www.military.ie the defence forces magazine
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Pte O'Brien collecting beams for his team's shelter.
Constructing a fire wall for a shelter is nearly as important as the
roof because it retains a massive proportion of heat that would
otherwise be lost, reducing the amount of fuel needed and the
amount of energy expended in collecting firewood.
by CPL PAUL MILLAR PhOtOS by CPL NEVILLE COUGHLAN
t
hursday 13th March started out as a normal
training day for the 103rd two-Star Platoon.
the 1 Mech troops and training nCOs began
the day with a battle run before breakfast. the
troops thought the run was the platoon's way
of saying goodbye to some of the instructors
who were deploying overseas: they were wrong.
Instead, it was part of a deception plan designed
to rip the soldiers from their normal routine and
slam them into a survival scenario, where work-
ing as a team meant the difference between suc-
cess and failure.