皇冠体育app

皇冠体育app British Army last set foot in the Balkans region 20 years ago as part of the NATO Stabilisation Force when they helped bring calm to the region.

皇冠体育app 140 Army Reserves have spent 2 weeks on the exercise which has seen them training at the 240-square-kilometre Combat Training Centre about 2 hours from Zagreb.

皇冠体育app exercise was designed to give the Army Reserves the chance to develop and practise their infantry skills, including patrols, section attacks, harbour security and forest fighting.

It concluded with British troops training alongside Croatian soldiers, living in the field and fighting their way through dense jungle-like forest.

Private Craig Eldret, a self-employed recruitment consultant, said:

It鈥檚 been a really, really good exercise. I鈥檝e got so much out if it, but it鈥檚 been tough. One minute it鈥檚 raining, the next it鈥檚 scorching hot and it鈥檚 really thick woodland.

We do some things slightly different to the Croatians and vice-versa; we鈥檝e learnt from each other.

皇冠体育appy are really nice guys and communication hasn鈥檛 been too much of a problem because the majority of them can speak really good English.

Throughout the exercise, the reservists were joined by their regular counterparts from .

皇冠体育app 2nd Battalion鈥檚 Private Luke Call said:

This is the first time I鈥檝e worked with the Army Reserve and it鈥檚 been good for all of us. You have to admire them; they all have civilian jobs and give up their own time to train.

Working together on exercises like this helps us to get to know one another, how we react to a situation, which is obviously a good thing when it comes to operations. We do need to do more of this type of training; it helps build a bond.

皇冠体育app Commanding Officer of , Lieutenant Colonel Paul Morris, said:

Croatia is fantastic, it provides very different challenges to the UK. In much of the area you are looking at a secondary jungle. I would say it鈥檚 even harder going than Brunei in many places.

Having completed this training I would say that the soldiers are in the best shape they have ever been. 皇冠体育app Croatian Army could not have been more accommodating or friendly.

皇冠体育app training we have completed here has been superb, unlike any training the soldiers would have experienced before.

He continued:

Even under our new Army 2020 structure, the battalion is in a good place at 87% manned, but we have a lot to do over the next few years.

We have 9 of our soldiers and an officer deploying to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion over the next few weeks, which demonstrates how well our reserve battalion is already working with its regular counterparts.

Joint exercises like this can only improve that capability and we can look forward to more of this pairing in the future.