Afghanistan training in the UK

Hat tip to the London-based Frontline Club who are holding a film showing in a few days:

Quote:

Afghanistan in the UK is the latest film from the media company VICE, renowned for their different approach to stories, and one which is rarely without controversy.

With this new film they have travelled to STANTA training camp in East Anglia which is designed to exactly replicate army strongholds in Afghanistan. Encountering recruits as young as 18 and ex-pat Afghanis and Gurkhas currently employed by the army to act as Afghani citizens, Taliban and suicide bombers, their cameras follow the day to day life of army training.

The film shows the gruelling recuitment training process and scenarios ranging from discussions held between Commanding Officers and local elders to heavy mortar fire and suicide bombers.

This is an insight into the training process recruits endure before they are ready to face combat, showing the mental and physical strength expected of each soldier. Afghanistan in the UK is a different perspective on the understanding of warfare.

The film’s producer, Andy Capper of VICE, said: “We were told that the next time we slept in a bed would be five days away. Then we were thrown head first into four 36-hour back-to-back missions that were some of the most exhausting and gruelling things that I have ever been on. Despite that, it was a really fun trip. I hope the men and women who let us into their world for a week like the film we made.

Link:http://frontlineclub.com/events/2010...m_medium=email

There are several clips of the film on the production company website:http://www.vbs.tv/en-gb/?utm_source=...m_medium=email

I hope they can be viewed beyond the UK. Best placed here rather than the wider thread on the UK in Afghanistan.

Sounds like a similar film made in the U.S. a few years ago called FULL BATTLE RATTLE.

Thetford theatre

Quote:

The scene is Afghanistan but the location is Stanford Training Area (Stanta) in Thetford, where the British Forces’ Operational Training Advisory Group (Optag) leaves nothing to chance in preparing soldiers for war with the Taliban.

Must admit can't accept the claim that "... a £14 million investment by the MoD, the 30,000-acre space has become an ultra-realistic “mini-Helmand”.

Would have spent the £14 million on the rehabilitation of war maimed soldiers and done even more ultra-realistic training in Afghanistan itself.

That also means that a whole bunch more money could also be saved from what is blown on the safaris to Kenya (in the name of Afghanistan preparation).