Soldiers from 3 Company, 3rd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment deployed to Exercise TERTIUS COLDSTART
3 Company, 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment were requested to support a 3rd Military Intelligence Battalion OBUA weekend, focused on developing the basic key skills required of infantry soldiers operating in urban and surrounding areas, with a total of 50 Reservists deploying to Longmoor Training Area in Hampshire.
This consisted of OBUA and BCS tuition and scenarios, patrol orders delivery, OBUA patrol with CASCON scenario, and night and daytime OBUA section attack lanes OBUA and BCS lessons were delivered throughout the Saturday morning. OBUA patrol and CASCON were then conducted on Saturday afternoon, leading into OBUA Section Attack lanes on Saturday night.
Further OBUA attack lanes were conducted on Sunday morning.
OBUA and BCS are core skills for infantry soldiers operating in the modern battlefield. All infantry Soldiers must be able to operate effectively within the urban environment and appropriately escalate between a range of lethal and non-lethal scenarios. It is also critical to develop experience working with different cap badges, in order to promote force integration across multiple roles.
The TERTIUS COLDSTART weekend started with Cpl Rolph from 3 Coy and 3MI colleagues delivering key refreshers around the Battle Craft Syllabus and Section Attacks, with troops revising their section battle drills and fire control orders. This revised knowledge was then put to the test within section attack lanes, with the added complexity of navigating a scenario which included a wooded crossroads, a Forward Operating Base, and an abandoned enemy Tank. Upon launching an aggressive and successful assault, the sections were then presented with a realistic casualty situation overseen by Combat Medical Technician, Pte Lawson.
The sections then rotated into the urban phase, conducting training in room clearance within Longmoor’s OBUA training area. This included individual, pairs and fireteam level tactics, with a selection of drills to improve movement and communication. Following the teaching phase of the weekend, sections then engaged in a non-kinetic clearance patrol of key buildings, encountering a volatile and unpredictable local civilian group intent on protesting and disrupting their movements. This tested the troops abilities to maintain a calm focus under pressure, while deploying appropriate responses to the varied verbal and progressively physical dangers being presented.
This built to sections being ambushed in the urban village before taking the fight to the enemy hidden still in the urban space; successfully assaulting and holding key locations against a resourceful OPFOR. After a tense night spent within the FOB under threat of enemy fires, the exercise consolidated the following morning with varied OBUA section attack lanes, providing troops with an opportunity to evidence a renewed effectiveness when operating within urban areas.
