After squaring away our kit we had breakfast then straight into a briefing covering the events that had been organised for the duration of our stay, these included paddle boarding, sea kayaking, coasteering and a battlefield study.
First off was paddle-boarding. We travelled down to St Brelades Bay and met the instructors from Absolute Adventures. Some of the group had paddle-boarded before but not necessarily on the sea, A lot of the team spent more time in the sea than on it! But after excellent tuition from the instructors most got the hang of it. Next was sea kayaking in the same location, we swapped paddleboards for kayaks and went out for a few hours of paddling around the Jersey coastline, some even dined Al fresco on fresh seaweed straight from the sea.
Day 2 was coasteering. Coasteering gave us an opportunity to push our personal boundaries, with the reassurance and guidance of experienced guides. At its core the activity allows for personal growth in a fun and exciting environment. After a short drive to Greve de lecq we kitted up with helmets, buoyancy aids and wetsuits, and were then instructed on coasteering techniques before then heading into the sea. Coasteering is physically demanding involving walking, swimming, scrambling, jumping, climbing, possibly some crawling, more swimming, and a huge dose of smiling.
Day 3. Battlefield study. The battlefield study was run by Marc Yates of Jersey Military Tours. Marc gave us a detailed account of what life in Jersey was like under the rule of the Germans who occupied the Channel Islands from 1940 until the end of the war in 1945. The Channel Islands were a bit of a trophy for Adolf Hitler, and he demanded many fortifications be built to protect the coastline. These fortifications are still present, and we spent the day touring various bunker complexes and learning the complexity of the construction, the levels of fortification, the military planning regarding arcs of fire and what life was like for the German soldiers garrisoned on the islands. Overall, a very worthwhile and informative day.
Day 4. Our final day. Day 4 gave us the opportunity to visit different locations around the island, some choose the hospital tunnels, and some choose the war graves at St Luke’s Church and a few even visited Jersey Zoo.
Overall, this was a fantastic opportunity to visit a part of the British Isles that has had an interesting history including being occupied by the Germans and attacked by the French on numerous occasions over the centuries and now gives us a fantastic location to enjoy adventurous training and build on an already strong inter-squadron cohesion. The whole weekend can be summed up with a quote from LCpl Howard (221 Fd Sqn) who stated “This is the best AT package I have ever been on, I have never had the opportunity to do the activities and the location made it perfect”.
Our sincerest thanks to all those organisations who gave contributions towards the adventure. Without the support of the Connaught Trust, the Ulysses Trust, the City of London RFCA, Greater London RFCA and SERFCA the training would not have been possible. With most of us having spent 18 months under lockdown restrictions, this 4-day AT package was exactly the vibrant return to Reserve training that we needed.
101 Engineer Regiment
Exercise PHOENIX ADRENALIN – WO2 Neil Dye
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