The following article is taken from the latest issue of the Globe & Laurel magazine.
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The Commando Helicopter Force ‘sorting helmet’ had its work cut out for it as the 12 newly qualified pilots and aircrew of 846 Naval Air Squadron’s Commando 4 (CDO4) Operational Conversion Flight (OCF) sat with bated breath waiting to see where they would be sent following the completion of their flying training, which for some had taken over seven years. The flying training finale for CDO4 materialised in the form of Ex Merlin Storm 24. This saw the students, instructors, engineers and survival equipment specialists of 846 NAS deploying to Okehampton Battle Camp for a gruelling week of rapid planning and real-time tasking with a compliment of three Merlin Mk4 helicopters.
On top of this was a tactical overlay, comprising of a realistic wartime scenario which would see the OCF students utilising the skills learnt on their tactical and warfare phases of the course. Upon arrival at the camp the students were ushered away from the hardened accommodation, reserved for the instructors of course, and were instead shown what was to be their home for the week; two tents of questionable rigidity atop a hill battered with near gale-force winds. After a few hours of broken poles, makeshift windbreaks in the form of Pusser’s 50/50s and plenty of expletives, the tents were erected… for now. Come the morning, the exercise truly began. The course was split into two waves per day, each of which comprised of an ‘Int drop’ which outlined the serials they were to achieve in their flights that day.
A typical sortie would consist of lifting and shifting underslung loads around the moors, transporting troops from A to B and fulfilling all the typical roles of a support helicopter. Sounds quite easy. We should also mention that the time from receiving the tasking to delivering a full set of orders involving a two-ship formation, including comprehensive timings and fuel management plans was often no longer than 90 minutes. Not to mention the incredibly well-timed injects from staff midway through the planning phase to throw a much-needed spanner in the works (usually just as the ‘Print’ button had been clicked to provide the route maps). This was, of course, all part of the testing week.
The students were intentionally placed out of their comfort zone and forced to rework plans on the hoof to achieve the tasks at hand. Lt Cdr Tom Morris RN, the 846 NAS Warfare Officer, could often be heard telling the students, ‘Sometimes you’ll find yourself briefing off scribbles on the back of a fag packet after plan A, B and C have fallen apart.’ As Junglie pilots and aircrew, it is paramount to know no plan survives first contact and in many circumstances some infamous Junglie cunning must be applied in order to make a sound plan and achieve the task at hand.
The capabilities of the Merlin were put on display during the week with the three cabs present remaining fully serviceable and achieving a mammoth amount of real tasking, resulting in the movement of over 800 passengers over the course of the four days of flying. Highlights included squeezing two Merlins into Scraesdon Fort to drop off a contingent from 42 Cdo RM, collecting a troop of Royal Marines recruits fresh from receiving their coveted Green Berets after the infamous 30-Miler and performing an in-scenario Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) of 45 Exeter UOTC Cadets as a formation of three aircraft. Ex Merlin Storm 24 was the final push for the students of CDO4 to complete flying training and receive their illustrious flying breve or ‘Wings’. As much as the exercise was challenging and stressful, it was also a true test of the students’ abilities and what they can expect from frontline operations. Capt Elliott Graham RM, one of the OCF student pilots, backs this up saying, ‘The best part of Ex Merlin Storm 24 was the real-time tasking that had been generated which enabled realistic and challenging scenarios and …………….
To find out more about CHF and further RM activities across the globe, catch up regularly with all the news in the Globe & Laurel Magazine, the Journal of the Royal Marines.
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Globe & Laurel – RMA – The Royal Marines Charity (rma-trmc.org)
