Friday Feb 10th - Sun Feb 12th 2006. Princehall near two bridges was the venue for the annual Ashburton team weekend. Traditionally this weekend is the weekend where we all get together to perform extended exercises and go over some of the more academic elements of our work. Plus it's an excellent get to know each other team building event.
After a relaxing introduction on Friday evening we were woken early for the Saturday brief. The morning exercise was navigation. Formed into small teams we were tasked to find various objects on the moor (some easy, some very small) and then radio in what we could observe at the location. One of the details to radio was each of the team members pulse rate which was a fun task. After Lunch the second exercise of the day was a SAR. After a relatively quick search it was evident that this wasn't going to be a simple exercise. Teams ended up finding two casualty sites, one with potential life threatening injuries. This required control to perform some triaege through often quite difficult comms. A very good exercise in which all learnt a great deal.
Sunday's exercise was with the RAF Sea-King helicopter crew from Chivenor. After meeting us at Coombestone tor and some marshalling practice, we were given a quick fly around the south moor prior to an exercise to find a casualty in the Dart Gorge. A very good winch exercise was performed and it was felt that both DRG Ashburton and RAF Chivenor benefited from the exercise..