Haggis
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 3,094
- Points
- 1,140
Personally I enjoyed just being away from NDHQ for 10 days.
I think the soldiers generally found it to be a good ex. Our FOB was well laid out and contributed to the effectiveness of the training. The OPFOR (of which my son was a member against 32 CBG) was well briefed and used.
Being able to observe the training from a "detached" perspective and having feedback from my OPFOR kin, I noted that the learning curve was rather steep for anyone without recent operational experience. Some examples:
1. Presence patrols often made efforts to avoid being detected (i.e. diving into the ditch when vehicles approached, not using white light etc.) as junior leaders still equated patrolling with stealth.
2. Soldiers need to shake the impression that if you're not "one of us", you're enemy. Not everyone is a bad guy. Many people were shot who didn't need to be.
3. Some leaders have difficulty integrating the all-arms team as well as entities like CivPol.
4. Comms sucked. Need more freqs and many, many more radios. PRRs should be used on training like this as a supplement to TCCCS.
5. The "Hot wash" was three hours of my life that I will never see again.
6. No TTPs or SOP existed for Force Protection (camp security). My TF Sgts-Maj got together at the outset and wrote them on the fly, adding to and amending them after each evolution.
7. Our TF sought out those with "real-world" experience to offer advice within the sub-units. Not all sub-units were so blessed, but the experience was shared nonetheless.
West Isle is a beautiful country. I look forward to helping the citizens prosper again next year.
I think the soldiers generally found it to be a good ex. Our FOB was well laid out and contributed to the effectiveness of the training. The OPFOR (of which my son was a member against 32 CBG) was well briefed and used.
Being able to observe the training from a "detached" perspective and having feedback from my OPFOR kin, I noted that the learning curve was rather steep for anyone without recent operational experience. Some examples:
1. Presence patrols often made efforts to avoid being detected (i.e. diving into the ditch when vehicles approached, not using white light etc.) as junior leaders still equated patrolling with stealth.
2. Soldiers need to shake the impression that if you're not "one of us", you're enemy. Not everyone is a bad guy. Many people were shot who didn't need to be.
3. Some leaders have difficulty integrating the all-arms team as well as entities like CivPol.
4. Comms sucked. Need more freqs and many, many more radios. PRRs should be used on training like this as a supplement to TCCCS.
5. The "Hot wash" was three hours of my life that I will never see again.
6. No TTPs or SOP existed for Force Protection (camp security). My TF Sgts-Maj got together at the outset and wrote them on the fly, adding to and amending them after each evolution.
7. Our TF sought out those with "real-world" experience to offer advice within the sub-units. Not all sub-units were so blessed, but the experience was shared nonetheless.
West Isle is a beautiful country. I look forward to helping the citizens prosper again next year.