CCF Military Skills Competition, Garelochead 2009

 

Traditionally, the Military Skills competition is an extremely arduous and challenging weekend. Three days and two nights of heavy rucksacks, long marches, eating out of ration packs, and sleeping out in the field can be enough to get anyone down. When you add onto that horrible weather conditions, you’d expect the whole experience to be a thoroughly miserable one. However, ask any member of the 2009 Mil Skills team and they would tell you completely the opposite, and would instead talk about how great a time we all had at the Garelochead training area this year.

 

 

CCFs from all across Scotland sent teams of 10 to compete in what is easily one of the most prestigious events in the CCF calendar. The competition was held over three days and two nights, during which time we lived as soldiers would: having our meals out of ration packs and spending the nights in bashas (improvised shelters made up of two waterproof sheets, pegs, string, and bungees). During the day we competed in a number of different stands that assessed different military skills. Each stand was individually scored and then all these were totalled up for each team, resulting in a single overall score which was used to determine the winner.

 

To say that the weather was awful would be an understatement. Our brave team faced rain, hail, and gale-force winds for much of the weekend, yet we somehow managed to keep our morale high throughout, despite the adverse conditions. The weather was bad from the outset – when we arrived late on Friday evening a light rain was falling, it was bitterly cold, and was rapidly getting dark. As soon as we got off the minibus with our rucksacks we hurried into a sparse wood which would serve as our patrol harbour for the following days, basically our campsite. In the fading light we set up our bashas with our partners, got into our sleeping bags, and quickly fell asleep.

 

 

It rained for much of the night, and when we awoke our bashas were soaking wet. Getting up out of your warm sleeping bag into the freezing cold and wet takes a lot of self motivation, and I feel is one of the hardest things about the competition. Wrapped up in as many layers as possible, we worked in pairs to get all our admin sorted out. One person worked to put the basha down while the other prepared a hot brew. Everyone was ready to set out within the hour, so after a quick litter sweep of our patrol harbour we set off in the minibus to the first of our stands.

 

The stands tested a very wide variety of military skills, ranging from fire control orders to section attacks, from zeroing rifles and a scored shoot to a short multiple choice test. The different stands were arranged on either side of a long winding path circuit, and we were required to tactically patrol between them. As we plodded along the path in staggered file, the wind was unbelievably strong and several of us had to run after combat hats as they blew away. Stinging bullets of rain pelted our faces as we walked along, one hand on our rifles and the other on our hats. The path seemed to go on forever and even when we got to the stands there was little shelter from the weather. At the shooting stand it was raining so hard I could barely see my foresight, and my rear sight was clogged with droplets of water as well. Needless to say this made getting a small grouping pretty difficult, and made accurately zeroing the rifles based on these groupings next to impossible, but we tried our best and got some surprisingly good results.

 

 

My favourite was the section attacks stand. Observed by the stand staff, we patrolled across some open ground next to the path in an arrowhead formation. Although for the duration of this stand it wasn’t raining, the undergrowth was extremely thick and made it very hard going. Long, wet grass stuck to our boots and weighed us down with every step we took, and I remember looking down several times to check that I was still moving forward through what felt like treacle. Suddenly a trip flare went off, a smoke grenade was tossed over our heads, the “enemy” started firing blank rounds, and all hell broke loose. Unable to see clearly what was going on, we hurried to perform the contact drills that had been instilled in us from years of Friday evening training sessions. After a few seconds of frantic zigzagging, we dropped to the ground and returned fire. According to standard section attack drills, you’re meant to lay down enough fire to suppress the enemy, then proceed with a left or right flank and come in for the attack. However, our IC impressed the stand staff by ordering a full frontal assault due to the lack of cover on either side. This meant our attack was quick and decisive since we didn’t waste time struggling with a longer route through the thick undergrowth. Afterwards we were told that we were the only group to take the initiative and go for a direct attack, lifting our spirits greatly as we continued to the rest of the stands.

 

At the end of the day, our battered and exhausted team arrived back at the patrol harbour to find it completely empty apart from ourselves. At the start of the day there had been half a dozen CCFs using the same wood as a patrol harbour, but now we were the only ones there. We didn’t think on this too much and carried out our routine harbour drills, albeit with a bit more liveliness now that we knew the worst of the competition was over. However, after two hours of being the only people around, we began to get curious as to where the other teams had gone. It was only with Mr Stewart’s arrival that we found out that all the other teams had been defeated by the weather and had retired to the billeted accommodation close by. We were then given the choice to either stay out in the wood and fully complete this third stage of the competition, or move to the warmth and comfort of the accommodation facilities. I’m proud to say the decision was unanimous; Dollar would stay true to their aims and spend the night in the wood.

 

 

Sunday was fittingly sunny. We awoke in high spirits, all ready to complete the final test – the obstacle course. Upon arriving at the Garelochead camp we took five minutes to have a group huddle and psych ourselves up for the challenge ahead. Dollar was one of the first groups to be called for the official warm up. We ran up and down the area around the obstacles in a very extensive and exhausting warm up routine, stretching off all parts of our bodies in preparation for the obstacles themselves. Everyone was looking forward to a brief period to catch their breath again before having to tackle the course, but to our dismay we were told we had 30 seconds from the time our warm up finished to be ready at the first obstacle with safety helmets on. After the briefest of team huddles, we each grabbed a helmet, tightened the straps, and stood facing the 6 foot wall.

 

The next ten minutes are hard to remember. As soon as the staff member shouted go, we floated on adrenaline up, over, under, and across the obstacles. The activity requires a lot of teamwork and planning, despite its appearance of being a simple scramble to finish. The 6 foot wall was easy enough, but we knew that most of our team members would struggle to get over the 8 foot wall by themselves, so we used a paired boost strategy to get everyone over. The two strongest lads led the team into the course, and when they got to the 8 foot wall they would kneel facing away from the wall, resting their backs against it. As each subsequent pair approached the obstacle, they would use the two people already there as a boost to get up and over. Once the entire team had crossed, one of the boosters would help the other onto the top of the wall, where he would lie and dangle his arms down to aid his partner over as well. This way the entire team got past the obstacle quickly and we didn’t lose any momentum.

 

Overall the competition experience was an excellent one, and I really think the way our team gelled together and how we supported each other was a big factor in surviving the weekend. We convincingly took second place, losing out to the winners, Edinburgh Academy, by only 3 points. The appalling conditions were character building, and I look forward to a hopeful Dollar victory next year!

 

Arsalan Cheema (Form VI)