Defence Team News | Prepared for any scenario: honing essential combat skills on Exercise STALWART GUARDIAN
Video / October 09, 2024
Transcript
Master Corporal Feuillat: I'm Master Corporal Feuillat from The Princess of Wales' Own Regiment in Kingston. I'm a Combat First Aid Instructor and today we are rehearsing Care Under Fire drills on STALWART GUARDIAN.
LCol Jason Fox: The objectives or the aims of the exercise are to focus on combat rehearsals in a full-spectrum operation environment leading into practicing and honing in on the basics.
Master Corporal Feuillat: Today, what we're practicing is the initial steps of care that are provided during a firefight - base level skills for all infantry soldiers to understand. So, keeping the firefight going, winning the firefight, initial tourniquet application, initial evacuation of the casualty, and right now behind me, they're rehearsing how to place the litter and how to carry a casualty. This allows soldiers to go on operations with the confidence that if something happens to them, we have the training and the equipment and the skills required to bring them to a point of care.
WO Adam Winnicki: As infanteers, we have to work in multiple different environments, whether it be out in the field, in tree lines, in fields, but also in built up areas such as urban environments. So, we need to learn how to train and move in those environments and how to fight in those environments are very key. So, it's a skill that we must upkeep and and constantly train in because we don't know where the future wars will happen and where the next battle will be. So we need to train in all different types of scenarios.
Capt Brandon Filatow: So, acting as OPFOR (opposing force) gives troops a different perspective. So while we've been able to do regular rehearsals on raids, ambushes, and all the other offensive operations that we do as infanteers, we've also been able to see it from the other side and how to set up defences.
LCol Jason Fox: Well for Exercise STALWART GUARDIAN, we did focus on a full-spectrum operations scenario. So, the drills and skills practiced here is going back to the basics, so focusing on the ability to communicate as well as move, but also those leadership skills and focusing on battle procedure, going back to doing proper combat rehearsals and such. When they're called upon for future operations, they'll be able to integrate with their Reg Force counterparts quite seamlessly.