By Janet A. Sesay
The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) has officially launched a-five day live firing, patrol and skills at arms competition to assess the physical fitness and shooting skills of their personnel.
This competition was official launched on Monday, 18th November, 2024 at the PMTC at Hastings and it will end on Friday, 22nd November 2024. The competition will be conducted within the general areas of Hastings, Peninsular hills and Benguima.
Mayor Yayah Brima, the Media Operation Officer at the Joint Forces Unit (JFU) explained that the personnel would be set in six different teams and the winning team would be determined on high score basis.
The six teams, he said, are drawn from the 2nd Infantry Brigade which comprises the Armed Forces Technical and Education Centre (AFTEC), the Armed Forces Personnel Centre (AFPC) and the Armed Forces Tailoring Unit (AFTU); the 3rd Infantry Brigade, the 4th Infantry Brigade, the 5th Infantry Brigade-comprising of the Armed Forces Training Centre (AFTC), the Peace Mission Training Centre (PMTC), the Horton Command and Staff College (HCSC), the Armed Forces Band (AFB) and the Armed Forces Agricultural Unit (AFAU).
He furthered that the competition will also include the Forces Troops that comprises of the Maritime Wing (MW), Air Wing (AW), Engineer Regiment, Forces Intelligence and Security Unit (FISU) and Artillery Battery and the last being the Joint Support Unit comprising the Joint Logistics Unit (JLU), Joint Medical Unit (JMU), Joint Provost Unit (JPU), Joint Communication Unit (JCU) and the Armed Forces Physical Training Wing (AFPTW).
Major Brima furthered that the competition will be conducted in two phases, explaining that Phase 1 will be of patrol exercises that will involve jungle walks and fighting simulations.
He said each participating team is represented by a patrol team of 30 military personnel including six female soldiers, and that each patrol team is required to start the exercise from PMTC and will navigate through the Peninsular Hills and end at the AFTC.
He said each team would be assessed on weapon handling, harbour drills, advance to contact drills, anti-ambush drills, first aid drills and casualty evacuation procedure.
Major Brima went on that Phase 2 of the competition will consider the skills-at-arms exercise and this involves running and live firing, pointing out that each participating team would also be represented by a skills-at-arms team comprising personnel of various ranks ranging from Private to Lieutenant Colonel.
He said each skills-at-arms team will be assessed on the following practices: Rifle March, Pistol March, Close Quarter Battle March, March and Shoot, GPMG March and Falling Plates March.
Major General Dauda Alpha, Commander of the Joint Force while addressing the personnel said the objectives of the competition is to develop the potential of a soldier as an individual and as a part of a team to produce a self-confident soldier that is physically fit and equipped with basic skills and fighting qualities needed to survive in the battlefield; to help a soldier achieve swift reaction and fire accurately to suppress and kill an enemy with his rifle from all combat positions and to ensure continuity of training and prevent skills fade.
Major General Alpha disclosed that nine awards will be given out at the end of the competition and that the awards will includes: Best Pistol Firer, Best Female Firer, Best Male Firer, Best Patrol Commander, Best Patrol Team, Best GPMG Firer, Overall Best Team, Second Best Team and Third Best Team.
He said the competition will attract participants from State House, the Senior Management Team of the Ministry of Defence, Office of National Security, Ministry of Finance, Sierra Leone Police, National Fire Force and Sierra Leone Correctional Service.
Major Alpha clarified that the participation of the above-named institutions will be limited to the skills-at-arms exercise only.
He maintained that the competition which will also attract the participation of these senior government officials on non-scoring basis will improve on the individual tactfulness and build better team cohesion amongst the participating institution.
Representing the Chief of Staff, Brigadier General A.S. Bockarie in his statement on behalf of the Ministry of Defense noted the significance of the competition noting that the skills-at-arms training, is actually the type of training that develops the high standard of proficiency with solid foundation and the fundamental principles of marksmanship.
He maintained that the essence of this year’s activity is as a result of the abhorring outcome of the incident of November 26, which according to him was “disheartening,” pointing out however that for any issue and challenge there must be a mitigating factor or strategy that would mitigate them in future.
He encouraged all the participants to be part of the solution and not be part of the problem.
He thanked everyone at the launching event, especially the organizers for a successful event.
He noted that the training will enhance or have impact on the productivity of institutions and the performance of the individual, pointing out that training of this nature, helps professionals to develop their skills and improve their responsibilities through those skills.
He further that they are gathered today to make sure that they adopt to whatever they are going to learn from this particular exercise and put it into practice as it will help them in the future.
He encouraged participants to master their principles of marksmanship as they would be engaged in target shooting, precision shooting and smart-speed shooting in a safe and peaceful environment, but also in a responsible manner, adding that this is all aimed at improving and ensuring self-discipline in the personnel.
He formally declared the 2024 Skills-at-Arms Competition officially opened.
The commanding officer of Forces Recognizance Unit, Lieutenant Colonel, M.D. Bawoh said military personnel operate weapons and equipment to engage and destroy enemies ground forces, noting therefore that it is no over statement to state that the competition is physical demanding and is considered to be the job in the military to keep its personnel mentally and psychologically fitted and distressful.