Wildcats in the jungle

"It's been good already"

To begin with, Poles went to the advanced BOA base (Base Opérationnelle Avancee) at the Guyana border with Brazil. There, the students spent 3 days acclimatizing. Then, together with 120 French cadets, they were transported to the C.E.F.E. base (Centre d'Entraînement en Foręt Équatoriale) – a training centre in combat and endurance in the jungle led by the 3rd abroad Infantry Regiment (3e REI) French Foreign Legion. “There we rapidly realized that “it was nice.” From the beginning, very intense physical exercises began – respective 100 repetitions of jacks, tummys or push-ups, and after the camp it was impossible to decision differently from moving – says plut. pchor. Participants received HK416, machete, hammocks to sleep in the jungle, tarp and rope.

On the following day, French cadets and Polish podchodów were divided into respective twelve groups and transported by the Maroni River to a jungle camp where appropriate training began under the supervision of instructors from the abroad Legion. – First we got a number of basic information about how to survive, what you can eat, what plants to avoid and what animals. They besides trained us how to tie the knots to hang the hammock, due to the fact that there is no sleeping on the ground in the jungle," explains the elder corporal of the subject (no names are given due to the nature of the future service).

He adds that for Poles it was an additional obstacle that the full class took place in French. – any of us were explained, but frequently there was no time. We had to figure out what was going on, observe and repeat after the instructors – says St. kpr. pchor. Then for 2 weeks Poles together with French cadets each day performed their tasks. If I had anything to compare it to, it'd be the closest selection to peculiar forces. all day we had quite a few force erstwhile it comes to physical exercises, powerful number of repetitions, e.g. pumps or jacks – the spit. pchor counts. – But that was not the worst, but tasks related to obstacles tracks or crossing the river and surviving in the jungle in general. It all turned out to be a real challenge – he admits.

Participants had to overcome respective obstacles tracks – all in a very thick, swampy, floody area. The track named Piste Picari consists of wooden obstacles to which you had to climb and appropriate techniques to overcome them, passing to all obstacle in water or mud. “In practice, these tracks went through the belt often, where each step was a large effort and took up quite a few time,” says plut. pchor. The tracks of obstacles were overcome individually and collectively. 1 of the team's tasks was to transport a wounded man tied to a beam, all of it wandering deep in the mud. alternatively of a surviving man, another beam played the function of the injured man.

– Literally, all step was a large challenge. There were times erstwhile people were wedged in this mud, couldn't move, so you had to step back, help, pull them out of the mud – remembers plut. pchor. As he adds, 2 Frenchmen on his squad collapsed and in effect failed to complete this track.

Three Days of Survival

At the end of the training, participants faced 1 of the most hard tasks. They must have survived 3 days in the jungle without food rations. – It all started with very intense physical exercises, to further weaken us before going into the jungle. Then they took distant virtually everything, even our shirts and shoelaces. We stayed in uniform only – he points out.

They could have taken a compass, a whistle to alert if individual got lost in the woods, had a machete, water treatment pills, a lighter, and nothing else. specified detached participants were transported by river to a place where their assignment was waiting. “During the transport of the river, we had to kneel with heads hung up, looking at the river, so that we wouldn’t know where we were going,” emphasizes AWL student.

The task of each squad was to build a camp and supply food in the jungle. Before leaving, instructors trained students from how to build traps for chaotic animals. In practice, hunting has proved to be a hard art. – We managed to catch any freshwater crabs, from which the French made soup. In addition, we fed on bark from a tree that was indicated to be fit for eating. In general, we survived on tight stomachs – the soldier recalls. As he points out erstwhile it comes to shelter, the worst was the first night. We couldn't build the shelter in time. So we slept on the ground, covered with a part of construction, and it was all leaking. It was very warm there, day and night, but it besides rained very often, everywhere wet – he says. On the 3rd day, participants were ordered to evacuate the camp. To this end, they had to build a raft and swim across a river with its help.

A predatory jungle

– This training is hard to compare to the challenges we know from our yard, kind ‘Six Men Army’, which are based primarily on excellent physical condition, strength, endurance – emphasizes plut. pchor. He points out that the large burden in training with the abroad Legion was the surviving conditions in the camp. Everywhere and all the time, we were accompanied by moisture. It was wet, we walked around in wet clothes all the time, couldn't dry them. It was a full life in a discfort, as if the goal was to exhaust us psychologically," he adds.

In addition to the endurance camp in the jungle, where they had to hunt something themselves, French cadets and Polish students were given food rations – 3600 calories each, but in practice it was not adequate to cope with challenges without caloric deficit. And there wasn't always time to eat. Anyone who didn't want to hazard not eating could have climbed a tree. To win was the precedence of receiving a meal – e.g. cayman stew served by a cook from the abroad Legion.

If food was not enough, you could always eat what the jungle offered. The instructors conducted a number of classes with the trainees on which trees you can eat, and which must be avoided, how to behave so that tropical nature would not harm them. – We were instructed about venomous snakes, spiders, insects, flies, which, while sitting on the leaves of any trees, could fly into the ear erstwhile they were hit, to lay eggs, water threats, eels, electrical eels, caymans, among others, among others.

Because of the hazard of animals approaching the camp, the defender had to be displayed at night. – All the course we slept for only 3 hours, after the night watch we had to dress again in wet clothes and be at the appeal square at 5:00 a.m. And there's inactive physical pressure. It will be good to mention it in the future, but at the place it was not so pleasant – adds St.

Every day active physical effort. In addition to dense mortars and very exhausting tasks on the tracks or in the field, instructors served additional exercises during the day, for example as penalties for besides loud conversations. – Around 19.00 was the end of the day of work and exercise, but it was impossible to relax – noted AWL student. As he says, you had to deploy the hammock, do a platoon briefing, spend an hr and a half on a bath trip. – Then a fewer hours of sleep, worth a night's worth and a wake-up call in wet, dirty clothes. And so all day – he says.

Polish Jaguars

Training participants who scored above average received ‘Jaguar’ badge. Of the 10 Poles, half obtained specified a badge, including 2 of our interviewors. As far as French cadets are concerned, about 40% of the soldiers won this award. – We heard that the French prepared for this training 9 months. Fortunately, we made fast selection, but mostly we were convinced that it would be much looser. Therefore, we are all the more pleased that all Poles have been able to pass the course and get quite a few badges – explains St.

He's gonna spit. – The ‘Jaguar’ badge is not common in the Polish Army and there is small chance to go to this course, so we are all the more pleased with it. It was a hard but very valuable experience, and I think that as Polish subjects we have shown ourselves on the right side – concludes the soldier.