Post by aghart on Jul 10, 2012 20:37:18 GMT
The Bournemouth, Poole & District Branch, Royal Tank Regiment Association, visited the CIS (Signal) school at Bovington on Tuesday 10th July 2012. 14 of us arrived at Allenby Barracks, where we booked in, parked up and made our way to the CIS School where the CO gave his opening address.
The CO is our own Lt Col Gareth Davies who gave a brief rundown on who is based at Bovington and then concentrated on the CIS School. He explained the different courses run at the school, which include an advanced course which is like the old control signaller course. Due to the complexity of the equipment this extra course is being maintained whilst D&M and Gunnery have lost their equivalent “mech” courses.
The next port of call was a radio room which displayed the infantry radio’s being used in Afghanistan, some of which have been bought off the shelf from the USA. All are secure so the Taliban can’t listen in to what’s going on. They are also reasonably lightweight so they don’t add too much to the other 56lb or so of other kit which weigh down the average squaddie. What was good were the little lightweight walkie-talkie type radio’s given to each patrol member, secure, with a range of about 500 meters, so the patrol can communicate with each other without having to shout or come together to communicate. Lots of frequencies, so each section can have their own “chat net”.
Before looking at Bowman we had a trip down memory lane, looking at C42, B47 and C13 from one million years BC (Before Clansman), and then a 353 and 351 from the more recent past. We then moved on, going outside past the Church Army Red Shield (NAAFI Wagon) glad to see some old units are not disbanding! And without stopping for tea we moved into another area where a number of mock up Land Rovers were situated all with full Bowman bits and pieces. This is best described as the signal version of a gunnery GTS as the instructors can create all sorts of faults for the students to sort out. To see a number of Rovers all without wheels led to a number of comments, mostly about the city of Liverpool! Not sure what that was all about.
Into another classroom which was like video game city, you could choose to be the gunner or commander and engage the enemy whilst using all the Bowman data and of course voice procedure is still all important. Gareth joined us again at this point for a final question and answer session before leaving the CIS school and moving to the WO’s & Sgt’s Mess for lunch and refreshments.
The GSM, WO1 Halkerston 2 RTR kindly agreed to our using the mess and allowing Gareth to join us. The GSM and all the RTR instructors at the school joined us for lunch and a couple of beers. Also present was my old troop leader from Herford, Lt Col John Wallace, who is based at Stanley Barracks and is Commandant of the Army School of Recruiting. Another guest speaker/victim for our branch is now in my sights. Bill (no “Y”) Haley had a short day at the D&M School so joined us as did Tommy Cormack who had to go back to work. Sadly Tony Upton ex 1 RTR/APTC was away from Bovington so could not join us on the day.
It was also unfortunate that Kev Coughlin a former Signals Instructor could not get time off work and was unable to attend.
It was a very interesting and enjoyable experience, many thanks to Gareth Davies and his instructors for taking the time to arrange the day and indeed for allowing us to enter the “signal” world.
Fear Naught
The CO is our own Lt Col Gareth Davies who gave a brief rundown on who is based at Bovington and then concentrated on the CIS School. He explained the different courses run at the school, which include an advanced course which is like the old control signaller course. Due to the complexity of the equipment this extra course is being maintained whilst D&M and Gunnery have lost their equivalent “mech” courses.
The next port of call was a radio room which displayed the infantry radio’s being used in Afghanistan, some of which have been bought off the shelf from the USA. All are secure so the Taliban can’t listen in to what’s going on. They are also reasonably lightweight so they don’t add too much to the other 56lb or so of other kit which weigh down the average squaddie. What was good were the little lightweight walkie-talkie type radio’s given to each patrol member, secure, with a range of about 500 meters, so the patrol can communicate with each other without having to shout or come together to communicate. Lots of frequencies, so each section can have their own “chat net”.
Before looking at Bowman we had a trip down memory lane, looking at C42, B47 and C13 from one million years BC (Before Clansman), and then a 353 and 351 from the more recent past. We then moved on, going outside past the Church Army Red Shield (NAAFI Wagon) glad to see some old units are not disbanding! And without stopping for tea we moved into another area where a number of mock up Land Rovers were situated all with full Bowman bits and pieces. This is best described as the signal version of a gunnery GTS as the instructors can create all sorts of faults for the students to sort out. To see a number of Rovers all without wheels led to a number of comments, mostly about the city of Liverpool! Not sure what that was all about.
Into another classroom which was like video game city, you could choose to be the gunner or commander and engage the enemy whilst using all the Bowman data and of course voice procedure is still all important. Gareth joined us again at this point for a final question and answer session before leaving the CIS school and moving to the WO’s & Sgt’s Mess for lunch and refreshments.
The GSM, WO1 Halkerston 2 RTR kindly agreed to our using the mess and allowing Gareth to join us. The GSM and all the RTR instructors at the school joined us for lunch and a couple of beers. Also present was my old troop leader from Herford, Lt Col John Wallace, who is based at Stanley Barracks and is Commandant of the Army School of Recruiting. Another guest speaker/victim for our branch is now in my sights. Bill (no “Y”) Haley had a short day at the D&M School so joined us as did Tommy Cormack who had to go back to work. Sadly Tony Upton ex 1 RTR/APTC was away from Bovington so could not join us on the day.
It was also unfortunate that Kev Coughlin a former Signals Instructor could not get time off work and was unable to attend.
It was a very interesting and enjoyable experience, many thanks to Gareth Davies and his instructors for taking the time to arrange the day and indeed for allowing us to enter the “signal” world.
Fear Naught