Ex Caribbean Rehab

Exercise Caribbean Rehab 2021

OC: Maj John Tucker Scribes: Lt Morris and Cfn Williams

On the 2nd July 2021 Soldiers from 101 and 5 Battalion REME deployed from their respective company headquarters and mustered at Heathrow Airport to conduct Exercise Caribbean Rehab 21 (Ex CR 21) in Belize.

Pre-deployment involved the usual medical check-ups, vaccinations, and ensuring all MATTs and relevant documentation were up to date. COVID 19 added an extra hurdle prior to deployment with every soldier requiring a negative COVID test 3 days prior to departure. The outward journey included a layover in Newark, New Jersey before the final flight into Belize City. British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) camp is located less than 10 minutes from the airport, so we arrived before we knew it.

Upon arrival all pax received a COVID lateral flow test. Unfortunately, one of the deploying troops tested positive and in line with the rigorous COVID policies that BATSUB adhere to, resulted in the majority of the Command Team isolating along with some of the VMs. This threw up a whole new set of challenges to overcome, but in the usual REME fashion of improvise, adapt, and overcome the Comd Team put over a year of virtual training into practice and conducted briefings, PP&C meetings, and one-to-one conversations between the junior ranks and the OC via Microsoft Teams.

Despite initially having reduced manning on the shopfloor, the workload remained the same, which required extra effort by the Regular and Reserve craftsmen under the command of Reserve junior and senior NCOs. Despite not having met each other until the check-in queues at Heathrow, there was a high sense of camaraderie and a desire to push on to get the job done by working together to hit the daily production targets.

Land Rover and MAN SV are the workhorses of the BATSUB fleet and a combination of high humidity and muddy jungle roads can really take its toll on suspension components; which resulted in more than 30 Land Rovers requiring rear A frame ball joint replacements and a similar amount of Panhard rod replacements.

The output requirement naturally led to the implementation of LEAN working techniques to ensure an efficient and effective throughput of work. On top of the suspension repairs, several vehicles required 2 yearly servicing, and other emergent repairs, including one transfer box replacement using very limited number of resources. The MAN SVs required 2 yearly servicing and other emergent repairs. There were several class 3 VMs deployed, some straight from Phase 2 training, and Ex CR 21 was an ideal opportunity to get hands on with vehicles to really hone their trade. For some this was their first overseas

deployment. It was a fantastic opportunity for Reservists to work alongside their Regular counterparts, learn from each other and test the Regular/Reservist partnership. Reservists were able to bring experience from their civilian employment into the military workplace identifying where efficiencies could be made and then implementing to great effect.

With the last-minute change to the exercise and part of the team having to isolate, Lt Morris was set a task of generating a training schedule for those in Isolation. Lt Morris took the troops through an exciting Oil Pricing Exercise which involved setting prices against the other group to make the most profit. Trust, communication, and collaboration were the key to success in this exercise. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of that on display and double crossing became the standard, resulting in both groups making the lowest amount. After a discussion on values and

standards the importance of trust, and good communication the group’s mentality changed, and both groups profited. JNCO were put in charge of the teams and experienced the difficulties of commanding a group and making decisions on behalf of a group without unanimous agreement.

In true REME fashion the soldiers gave technical presentations and worked through the desktop elements of the trade development books. Each junior soldier was also tasked with giving a presentation on their civilian employment. Whilst the Comd Team carried on with Coy business, in pairs the juniors were set a Tiffy Dilemma. This was the first time they had been set such a task, but the results were very good. Under questioning from the OC and PC, they could answer questions, and justified some assumptions they made. No answer was perfect, but they rarely are in a Tiffy Dilemma.

Due to the COVID restrictions in place, personnel were unable to explore Belize, however we made the most of our short time in BATSUB utilising the swimming pool. This provided a welcome respite from the hot and humid conditions, whether it was to take in a few lengths of the pool, conduct a military swim test, partake in pool games or just to simply unwind, the troops made the most it. We were fortunate to be able to have BBQ’s where the chefs did a sterling job!

During the exercise we also had the delight of Euro 2020. For most, this will be particularly memorable as it was the first time, they will have seen England reach a final. We were fortunate enough to be able to watch the matches via BFBS if production targets were met. Naturally this spurred the shopfloor along to ensure they were able to watch the matches!

Overall Ex CARIBBEAN REHAB 21 was a fantastic example of Regular and Reserve soldiers working towards a common goal; whilst strengthening the links between 101Bn REME and its paired Regular Battalion 5Bn REME. Everyone went away with a sense of pride for a job well done, in very challenging circumstances. The exercise pushed us to come up with innovative ways of working, which were demonstrated in both the command and production spaces.

At the end of production Ex CR 21 had completed 66 of the 74 jobs allocated, with the remaining 8 awaiting spares. 61 hours of L1 tasks and 213 hours of L2 production had been delivered, for a total of 274 hours, and this ensured BATSUB could conduct their next training cycle at maximum efficiency.