This year's camp was at Okehampton Training Area. The main camp is placed idyllically up a narrow road with, in places, a steep gradient. Our coaches rattled slowly up the twisting road and we eventually got our first glimpse of Okehampton Camp.  

As soon as we got off the coach and we were organised into our sections and platoons, pre exercise admin commenced. We all, for the most part, thought we were carrying enough weight, especially after filling several water bottles; then we were given our rations, 3 days worth.

Then a few smoke grenades. Some bat sims. Some trip flares. Not to mention the radios and the spare batteries. There was some swift unpacking of luxury items.  

In the evening we set off as a Company, making slow progress, morale ranged from extreme excitement on the part of Aber Company members (especially Scott Anderson) to those who just wanted to get on with it. Our first obstacle as a Company was an IED'd land rover, where we were attacked by our extremely cunning, clever enemy, the Royal Welsh warriors.

These warriors of Wales were accustomed to mountain terrain, valleys and fighting. The vast majority of us on the other hand learnt the hard way in SENTA that hills mean blisters and misery. However all was not lost. Though it seemed to take the rest of the evening, we eventually reached our harbour area, and got some tea on.

With a bit of tea, the bashers up and the Company settling into an admin routine the banter started flowing, and everything wasn't quite as bad as it had seemed. After a few hours of sleep we awoke to find out that one of our returning sentries had wandered off in the night, but she came back in the morning.

Then came possibly the most demoralising part of the whole exercise - a trudge up the tallest knoll on Dartmoor which climaxed in a skirmish at the top. Surely it could only get better from here!  What followed wasn't so bad, long periods of tabbing with the occasional skirmish. Things were going well. The banter kept us going, that and a good supply of tea and pride.

After a few days the routine of the exercise had settled down and there was a growing sense that we could get through this and thus started to enjoy it a bit more. In the last days of the exercise we launched a full Company Somme-style attack on an enemy held hill, which was as interesting as it was crazy. Following the remake of the classic final scene of Blackadder Goes Forth we trudged back to our final harbour area.  

On the penultimate day of the exercise we were attacked by the other Company, who had been up until now our erstwhile and trustful ally. However in the evening after our miraculous resurrection we marched through the night and lay in a bog for a few hours, before attacking the traitorous yellow rogues. Following our successful attack which succeeded in totally destroying the enemy it was time for photographs, and a good measure of tea and Haribo.  

As we tabbed back into camp we were all looking forwards to the next day, on the beach! We were all looking forwards to some non field time, and for most of the OTC there was a real sense of achievement as we walked into camp. However before we could completely relax and enjoy ourselves, we settled down to clean our weapons.  

See you next year Okehampton!