The assault course at Ganges was not what I expected, in fact I was quite disappointed at what I perceived to be its small size. We arrived at the start line of the assault course on a very cold February morning, the wind was whistling off the sea and being an easterly wind it was not kind. We were at first walked around the course by our instructor, he showed and explained each obstacle to us. Once we had completed our guided tour, we were invited to break the ice on the water that we would soon be wading through. This done, we lined up at the start line where each man was handed an old 303 rifle, the rifle had to be carried around the course; just to make things a little more fun! So dressed in just blue overalls (standard issue) and plimsolls (no socks), we set about our task. It was a typical assault course, a high wall, the aforementioned water, a scramble net, a tall construction in the tree canopy and amongst other things lots and lots of mud.
We set off on the short run to the scramble net, jumped into the icy water and ascended the scramble net; the short time in the water wasn't that bad as it was only about thigh deep. At the top of the net we climbed onto some planks which we had to run across, this held some fear for me as I don't do heights, however, I was so pumped up with excitement that I didn't notice the height. At the end of the planks we slung the rifle over our shoulder before descending a rope, at the bottom we had to run up a short but very steep hill before climbing through some suspended tyres. Back down the hill then and crawl through some concrete tunnels where our very kind instructor was setting off flash bangs, out of these and under a scramble net beneath the construction we had earlier been across. Then the water, this time the scramble net we had earlier climbed up became part of the obstacle which meant we had to completely submerge ourselves beneath the icy water. My god it was cold, it was only a few feet in length but it may as well have been an Olympic 50 metre pool it seemed to take that long to get through. Eventually we clambered out the other end, almost over now, just the matter of the 10 foot wall to negotiate. Working with each other we all managed to cross it, some found it a little more difficult than others but we did manage it. After that it was a short "sprint" to the finish line.
Yes it was smaller than I expected, but at this point in time I was quite glad of that. Freezing cold, soaking wet and exhausted we were debriefed, at this point our instructor noticed blood oozing through the mud on my thumb. I had managed to cut it somehow, however, due to the cold I never felt a thing. We were then sent back to our mess where outside we all took it in turn hosing each other down before anyone was allowed in the mess to take a shower and get changed. Later that day our instructor informed us that we were going to be subjected to a kit muster the following day, and that our overalls and plimsolls that were sodden would also be a part of this. Just got to love the Royal Navy and their team building.
No comments:
Post a Comment