It's not for no reason that the Cambrian Patrol has got
I think a hard earned reputation
for being the toughest single international
patrol competition in the world.
The hard part is putting your hand up and deciding
that you are up for a challenge.
We know it's gonna be hard.
So everybody has said that this is one of the hardest,
hardest things we'll do in our Army career.
It's gonna be hard but I think, I think we're ready.
The Cambrian Patrol has been run for over
sixty years now, incredibly
and it is I think without doubt recognised
as the toughest patrolling exercise in the world.
The first stand was the battlefield casualty drills stand
and we were told that the local forces
was clearing a minefield.
As we were waiting an explosion went off.
So the vehicle then crashed into the minefield.
So we went forward to see if we could assess the
situation and we found that there had been five
people injured by the explosion
and the vehicle had been blown up.
From there we then had to cross a minefield
to then get to casualties to make sure they were okay.
And then gave life saving first-aid to those casualties
before we continued on our patrol.
So when we rocked up to the CBRN stand
it was an urban sort of environment.
So we were told that there had been an explosion
at a hospital in the town of Talgarth.
The information suggested that there was
sulphur poisoning and two civilians had previously
been killed from, from that poisoning.
When we arrived we were told that three hours ago
there had been a bombardment where two
local soldiers had been affected
and they'd had blister agents in their face.
We then had to go clear and find and detect any
dangerous gases, chemicals, anything like that.
So we were able to close off the route and mark it as
a chemical area so that no
other people walked into it by mistake.
We were told to move to Cilieni Village and
when we got there we found that the local forces were
under fire from some armoured vehicles
on the other side of the hill.
We were then told that indirect fire
was a constant thing that was happening.
So we were asked to move into
an OP (Observation Post) and
provide some observation.
We then went inside one of the hard standing buildings
and then had to do artillery target indication
to call in artillery to destroy
the armoured vehicle threat.
The river crossing took my life.
I knew it was gonna be bad but still it surprised me
how awful it was getting into cold water
just as it starts to go dark isn't the funnest thing
however, it's an experience I won't forget.
We practiced quite a lot for the river crossing
doing it tactically and talking about
the ways it could be done.
The water was quite cold.
First of all, basic soldiering, make sure that
all of our kit was waterproofed before we went there.
We were able to put the bergans into bivvi bags
which kept them even dryer
than they would have been otherwise.
Tie it off tight,
make sure there's a lanyard coming out of it
to then go to a secure line
so it didn't drift away if there was a current
or anything like that.
From there we continued on the patrol.
So for the section attack we were met by an agent
who led us to an OP
and we were told that they'd observed enemy
in the area building up a patrol base.
We planned a deliberate attack onto that position.
The section commander then split up his section
how he saw fit and from there once the fire support
was down, Charlie section then moved around
to then destroy the enemy.
We were then subsequently contacted by the enemy
within the building. When we returned fire
he said he wanted to surrender
so we took him as a CPERS (Captured Persons).
At the end we were IDF'd (Indirect Fire)
so we quickly moved off the position
to an ERV (Emergency Rendezvous).
The patrol overall was an experience,
one I won't forget,
definitely tough, definitely challenging,
I'd recommend anyone to at least give it a go once.
I think when my guys look back
and when I look back we'll be
pleased that we did it.
It's quite hard so during it you
are in pain but after the event it's quite good.
It was really hard.
The terrain was really rough
and with this heavy weight on our back
it was a new experience for our team
and such an area, such a long distance,
was yeah, quite really hard.
FOXTROT 20 BRAVO are awarded...
...Gold Medal!
It is a tough, hard test.
Really it all takes place in the mind,
but I hope the experience of coming together,
putting the teams together,
training and then getting this under your belt
is both professionally and personally very rewarding
and I hope hugely satisfying
and I'm immensely impressed, well done
and you should be extremely proud of yourselves.