Sea Cadet Challenge

Simon had the chance to support the Sea and Marine Cadets on their fund raiser which involves recreating the yomp from Port San Carlos to Stanley.  The yomp by the Royal Marines was completed in 3 major bounds - Port San Carlos to New House/Douglas, New House/Douglas to Teal Inlet, Teal Inlet to Estancia, and then from Estancia they completed their attacks and marched into Stanley.  They did have a couple of breaks, including 8 days at Estancia whilst they carried out reconnaisance and other tasks.

The first night was at Smylies Farm at Port San Carlos.  Port San Carlos is in a different location to San Carlos.  The main effort was at San Carlos, and is where the bulk of the British forces landed.  45 Commando were based at Port San Carlos.  We had a very pleasant first night, and were made to feel very welcome by the owners, who showed typical Falkland hospitality.  They let us have free rein of the kitchen for making our food for the night, and there was endless tea and coffee, along with biscuits.  It was also the birthday of one of the cadets, and his mum had brought him a cake before we left Stanley.

We also shared the facilites with some of the Roulement forces from MPA.  For the next couple of  weeks, the Roulement, or Resident Infantry Company, are the Coldstream Guards.  When they rotate back to the UK they will be going onto ceremonial duties at Windsor, a massive chnage from the Falklands, and their previous area of operations in Afghanistan!  They couldn't believe that we had 12 year olds doing the same route as they were going to do, although they were doing it 3 days not 4!

On the Thursday morning we got up in the dark at 6:30 and got ready for yomping, which included a hearty breakfast of rations (rat packs).  I had bacon, beans and omelette....  They are actually really nice, and are designed to give 4500 calories a day!  We would be burning this by yomping, so it's not as bad as it sounds!

Once breakfast was complete, I set up the HF Radio rig which I would be carrying for the yomp.  I have been designated as one of the radio operators in FIDF, so Trev, the Royal Marine Colour Sergeant attached to us for two years and I decided it would be a good way to test out the new HF set we have.  Once the rig was set up, we called up HQ on the satellite phone and then once we were happy tried the HF.  We had crystal clear call quality, almost as good as the telephone call we had just made!

That done, it was time for a photo before we left.  The cadets were carrying L1A1 rifles (the SLR) and daypacks, whilst the two section commanders had to carry PRC351 radios.  In addition to the HF set, I was also carrying a Panther VHF set so that I could talk to Trev, and both of us could talk to the section commanders, hence why you can see two antennae coming from my daysack.  Trev and I would be walking with a section each.  Andrew Shearer, a maths teacher from the school had also tagged along with us for the walk.  He's on the left looking like the terrorist!

As we set off, I turned round to take a photo of the view.the water on the left is the inlet.  Slightly left of centre is the opening to San Carlos Water (Bomb Alley), and in the background is West Falkland.

In the photo below we are leaning to the right to counter the effects of the wind, which was quite strong!

We completed the first day, and camped at New House  We were all asleep by 9pm!!

The following day we walked to Teal Inlet, and on the way were visited by a Sea King SAR helicopter.  The helo gave us a ride around the area we were yomping through, it was really impressive to see the islands from the air!

I have also just had some helicopter landing training at FIDF, so Trev and I set up a landing area for the Sea King, and then he turned on his heel and said "You guide it in"  So there I was stood with both arms up in the air bringing in the Sea King Helo from downwind to land right beside me.  The pilot actually relies on the person giving him the signals from the ground and his load master to indicate where he is, hence the photo of the loadie hanging out the side as he calls the distance to the ground.  I'm hoping that next time I do it, it is a rather high profile pilot at the controls!!

Once the helo had landed, it dropped off the loadie so that he could do a safety brief whilst the helo hovered around the area.  That done, he called the helo back and we got on in two groups for our ride.  The videos linked below are of the helo coming into land, and then one of our flight!

Landing

Group 1 getting onto the helo

Flying

 

Once we had done the flying, we completed our journey into Teal Inlet, where we again camped for the night.  There is a memorial at Teal Inlet where they buried 29 people who fell in the assaults on Longdon, Harriet, Two Sisters, Tumbledown and Wireless Ridge.

 

 

 

 

At Teal Inlet, we picked up some junior sea cadets who were too young to do the full yomp.

After leaving Teal Inlet we yomped to the Malo Bridge through some fairly terrible hail.  Trev and I had already visited the bridge that morning and had set up a command task where the cadets had to get across the river.  We had done all the rope work and double checked it was safe to make sure there was no risk of serious injury, all they had to do was get across.....

 

Once the kids were across, it was time for lunch, consisting of biscuits brown, pate and biscuits fruit.....and then we continued yomping to Estancia

 

Estancia was a real hive of activity in 1982 and 3 Para used it as their base of operations.  The artillery had been set up on the hills surrounding the farm, so it became a real hotspot, as the Argentines kept lobbing shells over to try and destroy the artillery.  The owners, Tony and Ailsa had a foxhole in their veg patch so they could shelter from any incoming fire!

They gave us a really interesting talk that evening about how they coped in 1982.  This included showing us some of the kit left behind by the British after it had been used, including this Blowpipe launcher!

We then breakfasted the following morning and then cammed up for the final yomp to Stanley.  Much of this was to be cross country and we would have snake around several minefields too as we approached 2 Sisters.  Even Andrew cammed up!

We passed an old mortar position, which was set up as fire support for the final assualts on many of the hills around Stanley.  The rubbish left behind included the carriers for the mortar bombs and the protective gear!

 

Finally we made it to the Murrell Bridge, start line for the assault on Mount Harriet and Two Sisters.  The wind was now gusting at 40mph!!

 

We crossed though Two Sisters, avoiding the minefield, which this BV failed to do!

From there, we crossed two Sisters and we could see Stanley at last.....but there was about 2 more hours of yomping to go!!  There was a rubbish dump here too, which include a lot of stuff left by the Argentinians as they retreated back to Stanley.

 

First came the Moody Brook Track, and we recreated the famous photo of the marines yomping in.  The wind was not on our side though....it was blowing from the west today, not the south like in the 1982 photo

We carried on down the track, now with about 3.5km to go!!  One of the cadets has the flag.

At last we arried at the Royal Marine Memorial in Stanley for some photos, and then marched from there to the 1982 Liberation Memorial.

 

 

Then a photo with Harry, who wanted to take the SLR home despite the fact he couldn't even carry it!!

 

Bath beckoned as soon as I walked in, whilst the clothes I had worn walked to the washing machine on their own!  Dawn had thoughtfully got some beers in and chilled them in the fridge.  The first couple didn't even touch the sides!!

What an experience, and maximum respect to those guys in 1982.  I was absolutely dead on my feet at the end, and we didn't do any fighting!