An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir May 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 12 | Ready for Anything, Prepared for Everything by CPL LEE COyLE PhotoS ARMN ADAM MURPHy Staff from An Cosantóir joined the troops on the square, where an array of vehicles including Mowags, LTAVs, Ford Rangers, Mitsubishi Pajeros, and TCVs were parked, waiting. Preparations were well underway, with troops getting 'bombed up', kit being squared away and final checks being ticked off. We spoke with Lt Col Mark Brownen (OC 3 Inf Bn), who gave us a quick run down on the exercise and its scenario. He told us that most corps were represented on the exercise, with elements from 1 BAR supplying fire support, 1 Cav Sqn filling the recce group role, 1 Bde CIS Detachment providing comms, and the Air Corps supply- ing heli support for different parts of the exercise. Lt Col Brownen also emphasised the importance of linking the scenarios to real life situations. "We have pulled in incidents from previous UN missions to the exercise," he said, "such as the CRC ele- ment, which came from dealing with riots in Kosovo." "Each serial of the exercise links on to the next," he continued, "to complete the wider picture of what is going on. The serials are designed to escalate over the four-day exercise to a final cordon and snatch. This exercise will then provide GOC 1 Bde with a benchmark from which to move forward." Before they departed, the exercise troops gathered in a hollow square around Lt Col Brownen as he explained what he expected of them and gave them enough details on the scenario to get them started. He also introduced the enemy, who were dressed in a mixture of civilian and military attire. They were armed with Kalashnikovs and had some anti-armour capability in the form of an RPG. They were also equipped with a Foxtrack ground radar. The leader of the enemy was pointed out as a person of signifi- cant interest. Next we sat in with Coy Commander, Comdt Cahill, who was using a detailed model as he issued orders to his platoon i/c's and attachments regarding the 'actions on' during the move to, and occupation of, the exercise location at Knock Airport. He also gave a situation brief on the exercise scenario, telling his troops that ExErCiSE turAS FAdA (long Journey) 12 | T raining for the ever-changing operational environments faced by the Defence Forces requires exercises with multi-role scenarios to encompass a wide variety of situations that have been, or may be, encountered at home or on overseas deployment. With this in mind, 3 Inf bn was tasked with conducting an exercise to incorporate many situations encountered on past overseas missions. Accordingly, troops assembled in Stephens bks, Kilkenny, on 27th March for Exercise turas Fada (Long Journey).

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