42 Commando RM

From Bingo to Battle: Building Combat Readiness

by Mne Ingham, J Coy

It’s not every day you see a former Mecca bingo hall transformed into a battlefield, but for J Coy, that is exactly where some of the most effective and unorthodox training of the year took place. The conversion of this run-down, dystopian structure into a complex urban warfare scenario was imaginative and downright hoofing.

The training delivered realism you cannot replicate on a static range. Rooms that once echoed with shouts of ‘Full House!’ and ’Bingo!’ and had never seen anyone more dangerous than ‘Maureen’ after a few too many WKDs, were now filled with sim-loaded MCX rifles rather than paint dabbers.

Members of J Coy on Sennybridge Ranges

Negotiating the unfamiliar layout of the bingo hall and the clutter of its bygone purpose demands a high level of control and judgement at every level; knowing when to switch between slow and deliberate and hard and fast is critical in this environment.

But just as we had begun to feel more comfortable in Close Quarter Battle tactics, we upped sticks to the greenery of Sennybridge range for live fire tactical training where negotiating ditches and folds in the ground using live rounds demands a different set of skills.

From break contact drills to fire team assaults and section attacks, every man sharpened his confidence and competence down the range, getting familiar with the mental shift required to move from the urban bingo hall to the rural range.

Beyond improving the tactical lethality of the Coy in a range of environments, the broader benefit of this training was in the sense of cohesion it generated across the Coy. Commanders at every level honed their adaptability, young Marines exercised initiative and the newer members of the Coy realised that the fundamental soldiering skills, fresh in their minds from Lympstone, have given them a strong foundation on which to build.

J Coy finished this training concentration as a tighter-knit and undeniably more lethal team. It was yet another building block towards validation as the UK’s first Special Operations Maritime Task Group in the New Year. What’s next you may ask? Another change of context; a Coy(-) deployment to the Baltic Sea to get our sea legs.