Eighty troops from the armed forces joined hands with four police branches in a tactical training exercise against terrorism. The Ministry of Defence’s Longmoor Camp became the grounds on which the 5th Battalion The RIFLES helped Thames Valley Police, Hampshire Constabulary, Ministry of Defence Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary hunt down three terrorists.
The training is called Exercise Octacine. It is the first of its kind to bring two uniformed branches together for a common cause since the pandemic hit.
Bringing British soldiers and police together
The exercise wasn’t just beneficial for the police officers who were able to take part, but also helped evaluate the deployability of the infantry troops. During the training, the two factions came together to see how they could collaborate. It helped identify best practices and prepare for a real-life scenario.
The Officer Commanding the Company from 5 RIFLES Major Chris Groves said that it’s a different environment than the military. “We have had the chance to rehearse from when we did our API (Armed Police Interoperability) training and that has certainly paid off. The key advantage of this exercise is deploying at short notice. With the Army becoming ever more deployable and lethal, testing deployability on this exercise has been really beneficial. It has provided skills and a mind-set we can transfer to other training. In terms of variety, it has been an experience working in another environment with the police. We’ve certainly learnt lessons from each other. In terms of that wider tapestry of experience that can only be good and positive for our Riflemen.”
Making collaboration stronger
Meanwhile, Sergeant Mal Thomas from the Ministry of Defence Police said that: “There’s been good interoperability in the exercise. We’ve had NPAS-1 (National Police Air Service) the police helicopter overhead working with us as well so that’s a new aspect for us. The combination of us, the helicopter, the other police assets and the military all pulling together has been very effective.”
The exercise will help with readiness and enrich collaborative spirit between troops and cops. Efforts like this are needed to fight the threats facing the modern world. Just weeks ago, our lads showed US Marines who’s boss. We have no doubt that these exercises will go a long way in ensuring safety and security for us all.
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