bobdina
03-30-2010, 01:36 PM
29 Mar 10
Nearly a thousand Airborne troops have been training in Kenya in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan later this year.
A solider from B Company 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment gives fire support during the final attack
A solider from B Company 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment gives fire support during the final attack
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
Those troops involved in the training are from Colchester-based 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment Battle Group and include the 600 or so soldiers from 3 PARA itself as well as the medics, logisticians, engineers and artillery experts who support them.
The exercise ran from the end of January until the beginning of March and was centred around the Kenyan province of Laikipia, north of the capital Nairobi, and up as far as Archer's Post.
The exercise gave troops the opportunity to experience soldiering in an atmosphere very different from that in the UK with hot, dry, dusty and arid conditions and temperatures often well above 40 degrees C.
See more pictures from the exercise in the gallery at the right of this page.
The exercise began with individual role specific training culminating in a Battle Group-size exercise.
The final week-long element, simulated a scenario of villages with local Kenyan people employed to act and live in the villages, assuming the roles of local people, insurgents and aid workers with tribal and ethnic and religious tensions and finished with a large attack on a village of insurgents, played by Kenyans and British soldiers.
A solider from A Company 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment gives orders during the final attack
A solider from A Company 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment gives orders during the final attack
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
There was also a simulation of the vital re-supply of troops at distant bases.
Troops from 13 Air Assault Support Regiment spent three days driving thousands of kilometres to deliver water, food and fuel in a convoy of thirty vehicles across the arid landscape.
Leading the Battle Group was Lieutenant Colonel Huw Williams, Commanding Officer of 3 PARA, who said:
"Kenya provides unique and valuable training in a demanding and arduous climate and terrain, with the advantage of it being enjoyable as well.
"It takes soldiers to Africa for a bit of adventure, many of whom are young lads who may never have been out of the country. In some ways it's payback for what we ask them to do in places like Afghanistan."
One of the chief advantages of training in Kenya is that it presents different and authentic challenges to training in the UK:
"This is not Salisbury Plain where soldiers are never far from a village or shop. Out there it's pretty real," said Lt Col Williams.
A convoy from 13 Regiment carries out an arduous three-day Combat Logistic patrol
A convoy from 13 Air Assault Support Regiment carries out an arduous three-day Combat Logistic patrol through some of the toughest terrain in Kenya
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
"Soldiers are out there on their own in the wild, often surrounded by wild animals. The conditions put a reality on it that you can't simulate in the UK. It's the austere conditions and climate, the terrain and heat, and the sheer scale, the distance you cover and the area available. Soldiers can be put in an area where if you don't get the sufficient water or food to troops they are going to die.
"In the past we have had soldiers attacked by animals but we had no incidents this time; we had a couple of heat casualties, because in Archer's Post temperatures can get up over 40 degrees C. If you are running around with kit and you don't take in sufficient water you'll go down. So it's all good experience of survival and learning what a soldier needs to do to look after himself."
Lieutenant Colonel Rex Sartain, the Commander of Defence Training Estate (DTE) British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) added:
"3 PARA Battle Group's five weeks in the field is typical of the training regime in Kenya and undoubtedly provides some of the best training available to any Light Infantry role Battle group anywhere in the world.
"BATUK/DTE aims to provide 'outstanding training opportunities' in a hot, dusty and high environment with all the challenges of being austere and expeditionary.
"Training is in an African context but develops all the core skills essential to current complex operations: everything from use of an interpreter to understanding the importance of influence as a key tool. This is "hybrid" training at its best."
This was 3 PARA Battle Groups final overseas generic training before it begins its training specific to Afghanistan where the troops will start deploying to in September.
Lt Col Williams added:
"As paratroopers and part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, we've got to be ready to operate anywhere in the world, however, clearly the current focus is Afghanistan.
Troops from 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment Battle Group on Exercise Grand Prix 5 in Kenya
Troops from 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment Battle Group on exercise in Kenya
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
"We spent a lot of time on the culture and using African interpreters as this is a key part of Afghanistan and is a skill that needs developing.
"For the young guys it is understanding that they can go anywhere, and having the awareness that culture is critical to how we operate. We don't mean to offend but sometimes we can."
The troops undertaking the exercise in Kenya included soldiers from HQ 16 Air Assault Brigade, 216 (Parachute) Signal Squadron, 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, 13 Air Assault Support Regiment Royal Logistic Corps and 16 Medical Regiment, all based in Colchester.
There were also engineers from 23 Engineer Regiment (Air Assault) based at Woodbridge, Suffolk, and 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) based in Wimbish, Essex.
Nearly a thousand Airborne troops have been training in Kenya in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan later this year.
A solider from B Company 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment gives fire support during the final attack
A solider from B Company 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment gives fire support during the final attack
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
Those troops involved in the training are from Colchester-based 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment Battle Group and include the 600 or so soldiers from 3 PARA itself as well as the medics, logisticians, engineers and artillery experts who support them.
The exercise ran from the end of January until the beginning of March and was centred around the Kenyan province of Laikipia, north of the capital Nairobi, and up as far as Archer's Post.
The exercise gave troops the opportunity to experience soldiering in an atmosphere very different from that in the UK with hot, dry, dusty and arid conditions and temperatures often well above 40 degrees C.
See more pictures from the exercise in the gallery at the right of this page.
The exercise began with individual role specific training culminating in a Battle Group-size exercise.
The final week-long element, simulated a scenario of villages with local Kenyan people employed to act and live in the villages, assuming the roles of local people, insurgents and aid workers with tribal and ethnic and religious tensions and finished with a large attack on a village of insurgents, played by Kenyans and British soldiers.
A solider from A Company 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment gives orders during the final attack
A solider from A Company 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment gives orders during the final attack
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
There was also a simulation of the vital re-supply of troops at distant bases.
Troops from 13 Air Assault Support Regiment spent three days driving thousands of kilometres to deliver water, food and fuel in a convoy of thirty vehicles across the arid landscape.
Leading the Battle Group was Lieutenant Colonel Huw Williams, Commanding Officer of 3 PARA, who said:
"Kenya provides unique and valuable training in a demanding and arduous climate and terrain, with the advantage of it being enjoyable as well.
"It takes soldiers to Africa for a bit of adventure, many of whom are young lads who may never have been out of the country. In some ways it's payback for what we ask them to do in places like Afghanistan."
One of the chief advantages of training in Kenya is that it presents different and authentic challenges to training in the UK:
"This is not Salisbury Plain where soldiers are never far from a village or shop. Out there it's pretty real," said Lt Col Williams.
A convoy from 13 Regiment carries out an arduous three-day Combat Logistic patrol
A convoy from 13 Air Assault Support Regiment carries out an arduous three-day Combat Logistic patrol through some of the toughest terrain in Kenya
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
"Soldiers are out there on their own in the wild, often surrounded by wild animals. The conditions put a reality on it that you can't simulate in the UK. It's the austere conditions and climate, the terrain and heat, and the sheer scale, the distance you cover and the area available. Soldiers can be put in an area where if you don't get the sufficient water or food to troops they are going to die.
"In the past we have had soldiers attacked by animals but we had no incidents this time; we had a couple of heat casualties, because in Archer's Post temperatures can get up over 40 degrees C. If you are running around with kit and you don't take in sufficient water you'll go down. So it's all good experience of survival and learning what a soldier needs to do to look after himself."
Lieutenant Colonel Rex Sartain, the Commander of Defence Training Estate (DTE) British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) added:
"3 PARA Battle Group's five weeks in the field is typical of the training regime in Kenya and undoubtedly provides some of the best training available to any Light Infantry role Battle group anywhere in the world.
"BATUK/DTE aims to provide 'outstanding training opportunities' in a hot, dusty and high environment with all the challenges of being austere and expeditionary.
"Training is in an African context but develops all the core skills essential to current complex operations: everything from use of an interpreter to understanding the importance of influence as a key tool. This is "hybrid" training at its best."
This was 3 PARA Battle Groups final overseas generic training before it begins its training specific to Afghanistan where the troops will start deploying to in September.
Lt Col Williams added:
"As paratroopers and part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, we've got to be ready to operate anywhere in the world, however, clearly the current focus is Afghanistan.
Troops from 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment Battle Group on Exercise Grand Prix 5 in Kenya
Troops from 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment Battle Group on exercise in Kenya
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
"We spent a lot of time on the culture and using African interpreters as this is a key part of Afghanistan and is a skill that needs developing.
"For the young guys it is understanding that they can go anywhere, and having the awareness that culture is critical to how we operate. We don't mean to offend but sometimes we can."
The troops undertaking the exercise in Kenya included soldiers from HQ 16 Air Assault Brigade, 216 (Parachute) Signal Squadron, 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, 13 Air Assault Support Regiment Royal Logistic Corps and 16 Medical Regiment, all based in Colchester.
There were also engineers from 23 Engineer Regiment (Air Assault) based at Woodbridge, Suffolk, and 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) based in Wimbish, Essex.