New BOTC

[old man neri]

"Hey.. I'm hallucinating, I can see a pink elephant."
"Um.. thats nuts, I was about to say the same thing."
"Oh ya? Well if we both see it, should we shoot it?"
"Nah... I think they're an endangered species around here."

Nice. I remember hallucinating once while doing 'tannoy watch' beside a howitzer and a whole lot of ammunition, luckily I didn't think about shooting anything. ;D

 

[Meridian]

The distances varied but it was a lot of walking.  One section figured they walked about 70km in 3 days. 

Yeah, I heard about Grid 5662 is it? Something like that, way up where one platoon always seemed to be sent...

 

[inferno]

LUCKY 13!

 

[PaulD]

LUCKY 13!

Hollywood!!

 

[17thRecceSgt]

Good parade last week Lucky 13!  Warm welcome from the WO at The Fort Friday morning eh? 

;D

 

[Meridian]

Ahhh I miss the Fort.

 

[Infanteer]

Sounds like a definate improvement from the old format - the first go may have been rough around the edges, but that can be expected with launching and new program of instruction.

 

[MdB]

Yeah, I heard about Grid 5662 is it?

We (B0078F) walked all the way up to the northern fence... Don't know about the distance we covered, but at least 15-20 km/24 hours. That would make something like 60-80 km in the boots... Hopefully, when the staff noticed that we were starting to have really slow down (some were already injured and continued nonetheless, kudos), they provided us with transport most of the time (not all the way to the obj, but part of it).

As for sleeping, we did missions the first 54 hours (Monday 1200 to Wednesday 2000), then we got a mission pause (we had stand-to's), then only the security manning from 0000 to 0400. Then we resumed missions and had 0000 to 0400 breaks Wednesday-Thursday and Thursday-Friday nights. Friday was to uninstall camp add-ons (extra wires, barrels) and standard equiment used (water heaters, benches, MIR, cleaning up the tents...). Our section was tasked with an unofficial mission: we had to attack our own camp, wait for them to organize and mount a flank attack, then fall back to extraction point. I personnally had 4 1/2 mags, about 150 rounds, lots of running to evade and lots of fun. We approched our camp inside the 30 meters without being detected, was great to do.

The missions were from 1200-1600, 1600-2000, etc, all around the clock. At all time, one section was staying at the camp to man the posts. One person from the seciton was detached to stay at camp, this would be the next section I/C. The section I/C who's leading camp security had 3 attached. They usually did admin tasks for 1 to 2 hours, then was off to rest.

Camp is standard NATO mini-camp, but the perimeter was made of concertina wires instead.

 

[MdB]

Sounds like a definate improvement from the old format - the first go may have been rough around the edges, but that can be expected with launching and new program of instruction.

Platoon Commander told us that they had already analysed critiques for the IAP and that it would be different for the January serials. BOTC will have to change too (ie comments in this thread and more). Our platoon did a very thorough course critique. Lots of people were disappointed, but I'm glad I did this course, I learned a lot. The only thing is that the IAP is very good and BOTC, but for DNBC, all-around-the-clock task and 15-steps battle procedures, was a repetition of the IAP.

 

[Meridian]

One note to clarify however:

WHen I was doing IAP; it was explained that BOTP would be exactly the same as IAP as far as taskings and such go, but that it would be the -real- deal.

IAP was used to teach us the basics, and assess our leadership skills; BOTP was to teach the finer points and ensure execution.
(This obviously is a giant oversimplification of the POs but...)