Firestorm - 11. FS Chapter 11

The next morning, dressed in my uniform, I drove to Campbell Barracks in my new vehicle, and after showing my Army ID, I drove into the base and parked outside the administration building, and made my way to the reception desk. “Staff Sergeant Benning, it’s good to see you again, the CO is waiting for you in the conference room” the receptionist said to me with a smile, and I returned the smile and kept walking in the direction of the conference room, knocking before entering, and snapping to attention.

“Staff Sergeant Benning reporting for duty sir” I said clearly, noticing a number of other officers in the room apart from the CO. “Come in and take a seat, Mitchell” the CO said to me with a smile, and I walked around and sat in a vacant chair. “It is very fortunate, that you have become available to take up a vacant position in our training staff, over the next few days, we will be working on a new updated programme, that can hopefully include some things that you have learnt over the past few months” the CO said to me, and after a two-hour meeting, we broke for a morning tea break.

The CO motioned for me to follow him, and we exited the conference room, and went to his office. “I have a very busy few months planned for you, for the next few days we will be working on a training timetable for the SASR, I have managed to secure a position for training at the Fire Service Academy for July, in the meantime, you will be doing the Volunteer Fire Fighter Training Programme, which entails, Introduction to Firefighting, Introduction to Bush Firefighting, Advanced Bush Fire Fighting, Structural Firefighting, Breathing apparatus, Road Crash rescue, On Road and Off Road Driving and Crew leader Bush Fire.

Here is the information folder giving you all the details and times when the course is happening. That should put you in an advantage, when you start training at the academy, if that is what you still want to do” the CO said to me, “Actually sir, if you are organising the volunteer training, and with my new position here at the base, I think that will be enough, with the planning session that we have had this morning, I think I will like taking on this new role as a firearms trainer” I said with a smile.

“That is very good to hear Mitchell, so all your past training won’t be going to waste after all. As you know we do very limited firearms training here, so you will be spending a lot of time at Bindoon, are you ok with that?” the CO said to me, “Sir, that would be perfect, I have always enjoyed the country and outdoors, so I look forward to the challenge” I replied happily.

“I presume that blue beast out the front is your new vehicle?’ the CO asked, “Yes sir, a belated 18^th birthday present from my parents and aunty” I replied with a big smile, “Well you might as well take that up to Bindoon with you, just make sure you keep all your fuel receipts, when you are on Army duties” the CO said and we headed back to the conference room. “Your old Grammar school called the other day, asking when you would be available to do that presentation, I informed them that you would be available, sometime in last term of this school year” the Co said to me as we entered the conference room and took a seat.

When we finished the planning sessions for the day at 1500 hours, I asked the CO if I could go off base for a couple of hours. “I thought you would be staying at your Aunts while you are in Perth, and since we are done for today, you are dismissed for the rest of the day” the CO said to me, and I dashed out of the building and was soon on the road. During lunch break, I decided that I needed to kit my car out with some extra additions. The car already had side steps, a steel bull bar, tow hitch, roof rack, cargo barrier and front flood lights.

At lunch time after doing a web search, I had found a place, where I could have a two-way radio installed, and I had booked my car in for it to be done in the late afternoon, but now I was able to get it done earlier, allowing me time to go and get some extra supplies. By 4.30 the new two-way radio was installed and operational, and I made my way two suburbs away, to the nearest camping and outdoors store, where I looked at a few different models of camping / car fridges, before selecting a 34-litre fridge / freezer.

Next, I found a 3-metre shade awning to attached to the roof rack, recovery gear for boggy situations, 120-watt portable solar panel, and inverter, a hydration pack, a hand-held GPS with pouch that attaches to a belt, an advance first aid kit, a 20-litre water container, plus two hand held UHF radios, with rechargeable station, and a double swag.

Once I had made my purchases, I headed back home to my aunt’s place, where I spent the next hour, installing the shade awning to the roof rack, securing the fridge freezer and the water container to the cargo barrier, where there was a power socket nearby, also using the cargo barrier, I was able to make up hanging racks, for the solar panels and inverter, recovery gear, the hydration pack and first aid kit, so it is all easily accessible.

Also at the back, there was a side pocket, which was plenty of space to place the GPS and the two-way radios, with another power socket available for the radios to be kept charged. The swag sat end on, in the back, taking up the last of the space in the back-carrier area. Once I had finished, I stepped back, and I was very happy with how it all fitted in nicely, and I locked up the vehicle and headed inside, where Aunty was preparing dinner. “How was your day dear?” she asked me with a smile as I walked into the kitchen, very well actually, I am to be firearms training mostly, and so I will be spending a lot of time up at Bindoon, I will let you know when I am heading that way” I replied.

After dinner, I did my laundry, and polished my boots, before taking a shower and heading to bed early, and Aunty was in the kitchen early preparing my breakfast, when I came out of my room, “You know I can manage on my own, so you can have a sleep in” I said to my aunt as I gave her a kiss on the cheek, “I know dear, but I just like spending time with you” She replied with a smile.

Arriving at the base at 0745, I parked my car at the administration building, and headed inside. “Good Morning, Staff Sergeant, they are all in the conference room” the receptionist said to me with a smile, and I nodded my head and smiled in return. “Ah good, you are early, that is perfect, I have a little task for you” the CO said as I walked into the room, noticing some unfamiliar faces in the room.

I had no idea what the CO planned, as I sat down at the table, and looked around the table. “Gentlemen, this is Staff Sergeant Mitchell Benning, yes he looks very young, but he has the skills and training, to become one of Australia’s best sharp shooters, he recently did a target shoot of 2995 metres, which was 4 inches off centre, only because it passed through a kangaroo, who was unfortunate to be in the way at the time the bullet passed” the CO said to the men present.

“We are here today to plan a week long, cadet training camp, in the September school holidays, with 12 cadet units all at once” the CO announced, “Holy cow sir, that will stretch the facilities to the limit” I said without thinking, and Lt Colonel Harding chuckled at my statement, “that is why we are going to plan it very carefully, now if you haven’t already guessed, the gentlemen here are reservist officers, who are the CO’s of the 12 units that will take part in this exercise” and the CO introduced me to each officer individually, with all of them being Captain’s in rank.

“Sir would it not be a good idea to travel to Bindoon, so we can get ideas on how we are going to pull off this project” I suggested. “Way ahead of you there, Staff Sergeant, once we have collected our lunch packs, we will be on our way” the CO announced, and at that moment there was a knock on the door, which opened. “The lunch packs have arrived sir, waiting in reception for you” the receptionist said with a smile, before leaving. “Good, let’s do some car-pooling, so we don’t have so many vehicles, if you don’t mind Mitchell, I would like to travel up with you, as I have a few things to discuss with you” Lt Colonel Harding said, and I nodded my head in understanding.

A few minutes later with four vehicles in convoy, we headed north towards Bindoon. “This is a nice vehicle Mitchell, you are one very lucky young man, I see you have added a radio, roof rack, bull bar, flood lights, and awning” the CO said to me. “Yes sir, I did some of it yesterday, as well as having some additional extras included, like a swag, solar panels, fridge/freezer, water container, GPS and two hand held radios” I replied with a smile.

“With six months before this exercise takes place, we need to come up with a good programme that will be educational and challenging, and I thought with your additional training, that you would be the best person to coordinate it all” the CO said to me, “I thank you for your confidence in my skills, and I will do my very best to make it work” I replied. “That is all I ask, now do you have any preliminary ideas?” the CO asked, and for the remainder of the journey we discussed a few options, before we arrived at the Bindoon training facility.

When the others arrived shortly after, as the CO wanted, I gave the Cadet Unit Officers a tour of the facilities, and we sat down and I mentioned what the CO and I had discussed on the trip up. We sat down and looked over the topographical map of the property, and discussed the logistics of such a large event, and came up with some ideas, while still thinking of the four areas of cadet training, 1. Activity based learning, 2. Living in the field, 3. Navigation by day and night, 4. Survival training.

After some lengthy discussions, we climbed into the vehicles and headed north to the other area where there is another complex, where the CO gave a tour of the facilities. With approximately 72 cadets to be on this exercise, one of the ideas that I suggested is that the cadet under officers and cadet warrant officers from each cadet unit be swapped around, to see how they cope with commanding cadets that they are not familiar with, and the same with seeing how the cadets cope with having cadet officers they don’t know. I also asked the CO if there was any chance of getting hold of some military drones, so we could monitor all the activities a lot closer by air.

The CO suggested that we could have a competition, against each unit, with maybe a trophy for the winning team, I said that it was a good idea, as long as each team was equal in size. We decided to hike into the bush for a while, taking out lunch with us, and with a backpack, I brought bottles of water for all of us. The bush on the property, consisted of eucalyptus trees, a thin spreading of shrubs and grass trees, with a lot of the eucalypt trees having blackened trunks, hinting at a bushfire having passed through in the last few years.

After hiking for about two kilometres, following the contours of the hills, I could see some of the Cadet leaders struggling a little, so I suggested that we stop and have lunch. “How far have we hiked, and do you know where we are?” one of the cadet leaders asked, and I retrieved my GPS from my belt pouch, and turned it on, having marked the location where we had started the hike before we left. “We are 2.3 kilometres south east of where the vehicles are” I replied, as I handed out the lunches and water bottles.

The bush had thinned out a lot where we stopped for lunch, and with it being late March, it was still warm for early Autumn, and I happily sat down on the ground under some trees, while I saw the faces on some of the men present were not as happy roughing it so much, I looked over to the CO and saw that he had also noticed, and I gave a small smile. Once I had eaten, I picked up my backpack and pulled out the remaining 14 bottles of water, and handed them out to everyone, and I took a small sip of mine.

“I am going to do some scouting around south of here, I will catch you all in three hours, if you head due west you will come back to the main access road, then head north to the vehicles” I said to the CO, “Very well Mitchell, we will see you back at the main complex where we arrived ion three hours” the CO replied, and I began hiking in a south west direction. After 5 kilometres of hiking south west and one kilometres west, I had arrived at the main access road, and looking at my GPS, I was 2 kilometres closer to the main complex than I was to my car, 5 kilometres to the north, so I elected to hike south.

I saw the CO talking to the 12 cadet leaders outside the building as I arrived on foot. “Where is your vehicle?” Lt Colonel Harding asked me a little surprised, “Back where I left it sir, where I came out on the track I was 2 kilometres closer to here, so I thought it was best to walk here” I replied. “Ok, let’s get your vehicle back here, then we will make our way back to the city” the CO announced.

While the CO and I were travelling back to the city, I briefed him on my hike, and gave him some ideas on what we can do, regarding the activities in the bush. When we had arrived back at Campbell Barracks, the CO wished me a good night, and said he would see me in the morning, and I headed out of the base and made my way home. When I walked into the house, Aunty gave me a big hug, told me to shower and change, and that dinner would be ready when I have finished.

Over the next 3 ½ months, I was kept busy with the initial planning for the cadet camp, as well as doing some training at Bindoon, sometimes staying overnight or a few days there. I had also completed the five weeks of part time Volunteer fire training, which I completed near top of the class, and I was now concentrating on my army duties, that entailed supervising weapons training and shooting practice, for the 8 units of the 13^th Brigade and the Special Air Service Regiment.

As July arrived, with it being winter now, I was finding that I could not spend as much time outdoors, that I liked to do. I was spending most weekends hiking in the Bindoon training property, often camping overnight. By now I had covered a large area of the property on foot, and I had a good plan prepared for the cadet training camp. Each weekend that I was hiking on the property, I was taking note of the terrain, how much vegetation there is and the large number of valleys. I did a detailed survey of the areas, with plenty of notes.

What I found interesting, was that near these ironstone outcrops, that the compasses did not work very well, which is perfect for navigation training. I was planning day and night navigation, using maps and compasses, and the stars, and during the past month I had been setting out four different navigation paths. Using metal triangles, that have 80 - centimetre sides, with yellow enamel paint and each triangle had a small hole at the top for a nail, and a different 2 digit and 2 letter code one each, each team will need to use their navigation aids, to locate the marker triangle.

The code on the triangle need to be matched to the information on the navigation sheet, to give them their next compass reading and distance, and I had made all 4 navigation paths a total distance of 6.3 kilometres, with all of them set well apart from each other. For the survival training, using fallen trees, with a saw, I cut them into 4 and 2 metre lengths, and left them in stacked piles, ready to use to build shelters, as part of the survival skills training.