 4 Commando Marines and a
Sergeant there to watch us and keep
our score. It was hard on our muscles,
but we were all pleased with what we
had achieved.
When we got back to the accommodation,
we were to get in the press-up position
facing down a hill. It was a straight
15-20 minutes of hard exercises in our
heavy and soaking wet uniforms. The
various exercises put strain
on our arms, legs, stomach
and hands.
That night after our scran, we
were back in the gymnasium
for a friendly game of 6-aside
football between ourselves. It was funny
watching people trying to run and enjoy
the game while recovering with aching
leg muscles from the assault course.
Thursday 22nd
We had a 3 mile run at 8:30am. The fi rst
1.5 miles we ran as a group led by the
Sergeant. For the remainder, we had
to run as fast as we could to the fi nish.
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our
side and it poured down! I’m pleased
to say that everyone managed to do the
whole 3 miles and felt a great deal of
satisfaction in doing it.
We were not graced by the mass of food in
the mess hall, but instead got to enjoy some
rations, which turned out surprisingly good!
There was chicken curry, beef goulash,
sausage and beans and I had carrot and
coriander soup. We were also shown how
to put up a poncho. This is a waterproof
sheet that gets tied between two trees at a
height between our knee and hip.
Later, we were given a demonstration
on how to apply ‘camo cream’. We were
given a small tin which had black, brown
and green cream which we put on each
other’s faces. We only had fi ve minutes
to perfect our face-painting techniques!
It might have been fun, but back at the
base, it was a nightmare trying to get
the stuff off!
Since it was our last night, we had to
hand back our kit and clean our boots.
We then enjoyed an hour in the barracks
large pool and sauna which was a great
end to the week.
Friday 23rd
The day started as usual at 7am with
scran. We then got our bags outside
and lined up in our three ranks waiting
for the Sergeant to arrive. We were given
certifi cates for fi nishing the course and
said our thanks to the team of Marines.
We then departed for our 10 hour journey
back to Scotland.
To sum the week up, I’d have to say that it
was very challenging and both physically
and mentally demanding. Despite the pain
and bruises, I have to say that I enjoyed
every minute of it and it is an experience
that I will remember forever. It was great
sharing the experience with people of the
same age that I hardly knew, but we all
shared a lot of laughs as if we knew each
other well. By doing the course I know that
the Marines is not the career choice for
me, but I can now look back and say that
I tried it!
This incredible opportunity was provided
at very little cost thanks to support
from the Royal Marines. Plans are being
drawn up about similar work with the
Royal Marines for later this year.
Apr 2013 The Boys’ Brigade Gazette 59