An Cosantóir

10 | An Cosantóir July / August 2025 www.military.ie/magazine VICTORY AT ARDUOUS SERPENT E xercise Arduous Serpent 2025 is the British Army's Annual Medical Services Tactical Training Exercise (AMSTTE). It is a competition-based exercise involving the evaluation of both military and medical skills, taking place at different locations each year. This year, it was based in Otterburn Training Area, Northumberland, in the northeast of England. It is a large training area comprising approx. 242 square kilometres. It is the British Armies largest firing range and used frequently by all arms of the British Army and the terrain is very similar to our own Kilworth training area. The exercise took place from the 03rd to the 08th of June 2025. Teams from CMU representing the Defence Forces have entered the event each year since 2012 and the team have always excelled finishing strong in second and third place multiple times and placing first last year for the first time. The aim of the exercise is to provide a competitive environment to test the teams and team members in leadership, command and control and the military and medical skills required to succeed in the current, contingent and future operational environments with an emphasis on endurance. The exercise theme was based around peer on peer warfare, similar to what is currently being experienced in Ukraine. The experience of CMU medics who have been involved in training Ukrainian medics as part of the training missions in Germany, as part of EUMAM (Ukraine) over the past year proved pivotal in tailoring the training for the event. This year's competition comprised 11 teams drawn from both the regular & reserve medical units of the UK Armed Forces, Irish Defence Forces, USA & Serbian Army. Teams must comprise of eight (8) personnel, are required to have both male & female members and can include up to two non-medical personnel. We set a clear objective from the start of our training to maintain the high standards set by previous DF teams to try build on and retain our success from the previous year. A secondary objective was to gain knowledge and experience of the stands by allowing the support personnel who travelled with us observe the drills of the other teams. The Defence Forces team comprised Lt Shane Curran (CMU-HQ), Sgt Mick Barry (Med Sch), Cpl Denis Murphy (CMU 1 Bde), Cpl Ryan Mann (CMU DFTC), Cpl Kellie Sheehan (Med Sch), Cpl Conor Dempsey (Med School), Pte Julia Gorka (Ord Gp, DFTC), Cpl Shane McEvoy (CMU 2 Bde) and mentored by RSM David O'Connor (Med Sch), CS Martin Moules (CMU HQ), CS Philip Greene (DMB office), and Lt Eric Redmond (CMU 2Bde). A training program based on experience gained from the previous exercises and current operations in Ukraine allowed the team to concentrate on navigation, load carriage, Orders (extraction & delivery), Weapons Training (SA 80), CBRN, Care Under Fire, Section in Attack, Patrol and survivability training. Two members of the team, Sgt Mick Barry and Cpl Denis Murphy had been on the winning team in 2024 which added to the experience of the team and improved preparation. They showed throughout the week that this year's Irish Defence Forces team were not just here to make up the numbers and that they wanted to right the wrongs of some scenarios where they felt mistakes were made last year. It should also be mentioned that D Tpt, G7, 2 Bde HQ, ARW, 2 Bde Tpt, Ord Gp DFTC, Sch of Mil Engr, Lt Billy Kiernan (1 MIC) and Bty Sgt Paddy Clarke (CBRN Instructor 2 BAR) all had an invaluable part to play in making this year's team a success. The exercise instruction gave an outline of the exercise where teams deployed to a pre-determined start point then moved tactically across the training area throughout the day / night in an assigned order. Movement was on foot and teams were allowed to use any roads during certain legs of the patrol. Teams must navigate to each stand and must arrive within a specific time allocated or points are deducted. At each stand teams will be scored against an established scoring matrix with a maximum score of 100 points for each stand. The Stands are: • Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) • Counter Unmanned Aerial System • Advanced to Contact (Section in Attack) • Survivability • Ambush • Medicate & Evacuate • Dig or Die • CBRN www.military ARTICLE BY LT SHANE CURRAN – CMU DF Medics Top AMSTTE 2025

• Cover