Gas Gas Gas, Guns Guns Guns.

So that's week two over, and  it has been a flurry of activity, not unpleasant but crazily busy.  The week has been largely focused on next weeks exercise and as such we've been learning lots about defencive operations and planning, writing orders and struggling to get all the bits and bobs we will need prepared.

We've also continued to be bombarded by CBRN stuff, and can now successfully not only put our gear on in an emergency, but eat drink and various other bodily function in our clumsy suits.  This culminated with a trip to the Respirator Testing Facility (Gas Chamber).  Perversely we were all rather disappointed when everyones respirator did indeed work and we carried out all our drills successfully, and no one really came out with anything more severe than a runny nose. It wasn't quite the streaming eyes and dribbling we wanted for the photos!


We've also had a day on the ranges, where fingers crossed my usually inept shooting has taken a turn for the better and i did rather well, which is making me resent my rifle perhaps that little bit less.  Lets see if that lasts the entirety of next week when the deceptively heavy bastard has to be within 1m of me 24 hours a day.  A few good circuit sessions in the gym and a predictably hilarious return to the drill square after a month off and the week has been complete.

We are left now with the simple matter of Exercise First Encounter to deal with.  At least 48 hours of solid digging to start, followed by running engagements with this time Company strength (90+) Gurkhas who are happy to use chemical attacks doesn't exactly sound like fun. Our hope is that the surreal nature of digging a massive hole while having not slept for days on end, all the while dressed like an extra from Alien will keep us going.  Its those times when the fact that as a group we are all i'm sure truly insane, and can be entertained for hours on end by singing crap pop hits, or discussing whether it would be better to have a sausage for a nose or a eyelashes made of charcoal, really makes the difference between imploding in a puddle of self pitying civilian, or standing up and being counted even when every inch of you wants to stop digging take off your body armour, throw your rifle in a puddle and go to the pub.

It will  no doubt be breathtakingly tiring and sore and sweaty, but it is my real hope that it will also at stages be fun, and when we finally sit in our complete trenches the sense of achievement should be great. My gardening gloves are primed and my snickers pouch is full , and my next post here will tell if i survived 'Worst Encounter'.

Inters: New College Begins!

So i'm back! After an all too blissful break over the summer i very much slipped back into my civilian mentality.  The freedoms of getting up whenever i wanted, impromptu drinks with friends and not a chance of marching, were all too easy to get used to.
As such driving through the gates and unloading my gear into my new room in New College was not the best feeling i've had in a while. Reminiscent of the feelings i used to have as a 10 year old returning to boarding school i think truth be told i was home sick, expect now i wasn't worrying about French lessons and whether my new football boots were cool enough, it was that i was about to spend a term digging trenches, being gassed and learning how to kill people with a whole range of new weapons.
However i'm pleased to report those low first few days are now well and truly past on saturday night, and i've remembered that this can indeed be fun, and since its my job its not all that bad at all! So what have we done this week? Well things have been undeniably hectic and sleep has been at a premium.  There has been a big emphasis on CBRN (lots of different shitty ways to die), and so lots of running about in silly big suits which couldn't protect us from a spilled coffee let alone a nuclear blast, and stifling respirators.
We also had what can only be described as a school trip to the Defence College at Shrivenham where we played with all the equipment we will be allowed to use once we leave the time warp that is Sandhurst. This involved 270 Officer Cadets crawling around in and out of tanks, and every other bit of military gubbins you can imagine for a day, happily away from the confies of the Academy.  Just as we started thinking the Army was about impressive technology there to make our lives safer, and certainly easier, we then went on Exercise!
It was only a 24 hour 'shake out' and truth be told i actually had fun, and reacquainting oneself with the stinking, knackered, aching world of exercise was probably the shock to my system that was necessary.  One night time recce patrol, creeping about in bushes searching for Gurkhas, a few lessons and a rapid platoon attack, complete with mock artillery and another lung bursting casualty evacuation and we were done and back to camp.

The week has ended in a fairly relaxed manner, but with the foreboding knowledge that things i feel are about to get a little crazy.  You can only be taught about how to dig trenches and put on gas masks for so long before you inevitably find yourself in a trench being gassed.  Which is far from an ideal place to be when you haven't slept for 48 hours.  Here are a few pictures of our 10 year old inner selves being unleashed on some poor undeserving army toys at Shrivenham. More reports to come soon.