Day 26 - Exercise Self Reliance

Exercise Self Reliance, or exercise self abuse as it is affectionately nicknamed, consisted of the following:

Getting very wet
Getting very cold
Getting little to no sleep
Lot and lots of digging
Section attacks over and over again
A long heavy tab until midnight
An extraction tab this morning for 7km

But you know what, once we reached the finish point it was all worth it. The sense of achievement out weighed the bad times. It also gave the platoon a chance to get to know each other better.

Many of the platoon suffered with prickely heat which is only cured by being scrubbed down with water, normally in the shower with a willing volunteer scrubber.

One of the lads made the mistake of confusing a large rock with a CWS (common weapons sight) and was forced to carry said rock for the remainder of the exercise. Much to his disgust and our amusement.

We returned to camp absolutely shattered and spent the rest of the day cleaning weapons and kit, which I think we were happy to do considering the alternative.

It is only 5 days until our first leave weekend, with only a few horrifically busy days separating the two. The main challenge being the passing off the square drill competition, which we are now sick of rehearsing. We have now been issued our smart 'blues' uniform which we will have to get ready for the competition too.

I am missing everyone like mad, but as you are aware I'm being kept busy so my mind is on other things.

See you all very soon!

Rob

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