A couple of times a year, I get to join the cadets from Ellesmere College on a tactical exercise. I deliver the weekly training for the Year 11 Advanced Infantry in the Army section, but it really all builds up to the tactical exercises.

Once we arrived on Nesscliffe Training Area on Wednesday morning, and got the preliminary checks and safety briefs out of the way, I sent out 4 separate small patrols to meet up at our intended harbour on the south end of the training area. After a quick lesson and practice of RV procedures, the patrols headed back out to recce a variety of target areas. The senior NCOs cadre was also on the area, and they provided section commanders for us.

Once the patrols were back in, having set up Observation Posts and carried out a Close Target Reconnaissance, it was time for them to construct models of their targets. Orders were then delivered and the patrols made their way to the Troop RV before being lead into position by the host section. We went through this routine several times during the night, slowly getting better. The main weakness that came out of it, was a lack of navigational ability which lost us a lot of time sat in Troop RVs waiting.

On Thursday, we started off with a couple more lessons on Contact Drills, use of the Airborne Stretcher and Stalking. The rest of the morning was spent on a stalking exercise which proved to be a valuable process for everyone, highlighting the techniques involved in Camouflage and Concealment.

The afternoon saw recce patrols going back out, to improve on the skills used the afternoon before, with more models and orders being delivered in the evening. Keeping the learning curve there, we started to introduce Rules of Engagement. This went quite well to start with, but as soon as one person had a twitchy trigger finger, everything exploded into life with ‘surrenderd’ enemy being ‘shot’ as well as those causing a threat. Perhaps not ideal, but a valuable learning experience and a reminder of how difficult it must be when doing this for real.

Friday morning saw all the Ellesmere College Army cadets coming together to form a platoon of 3 full strength sections. With me shadowing and trying to give useful advice, one of the senior NCOs took on the role of Platoon Commander, co-ordinating the 3 sections as we moved up the training area. The first contact was a deliberate attack, with everyone having received a set of orders in advance. Interestingly, this was probably the most disorganised and slow attack of the 3 we did. With the plan not fully communicated, radios being intermittent and a reluctance to use runners, everyone sat their waiting for someone else to take the initiative.

The second attack was harder, given a lack of preplanning, but there was a desire to avoid the stalling of the first one. If anything, this one was too fast, with the assaulting section going forward before their fire support was in place. However, it was good to see a bit more get up and go.

The final attack went even better, with the 3 sections all involved and working together. Initiative needed to be shown by everyone to adapt to the developing situation, but they did so with intelligence and put together a convincing display. I was certainly good to see things improving with each attack.