Good spirits after exercise

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 238, 5 April 1988, Page 7

Good spirits after exercise

A year in. the life of Officer Cadets Janet Hunt, Tim Dunwoodie, Brett Rankin, Johnlvil and Ahmad Azahar.

Six o'clock is a miserable time to leave a warm bed on a brisk Autumn morning. Especially when it means travelling to Waiouru, where it's guaranteed to be at least five degrees colder than where you've come from. Certainly a reporter's job is never boring - the early start was necessary to catch up with a platoon of officer cadets on exercise in the hills behind Army Training Gfoup, Waiouru. Exercise "Sabre Sting" was the third in a series of exercises that the cadets have been involved in since their march in, in January. For the greater part of two weeks the group had remained 'dug in' on location at Westlaw, 20 kilometres into the army's defence area. The Bulletin caught up with them on the last day of the exercise. Our five 'regulars' - officer cadets Dunwoodie, Hunt, Azahar, Rankin and Ivil were in remarkably good spirits, with the exercise behind them and four days leave to look forward to.

The group spent the first three days of the armoured infantry exercise familiarising themselves with the area. The second part of the defence phase was section battledrills and practicing attacks on other sections. On the Friday the cadets began to dig the 4'6" holes in the ground that they would call home for the rest of the exercise.

"We started digging at Ilam. Some of us had finished by that night - the rest didn't finish until 5 am the next morning," recalled Tim Dunwoodie. "That was a

real fun day." The next day was "a bit of a blur" according to the cadets, most of whom who had managed about 20 minutes sleep before revelly- at

5.30am. Throughout the day the group installed wires around the area in preparation for the night's live firing exercise. During the night the 'enemy' made numerous attacks on the base, in the form of thunder flashes. "When you're that tired you can sleep through anything," said Rankin.

The assault continued through into the morning. "By the end of it we were deafened by all the noise," said Ivil. "During the exercise you have to listen for orders and can't afford to wear ear protection." The group were transported back to ATG the following day for lectures on Armoured Personnel Carriers which would be incorporated into the exercise. "At least the ride back

gave us a chance to catch up on some sleep," said Hunt. The final day of the exercise was a culmination of all they had practiced and involved using live ammunition. "Some people are a bit anxious about it," said Dunwoodie. "I'm looking forward to it." Rankin: "Yeah it should be great." And what was the highlight of the entire exercise? "Finishing," they chorused.