The Cambrian Patrol

In October 2021, members of the British armed forces were joined by nearly twenty teams from around the world as they travelled to Wales to take part in what has been described as one of the hardest exercises in the world; the Cambrian Patrol.

The exercise saw teams of eight personnel plan and carry out a two-day, 37 mile patrol across the Brecon Beacons national park, tackling a variety of challenges as they advanced. These ranged from casualty evacuation scenarios and dealing with mock improvised explosive devices, to an open-water crossing and investigating possible chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.

Each stage of the exercise was scored, with the teams competing to earn gold, silver, bronze or certificate awards. On average, only five per cent of patrols gain the top award every year while about a third fail to finish.

After preliminary equipment checks, each leader was given their orders while the rest of the team established a patrol base, and prepared a model of the area, using whatever materials they could find, with a grid system layed over the top.

Once built, the leader ran through the route and what to expect, including orders on how to respond to enemy attack, separation from the group and medical emergencies. With the recent release of the 25th film in the James Bond franchise, it was good to hear one team embracing the zeitgeist, with “Moonraker”, “Goldeneye” and “Skyfall” featuring in their chosen code words.

With the briefings complete, the patrol began, with each group setting off at staggered intervals.

As mentioned above, challenges could come at any time through the patrol, with an early scenario seeing each patrol discovering a multiple casualty event, where a vehicle had lost control and crashed into a minefield, scattering the injured across the area. Teams had to earn points through identifying the potential threats, clearing safe routes and treating the casualties, while reporting the incident back to headquarters.

Scenarios such as the minefield incident were staffed by volunteers including those from companies such as Mabway, a business which provides actors and training staff, some of whom are amputees, allowing them to realistically recreate limb damage and severe trauma injuries, with hidden bloodpacks recreating arterial bleeds.

After hours of walking over rough terrain carrying full kit, the teams made their way up a long ascent to a man-made reservoir at the head of a valley, where an open-water crossing took place. The temperatures up there were low and when in a boat on the water, the wind cut straight through, so the idea of stripping away some of my clothing, bagging it up and taking the plunge was not an appealing one.

Due to the varying speeds of each team, most were tending to reach this point after the sun had set, when temperatures dropped even further. As one member of the directing staff told me, at night, it is totally pitch black with the nearest town many miles away. The support team on the water could only count the team members in on one bank and out on the other, watching to keep sight of the red head torches remaining above water as they crossed.

Once out of the water and up the steep bank, a maximum of fifteen minutes was granted to dry off, attend to any medical issues and set off on the patrol route.

As I travelled around the vast area of the designated route, it was fascinating to see both sides of the story, with some teams showing signs of exhaustion while others revelled in appearing to be just as fresh as their first mile. On day two, word went around the site of one team jogging past another, with winks, smiles and thumbs up. Away from the competitors, the roleplay actors and directing staff worked long hours to provide realistic scenarios for the teams as they passed through, grabbing sleep between team arrivals at their location.

Further into the patrol, the teams reached the village of Cilieni, a FIBUA (Fighting In Built Up Areas) training zone, consisting of houses, farm buildings and even a church with artificial graveyard.

On arrival, orders came through that required them to take part in “Artillery Target and Emergency Close Air Support Procedures”. This involved directing artillery fire on attacking enemy forces surrounding the village, using simulation software to detect the targets, call in the coordinates and order the strike, from within a mock observation point.

On successfully marking and launching the strike, three enormous charges were triggered outside the building to replicate the incoming artillery fire. As a word of advice, the teams began to arrive in the village at around 11pm and kept coming until after 4am. The decision to camp nearby, being jolted awake by the earth-shaking shockwaves from the explosive charges at totally random times throughout the night, probably wasn’t the best.

Due to the nature of the logistics of the challenge, it’s hard to know when and where each team will arrive at each scenario, so it was lucky timing to arrive at the The Mid-Wales Hospital in time to see a team search for hazardous materials during a CBRN (Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear) exercise. Previously known as “Brecon and Radnor Counties Joint Lunatic Asylum”, the abandoned psychiatric hospital provided an unsettling location for the test, with warnings of asbestos and other hazardous materials placed all around the structure. Reading about the frontal lobotomies and other truly horrifying procedures carried out on the site in previous years only added to the disturbing atmosphere.

As the teams reached the end of the patrol, they were debriefed behind closed doors, before proceeding to the EndEx (End of Exercise) area where they handed over all of their ammunition, checked their weapons and finally let it sink in what they had achieved. Even now, the teams had no idea how they had done with the results only coming a few hours later.

Exercise Cambrian Patrol is organised and run by Headquarters 160th (Welsh) Brigade, based in Brecon, and has been held annually since 1959.

My thanks to the Ministry of Defence and the participating teams for allowing me to document their experience.