black would enter the assault phase. The
plan was for the green army to surround
the insurgents’ compound and hold them
inside, allowing the black army guys to
assault the main building and complete
their mission objectives. With last minute
checks made and plans confirmed, both
groups moved out and took up their
respective starting positions.
Over the years I have seen plenty of
teams and I have to say I was immediately
impressed by how these guys moved
and communicated. A few hours ago
they were “just a bunch of builders from
the South East” (their words, not mine)
– now they were moving with a level of
cohesion that was quite frankly surprising.
They soon pushed up and had the target
building covered from all angles, allowing
the black army guys to take up station on
their designated entry points.
Even from where I was standing I heard
the words “All stations, this is Zero. I
084
January 2012
have control. Standby, standby, go!” and
saw the ripple of shoulder-taps before
the guys stormed the building. Shouts of
“Clear!” and the sound of MP5 chatter
was countered by the lower sound of
non-friendly fire, but it didn’t last long and
soon ‘dead’ insurgents joined the clouds
of smoke drifting from the building.
Although it had been successful there
were a number of mistakes made, so
everyone returned to the start point to
do it all again. This time, however, the
insurgents had one or two tricks up their
sleeves, including an ambush on the green
army as they made their approach.
The sight of two insurgents standing
out in the open was too much to resist
and one section of green army guys
moved rapidly forwards to deal with
them, straight i nto the ambush! Three of
them went down but the others quickly
recovered and returned fire, forcing the
insurgents to beat a hasty retreat back to
their compound. The result was inevitable
and, with almost clinical precision, the
building’s occupants were quickly rounded
up or despatched.
The other result was the huge grins
on the guys’ faces as they stood around
exchanging war stories and re-living their
moments, of which there were many. But
with both the temperature and sun rapidly
dropping it was time to head back to the
training room, where tea, cakes and a
debrief were waiting.
So, will these guys now work better
as a team? The answer to that will come
in time, but even if they only take back
10 per cent of the spirit with which they
worked today then I guess it will be a
resounding yes! ■
TEAM FRONTIER
www.teamfrontier.co.uk
01235 768280