Shropshire Star

Fall into line, you 'orrible little lot - quick march into soldier’s life

Army soldiers are putting on team building exercises for office workers. Mark Andrews joined the troops.

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Mark Andrews

This feels like a Private Pike moment. "Put your right hand on the rear grip and your left hand on the forward grip," says Corporal Dan Coley, handing over an assault rifle. "Push the butt of the gun into the fleshy part of your shoulder."

Paired up with 24-year-old Ben Wood, we're about to negotiate an army assault course which simulates an advance under enemy fire, before shooting a target at the end of the exercise.

"Move!" shouts Ben, as I clamber over a pile of raised cushions, before jumping off at the end. Then it's my turn to bark the orders, always looking ahead in case we come under attack from the enemy.

It's not a partnership of equals. Ben is whippet thin, athletic, and half my age. And let's just say he's slightly more appropriately dressed for the occasion. But like all the other people taking part in the two-day course at Nesscliffe training camp near Shrewsbury, he is not a soldier, but a civilian. Ben works at the Department for Work and Pensions, but other employers include grocery chain Farm Foods, Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals trust, Wolverhampton Council and Herefordshire law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys.

Victoria Reeves and Darren Wheale learning observation skills

We're at one of the regular training camps organised by Telford-based 11 Signal and West Midlands Brigade, which are run to give the wider public a greater appreciation of what the army does.

Lt Col Richard Jones, who is in charge of the course, says one of the most rewarding aspects is the way the events bring people from very different walks of life working together as a team.

"You get senior solicitors and doctors and students and jobseekers working together as a team," he says.

You might also see junior employees giving out orders to their bosses, which can give rise to some quite interesting challenges.

Staff Sgt James Dwyer of the Royal Monmouthshire Engineers, which runs a teamwork exercise as part of the course, says most bosses respond well to such situations.

"Most bosses want to see their subordinates achieving, and stepping forward, they want to learn more about their people, and in this environment they can do just that."

Ben Wood

Those taking part in the camp have to negotiate seven different situations, which aim to replicate the sort of problem-solving that a real soldier would need to do.

But to add a bit of spice, all members are warned that at some stage of the proceedings they will come under attack by a paramilitary gangster group, which will be played by the instructors from Nesscliffe Army Cadets.

Each task is strictly timed, so if they fall behind at one station, they will have to make up for it at the next.

At the army catering stand, a team led by hospital worker Katie Haywood has 35 minutes to prepare a three-course meal from rations supplied in a tin.

"They are supplied with a box of mystery ingredients, four gas rings and an oven," says Sgt Major Mick Guest of the 159 Regiment Royal Logistics Corps. Sgt Major Guest's no- nonsense manner is likened to that of television chef Gordon Ramsay, and he is quick to point out that the the team won't have the full 35 minutes as it is already running 10 minutes late. But there is also a definite flavour or The Apprentice to the proceedings, as the team frantically organise themselves into different sub-groups.

Ben Woods from DWP in Stoke

Scott MacLellan, an assistant manager of a Farm Foods store, says his job probably helps in the task, but you still have to think quickly.

"When I opened the box and found an orange and beetroot, I did wonder what you could do with that," he says.

Nevertheless, in next to no time a main course of rabbit and vegetables cooked in a red wine jus appeals on the table, and Sgt Major is quietly impressed – just don't expect him to admit it.

There are also exercises in observation and signalling, including one where one-half of a two-man team is blindfolded, and the other has to give their partner directions over the radio.

As evening falls, the group prepare to bed down for the night in a woodland clearing, and this is when the terror group launches its attack

Well, you have to keep the troops on their toes, don't you?