RFCC?

[yeo_yeo]

Hello all,

Having been informed that there is an opportunity to do this course, due to changing roles etc of regiment, I was curious as to: -

a) what the phases of training are. Is it weekends and 2 weeks same as the RMR?

b) How often a year these phases are run.

Any help advice information on any aspect would be greatly apreciated.

 

[Scottish_Kiwi]

Re: Reserve AACC?

The RFCC Reserve Forces Commando Course is the same for all branches, so it is an All Arms Course in itself, same for RMR and Cdo Eng, Gunners Etc.

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.2980

This is a Brief diary of the course done by one of the RMR London Ranks.

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.2948

K

 

[yeo_yeo]

Re: Reserve AACC?

Thank you for the links very informative and answered a lot of my unaired questions .

I was also hoping someone could tell me whether it is just the Two weeks or are the prelim weekends included also for those who aren't reserve booties?

Also how often a year these courses are run? Is it once a year jobbie?

 

[seajay]

Re: Reserve AACC?

I don't know the official answers but I did the commando course with the RMR in Feb. I can confirm that the two weeks are exactly the same for all reservists (they even merged our course with 131 Cdo Eng, because of numbers).
As for the weekends leading up to it, our weekends were run by our local unit, same for the 131 guys. I don't think the Lympstone training team run any weekends for reservists. It would probably be up to you and whoever you're serving with now to prepare you before you go down. Who is that btw?

At the moment there are several courses per year but the buzz was that they'll be reducing that to one. Again it's numbers, even with the engineers our "troop" consisted of one section of 4 and another of 5 so you miss out on some of the tactical aspects of operating in a troop.

 

[yeo_yeo]

Re: Reserve AACC?

I don't know the official answers but I did the commando course with the RMR in Feb. I can confirm that the two weeks are exactly the same for all reservists (they even merged our course with 131 Cdo Eng, because of numbers).
As for the weekends leading up to it, our weekends were run by our local unit, same for the 131 guys. I don't think the Lympstone training team run any weekends for reservists. It would probably be up to you and whoever you're serving with now to prepare you before you go down. Who is that btw?

At the moment there are several courses per year but the buzz was that they'll be reducing that to one. Again it's numbers, even with the engineers our "troop" consisted of one section of 4 and another of 5 so you miss out on some of the tactical aspects of operating in a troop.

Thanks for the insight Seajay, appreciate it. Are there any general impressions that you can give of the course?

The tactics parts, were they different than the standard patrols/section/platoon attacks etc format?

 

[seajay]

Re: Reserve AACC?

My general impressions were
1) Lying in an OP on hard routine in February is f***ing icers.
2) My feet hurt

Seriously though, none of the tactical parts were rocket science, it's just a question of staying switched on and doing what you know you're supposed to even when you're cold, wet and knackered.
I think it's quite rare for them to fail you on the field ex. it does happen but you've got to consistently do quite bone stuff. The only one I've heard of was a guy who went out on his CTR in his gortex (if you don't know why that's a bad idea you'll need to work on that side of things before you try for it)

 

[Scottish_Kiwi]

Re: Reserve AACC?

Any Chance you could do a run through of the two weeks, day by day m8, would be very useful just to know exactly what we have coming. Especially what you guys did exactly during the Field Ex.

I know there will be a Program posted when we get down there but it would still be interesting to see what there was coming.

If you would rather PM me with this or have a chat through that, no problem.

Thanks

K

 

[yeo_yeo]

Re: Reserve AACC?

My general impressions were
1) Lying in an OP on hard routine in February is f***ing icers.
2) My feet hurt

Seriously though, none of the tactical parts were rocket science, it's just a question of staying switched on and doing what you know you're supposed to even when you're cold, wet and knackered.
I think it's quite rare for them to fail you on the field ex. it does happen but you've got to consistently do quite bone stuff. The only one I've heard of was a guy who went out on his CTR in his gortex (if you don't know why that's a bad idea you'll need to work on that side of things before you try for it)

Having had a look at the website, i've noticed the officers and soldiers are trained together... did you have an officer on your course? Simple curiosity as to what the differences, bar the timings on the tests, were? Quite a unique thing I think, the army seems to keep most courses seperate.

 

[seajay]

Re: Reserve AACC?

Regular RM officers and soldiers are trained together in the sense that they train at the same place and they all do the commando tests but their training is actually separate.

In the reserves however, potential officers aren't picked out until after they've got their lids. So there could have been men who will go on to become officers on my course, but even they wouldn't know that yet.

The third situation is people who are already officers when they go for the course. There was an ex-navy officer on my course early on and he went through exactly the same training as me and would have been on the same RFCC too but he wrapped.

Maybe it's the same for people doing the all arms course, everyone gets stuck in together, but I couldn't say for sure.

 

[seajay]

Re: Reserve AACC?

Any Chance you could do a run through of the two weeks, day by day m8, would be very useful just to know exactly what we have coming. Especially what you guys did exactly during the Field Ex.

I can't remember much more than is in that RMR London diary to be honest. The reason the Field Ex only gets one paragraph in that diary is that it's no big deal. If you want it badly enough, then a bit of cold and lack of sleep isn't going to stop you.

 

[Scottish_Kiwi]

Re: Reserve AACC?

Haha, we train in Scotland m8, a bit of Cold and tiredness is no big deal i was more interested in what the training team would have us doing.

Did you CTR an actual building, were there people occupying it. Basically was it all done with a bit of thought, did they have people with Foreign weapons etc on the targets, was there something actually worth watching from the OP. And did you have to do a deliberate attack at the end of it.

Also how did the Resupplies and stuff work.

If you can't remember never mind, i will just quiz the guys here a bit more.

K

 

[seajay]

Re: Reserve AACC?

The CTR and OP were both watching a building that the training team were occupying. There was no one there with foreign weapons or anything like that. They'd just turn the lights on and off occasionally or send out a patrol. At the end we had to write up a report with a sketch map of the target and the timings of all these events.
Between activities we were in an LUP so resupply consisted of someone turning up in a landrover with a couple of jerry cans. They'd also turn up at other times to check that the sentries were awake and we were standing to at the proper times etc.
No deliberate attack at the end. There was something far more terrifying that that, a field inspection!