WEEK 5 (Jun 6–12) – Stand to!

We started Battle Camp on Monday. Battle camp is an exercise in which we get taught fieldcraft skills and also learn how to engage in combat if attacked. All we take with us is a bergen (a large backpack) stuffed with everything we will need for the exercise: sleeping gear, spare boots, all the clothing we will need, and other bits of equipment.  

On Monday, we started by learning some things like how to camouflage and hand signals. They told us briefly how to apply camouflage cream and put leaves and foliage in our helmets and webbing to blend in to the environment. They gave us 5 minutes to get that all done so I got a fingertip full of green cam cream and smeared it over my face. Immediately I knew I’d made a mistake as it spreads quite a lot and is very thick so as I spread it across my face it became solid green and shiny, so I frantically tried removing it with leaves around me but unfortunately that left bits of leaves all over my face as well without really removing it. And before I knew it, we were told to form up in ranks again. I tried keeping my face averted so as not to be noticed by the corporal but he started pointing at recruits, picking them out to come stand out in front of everyone. He looked straight at me and said “What the **** have you done?” and told me to come out front. We were all stood in a line and one by one he pointed to each of us and had everyone else say what we’d done wrong. I caught the eye of Williams in my section who has the bed across from me in the block, he was cracking up and I was trying my best not to laugh in front of everyone. The corporal asked me if I was trying to look like Shrek and everyone gawked at me and laughed. It was quite funny and I was laughing as much as everyone else. 

On that first day, we learned some other things like how to do different types of movement, like monkey walking it’s called, which is moving on your knees, and also the leopard crawl (which is what everyone else calls an army crawl). Then they had us do all these movements racing up a hill as quickly as we could. It was so tiring. And of course all the while they were calling us lizards and telling us to go faster. “STOP BEING LAZY! HURRY UP!!” All this while we’re all red in the face, pouring sweat, gasping for breath and overheating in the body armour we have to wear, plus carrying the webbing and rifle which is probably another 20-30 lbs altogether. I don’t know if that qualifies as being lazy. 

We also learned some firing drills. We all had our personal rifles and were supposed to have them within arms reach at all times if we didn’t have them slung on our shoulders. We learned close quarter battle drills, firing at targets 15 m or less. Then we learned drills firing at targets further away while we were patrolling across open ground. Upon command, we had to fire back at the targets, take cover on the ground in the prone position, and then take aimed shots at the targets set up. Then periodically on the command “Move!” we got up and ran for a few seconds in a zigzag and got down again, advancing incrementally towards the target. It was quite fun, getting to fire the rifles with blank rounds, which don’t have projectiles coming out, they just make a loud noise to simulate a normal round. 

We also had a camouflage exercise at dusk. We had to cover our helmets with ferns and leaves and make our way up the hill without being caught by the corporals. We had to move very slowly and crouch down amongst the plants and freeze if they passed their torches over us. There were a few times that the light landed on me and I froze completely still until the light left. But I still got caught a few times and had to start again at the bottom. It’s difficult because not only do you have to turn invisible but you also can’t make any sound otherwise they will know where to look! We also had a navigation exercise which I really liked, it was like a scavenger hunt. We had to use a map and compass to navigate to the coordinates we were given and look for the markers placed there. My team finished first and found all 5 markers, we all quite enjoyed it. 

Part of being in the field is having to do things like night stag. From dusk until dawn there always has to be two people manning the night sentry position (and one person during the day at the day sentry position). The shifts are staggered (hence why it’s called “stag”) so each person does an hour but you only spend half an hour with each person. I was surprised that I was able to bolt awake as soon as I was nudged by the person who I was taking over from, despite being exhausted. However, having only about 3 hours of sleep a night really takes its toll during the day. It’s quite difficult to stay awake any time you are sat down. I even started falling asleep standing up one time. 

We also have to do a morning routine in the field in our shell scrapes (holes dug into the ground where we sleep in pairs). It includes cleaning our weapon, polishing boots, powdering our feet, washing ourselves under our clothes with a cloth, brushing our teeth, washing all the cam cream off our face, shaving, brushing our teeth, filling our water bottles, and eating our breakfast rations… all in less than an hour to an hour and a half. It’s hard. I managed to do most of it but was never perfect on everything—there was always something I lacked. Consistently falling short on your morning routine is grounds to be back trooped (held back and transferred to a troop behind you in training). I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it eventually but there is always a question as to whether I will manage to complete everything that morning. 

On the final evening, we were instructed on how to react to an enemy attack on the harbour area. Them showing us this was pretty much telling us that we were going to be attacked during the night. Even more apparent because they told us to go to sleep at 8:30 (that never happens). So we had time to get everything sorted and get into our doss bags to go to sleep, and as we were just falling to sleep, probably around 9 or 9:30, we heard the first shots go off. And then the shout by the sentries: “STAND TO!!” 

On that command, both people in the pair have to get on their webbing and body armour as quickly as possible, then one person packs all their kit away into the bergen while the other scopes out any potential threats and starts firing if necessary. Once the first is done (it’s supposed to take 2 minutes at the most), both switch so that the second person can also get their kit away, in case we have to bug out if the enemy starts to overwhelm the position or we run low on ammunition. Stephenson (my battle buddy) and I got our kit away pretty fast and were on the ready and then were given orders by our section commander to fire on the enemy if sighted. All we saw was someone wearing a red t-shirt bolting through the trees so we started firing our blanks at them. Then they would disappear for a few minutes. During the ambush, I saw someone in the corner of my eye standing up in a shell scrape a few down from ours, so I turned to them and motioned downwards yelling “GET DOWN!” Then Stephenson pointed out to me that it was Cpl Naismith, our section commander. I was embarrassed for ordering around a corporal so I squeaked out a “Sorry Corporal!” before turning back to the fight. It was funny. I mentioned that to Cpl Naismith the next day, saying I thought it was someone else otherwise I wouldn’t have said it, but she said it the right thing to do in that situation and ordinarily she would have been staying low if she hadn't been instructing the troops. 

On the last day we filled in our shell scrapes, packed everything away, and then had to do a tab (walking/running while carrying a heavy bergen). We did 4 km and some were really hanging out from it and couldn’t keep up—it was quite strenuous. And then we had to walk back to the camp at Pirbright, probably another 2 miles away. Overall, it was a good experience but the most difficult part about it is the physical and mental exhaustion that sets in from constantly being on the move and being sleep deprived (even more than normal). It’s a temporary condition but it doesn’t make it much easier. The result of the exercise has been now, every time I fall asleep since getting back from exercise, I have dreams that we are in the field being given orders from the corporals, yet I am often missing something like a helmet or I don’t know what signal to look for. One night I sprung up in bed multiple times throughout the night and was looking around at all the others in the room, waiting for their signal, but they were all asleep. Another time, I dreamt we were in a ditch and while I was half asleep I managed to get into the prone position on my bed and was looking for my helmet, while also awaiting orders from the corporal. My muckers in the section found that funny. Hopefully, it isn't a permanent condition, not being able to sleep soundly and feeling like I’ll be woken up and finding myself unprepared. It’ll pass I'm sure but I thought that was a bizarre side effect of going through the experience of being in the field. Field exercises like this are the crux of being a soldier—everything else in training leads up to being able to hold a position in the field and fend off enemy threats, and then attack when necessary. There will be more of that to come in the future.