An Cosantóir

12 I am Cpl Sarah Nolan and I'm based in CIS GP in the DFTC. I have a background in Aerial Rigging, so have always loved working at heights. When I applied for the 21st CTI course, I had a fair idea of what to expect and this course lived up to those expectations and beyond. Week one began on a Sunday evening in Renmore Barracks where we had to pass as- sessments to continue on the course. This consisted of tying various essential knots and rope handling skills. Once we passed, the week was spent on the crag in Ballyryan, Co.Clare. It was a very physical week, learning climbing techniques, routes, relaying on your equipment and most importantly, the correct placement of gear. This was vital for me as I earned the title of 'First Whipper' on the course and got to test the strength of my gear placement firsthand. We started off on lower grade routes and by the end of the week we had progressed onto higher grades. Each day was an early start and late finish, but we didn't even notice the time go by. Week two was spent in Dalkey Quarry. The rocks here were completely different from the Burren and we had to learn the different areas quickly, as it was assessment week. This part of the course focused on system set-up, recovery tech- niques and assist techniques. Most of our days were spent repeating the techniques until we were confident in our ability to do them. It is es- sential for a CTI to know these extremely well as they will be used at some stage in your career as a CTI and it is vital to keep standards high as a CTI. With the help of instructors, other stu- dents and some of the bollards dotted around McKee barracks, we were able to learn and understand them and pass our assessments. For our final week we moved onto 'Heavy Ropes'. Here we learned how to construct the various obstacles we have all seen through- out our careers, such as the Ratslide, Monkey Bridge, Commando Bridge and Berma Bridge. We took the knowledge of our knot tying from the previous two weeks and implemented it here, the only difference being, the ropes were larger. This was the most physically demanding week. Each day consisted of organising, mov- ing and setting up the obstacles. Every time an obstacle was set, we would then assess it and test it ourselves. This allowed the students to see their work being tested and to come up with ways to improve each obstacle. Overall, the CTI course is the best course I have done in my army career. This, in my opinion is down to the content of the course and the THE 21ST CONFIDENCE TR AINING INSTRUCTORS (CTI) COURSE THE 21ST CONFIDENCE TRAINING INSTRUCTORS (CTI) COURSE By Cpl Sarah Nolan, Sub-Lieutenant John Smithers, Capt Tim Quinlan, Lt Colm Layton Photos By Mark Pollock Students conducting Rock Climbing

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