Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Tough task for Tigers as they train in Spain
Canterbury soldiers have returned from a gruelling NATO training expedition alongside Spanish troops in the Pyrenees.
The 3rd Battalion Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (3 PWRR) embarked on the twoweek exercise with soldiers from 62 Regimento de Cazadores de Montana (62 RCZM) in northern Spain.
The reservists, known as The Tigers, joined the specialist Spanish mountain warfare regiment to develop their skills for future operations.
Lt Col John Baynham, 45, commanding officer of 3 PWRR, said: “You can’t tell the regulars from the reserves.
“They’ve demonstrated that they’ve really come forward an awful long way.”
Having been in command of the battalion for twoand- a- half years, Lt Col Baynham thought the reserves had made an “astonishing” improvement.
The Tigers were joined by their paired battalion, 1 Royal Anglian Regiment, as they learned military manoeuvres in a realistic training combat environment.
L Cpl Scott Payne, 27, spent six years with the 2nd Battalion in different locations across Europe and completed two tours in Afghanistan.
He said: “I spent two years adjusting to normal life and then decided that I’d probably like to give it a go again; to help share my experiences with some of the junior lads and pass on what I can to the others.”
Often likened to the Royal Marines, 62 RCZM welcomed 155 officers and soldiers in the first ever joint exercise between this Spanish regiment and the British Army.
For many of the soldiers, this was the first time they have worked with a NATO ally.
Col Salvador, 46, Command- ing Officer of 62 RCZM, said: “From this exercise I cannot extract any big difference between a reservist and the regular army.”
Laser technology, thermal imagery and night sights were among the latest equipment available to the British soldiers while in Spain.
In one scenario, The Tigers and their Spanish counterparts took on an overnight march in severe weather conditions across rugged mountain terrain.
The soldiers trained together to gain a better understanding of each other’s procedures and tactical ability at high altitude.