Week 4

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks. As I'm sure you can appreciate, it's been fairly hectic and so I really haven't had much of a chance to get on the net and post on here.

I won't go into every tiny detail, as I'll be here for ever. Week 3 mainly consisted of 3 things. Number one was weapons training, everything from drills, to stripping and cleaning and all sorts of other bits and pieces. That was all in preparation for our weapons handling test that happened on Monday morning of this week just gone. PT was another big thing, preparing a Gym display for a families open day last Friday and then finally preparation for a Drill demonstration for the same reason. There was a fair bit to learn, in a fairly short space of time, so the pressure was beginning to build a little. We coped well as a troop though, and the families day itself was a great success.

This past week has been slightly more challenging. With the first 3 weeks over and done with, as well as our a family day out of the way, the pressure has been turned up just that little bit. We started week 4 with a long day of weapons handling tests followed by an afternoon of Navigation Training. We hadn't had rounds that morning, and unfortunately a few members of the troop dropped the ball a little as regards to how they left their rooms during the day. Well, of course, that was the day our wonderful DL (Drill Leader) decided to spot check the Grots (Rooms). He wasn't a happy bunny. 1845 saw us all formed up outside, immaculately ironed CS95 rig (our normal day to day uniform)., then was half an hour of quick changes. 5 minutes to change into Half Lovats, another 5 minutes into PT Rig, then Smart Civilian and a few others as well. Its all fun and games, especially when you have to climb 3 flights of stairs to get to your room. Then we had an hour to totally blitz the whole floor ready for full inspection before finally being able to carry on with our own admin! It was a long evening!

Tuesday saw more navigation training as well as a pretty vigorous PT session, with piggy backs, wheelbarrow carries, squat runs and of course the usual dose of press-ups, burpees and sit-ups.

Wednesday then saw our 2nd trip into the field on exercise. 3 days and 2 nights of various bits and pieces of field training, including full field kit musters, always fun at 0530 in the morning! I can't really go into too much detail as regards to what exactly we did, for obvious reasons, but just take my word for it, it was hard work! Lets just say, we spent a fair bit of time getting to know a certain valley, about 40 ft down with a pretty steep drop! Anyway, we're certain learning more and more all the time, certain things came a lot more naturally this time, but of course, it was about time to throw in a little more, so you think you have a routine sorted when they add in another half an hours work! That plus the 45 minutes you're expected to take cleaning your rifle! Oh well, all fun and games. We'll get it some day.

This week coming up holds 5 days at the ranges, shooting etc. Not sure exactly what we'll be covering, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to qualify for a Marksman award, we'll see how steady the old arm is!

That's me for now, we'll post again soon.

Nathan