Sandhurst Sojourn for Captain

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 422, 4 February 1992, Page 6

Sandhurst Sojourn for Captain

by jo howie From 16 July until 2 December Captain Rod Sharp was on an exchange from the Officer Cadet School (New Zealand) in Waiouru. He spent this time at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, the British Army's officer training establishment. This was the first time in the 16 years of the Long Look Exercise that a New Zealander has been to Sandhurst, which trains about 960 students a year. Captain Rod Sharp had two jobs at Sand-

hurst. He was a platoon commander for Dettingen Company, and was also the company second in command. There are two main courses being conducted at Sandhurst: the Standard Graduate Course for university graduates, and the Standard Military Course. Dettingen Company instructs Officer Cadets on short courses including the territorial officer's course, professionally qualified officer's course, and a pre-university course where students are

sponsored through university before officer training. Dettingen Company also offers the short service Limited Commissioning Course. This is a unique fourweek course for officers who are employed in the military for only two years. Captain Sharp said he found his time at Sandhurst professionally very rewarding. "It's allowed me to see a different way of training young officers. It was interesting to observe how some of Sandhurst's traditions

are carried through the generations." Captain Sharp said the main difference in the instruction was that at Sandhurst individual staff instructed all subjects to a small group of officer cadets. At Officer Cadet School (NZ) instructors teach specific subjects to all cadets. "Both courses cover the same subjects in a broad outline. Sandhurst concentrates more on developing a general leadership style. They do a lot of command task activities and classroom work,

whereas we include more practical field work. Sandhurst concentrates on infantry platoon level tactics while we teach up to company level tactics." He said professional highlights included two weeks in France on exercise, and observing Counter Revolution Warfare Training. Fifty percent of Sandhurst's tactical instruction covered this as it is very likely that everyone at one stage will be through Northern Ireland. "The training was very realistic. We would occupy a mock-up village of 60 houses and bring in civilians. Throughout the seven day exercise there were numerous incidents with many riots that were very realistic." As well as being professionally rewarding this exchange allowed him to tour parts of Europe and Great Britain. He said he enjoyed catching up with New Zealand friends and relatives.