Over the weekend of 26-27 Sep 2 LSR invited a number of wives to take part in a proper look at life in the Army. UWO of 2 LSR Capt John Langridge gave the Regimental training wing a clear intent and a general outline of what level of military activity was to be incorporated into the exercise. Finding the right balance of activity for the exercise would be key to its success and it was Sgt McAteer’s task to ensure that a fun, but demanding programme was set out.
 
On the morning of the 26 Sep at 0700, 19 blurry eyed wives paraded in their uniform with their kit packed ready for war.  The nominal roll was taken and all wives were then moved to JB’s restaurant for a full English breakfast. From there they were taken by coach to a drop of point just outside of Dorbaum training area, where they were then met by two troop carrying vehicles (TCV’s) to take them onto the area.. Most got off with a smile, although motion sickness proved too much for the odd individual. The ladies were then split into 3 sections and section commanders were appointed. Then came the cam cream, which for some proved a mission on its own in the application,  there were no excuses as the training team provided a full length 6ft mirror to ensure they all done it properly.

The Ex consisted of a round robin with approximately 600m – 1.5kms between stands. The wives had to navigate with map and compass from stand to stand although all groups had a radio operator attached to them for safety. Between the stands they had to observe the ground for anything unusual and note these down to get extra points, most managed to get these as an ironing board and the like stood out like a sore thumb. All the wives carried a rifle for the first 3 stands just to get the feel of how heavy a rifle is when you are not used to carrying it.  Stands included X-country driving in DROPS, Command tasks, contact drills, poncho building and how to use ORP.

At the end of a very demanding day the wives were put into a harbour and told to pair up and build their bashers for the evening.  The wives then cooked their own evening meal from the famous boil in the bags, which some enjoyed and others hated, point being unfortunately we don’t always get a choice of menu. The sun went down and the wives then moved out of the wooded area to receive a pyrotechnics demo, which the ladies enjoyed and had never seen before. From there they moved to a light and noise demo to demonstrate how light and noise travels further at night. The final part of that night was the night navigation, torches were switched off and in their sections they headed of for a short 3km walk in the woods as some put it, needless to say the odd scream and torches flicking off and on was a normal occurrence during this exercise.

After an exhausting first day the wives slept well albeit some snoring and photo taking in the dark. The wives were woken to a hot breakfast which was collected from Gütersloh that morning. One of the key points being how central feeding boosts morale, this was not wrong as it put all the wives in good spirits. They then moved out and carried out some field drill which they seemed to enjoy, followed by an observation stand and another command task. The finale was the “I’m a wife get me out of here” stand. Where 6 boxes were filled with all sorts and 6 wives were asked to volunteer to be blind folded and guess what was in the box, whilst the remaining wives laughed at the reactions of those taking part.

The day was finished with presentations of a certificate to everyone who attended and a meat packed BBQ and drinks, all with children and husbands in attendance. The winning section was 3 sect, so a big well done to them all.