Mar 04 - RG Soldiers in Kenyan Battle Group Exercise
This week saw the return of eight Gibraltar Regiment soldiers from a six-week training exercise in Kenya. Askari Storm is a major British Army combined arms battlefield training exercise, which has around 600 British military troops taking part.
This was the RG’s first time assisting with the exercise. With many of the soldiers deployed relatively new to the military, the training is vital in giving them experience for future deployments. Lance Corporal Celecia of the RG insisted that the Regiment soldiers were more acclimatised to the heat than those who came directly from the UK.
Exercise Askari Storm is broken down into three phases, phase one focused on basic skills and drills and included a live fire arms package. This phase was also an opportunity to acclimatize to the intense Kenyan heat, which had temperatures soaring up to 50 degrees in the trenches.
Phase two, allowed the troops to test their skills and ensure they were fully prepared for the final test phase of the exercise. The troops were sent out on a six day exercise which included vehicle convoy operations and both defensive and attack postures. The final phase of the exercise, was a culmination of the training and by far the most difficult not least because it was the final test phase. Section Commander Acting Corporal Nicholls said, ‘we knew we were getting tested so the pressure was much more intense, we were being tested as part of the Royal Anglian’s so we didn’t want to mess anything up and let them down.’
