Training hard in the heat and securing networks back home: Cpl Pretty
Cpl Adam Pretty was Communications Specialist deployed on Operation TRENTON. Alongside making sure that South Sudan had the proper communications infrastructure in place, he was also helping on the Physical Training side of life for the soldiers
UK Armed Forces personnel completed their final tour of duty with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in March.
UK Armed Forces personnel had been stationed in Malakal, Bentiu and Juba since 2017 as part of Operation TRENTON — the British element of the UNMISS.
Here is what Cpl Pretty said👇
I am a communications specialist who was deployed overseas on Op TRENTON in South Sudan. Operational wise it was my first tour, I’m glad that I’ve had the experience.
My journey to South Sudan was actually quite funny to be fair…
We travelled down to Brize Norton and we found out the flight was delayed, we then had to go all the way back to York. We stayed there for the night and then we travelled back down the next day, where the RAF was on time this time… the first 24 hours was a bit of a nightmare, we travelled back and forth from York to Brize but we eventually got there in the end.
Once we got to South Sudan, we stepped off that plane for the first time and it was absolutely roasting! Honestly, I’ve never felt anything like it. My god, it hit me straight away, especially being in kit as well, it was something else.
As a communications specialist in South Sudan, I was helping provide all the communications such as networks, emails and phone calls. Without us, the Army would struggle to function.
We provided the whole communications network between Malakal, Bentui, Juba and the UK.
The sort of things we set up was the WIFI, this is important as some of the guys and girls as its 3-month away and for some their first deployment which can be difficult if you cant get in touch with your loved ones back home.
I was also a PTI (Physical Training Instructor) on Op TRENTON, it was quite hard because of the humidity and the heat I had to be very careful. When we were first deployed we had to do two weeks of climatisation, which is a program that gets you used to working and doing PT (Physical Training) in this heat. I’ve done the PT programs for 136 personnel.
It’s all about getting both the men and women used to training in the heat, sometimes it can be up to 36 degrees which is a lot for a soldier who is used to -2 degrees back in the UK.
Some of the soldiers liked to work out at lunch, which is fine to do but they really had to be careful of the temperature. Anything above 30 degrees would mean no PT, we couldn’t risk any heat injuries.
In my downtime, I was keeping myself fit and at night I was studying — going over my books, looking at physiology and anatomy — prepping myself for July where I will be transferring to the Royal Army Physical Training Corps.
I always hated studying, I left school because I didn’t want to do it. It’s weird to say that I never liked being told what to do — and here I am in the Army seven and half years later.
It’s was quite nice, even though we were on an operation we have been given that time to study and better ourselves.
