ISLAMABAD: Men of Steel at their best – is not merely a slogan but the strong soldiers of Pakistan Army have proved recently at an international exercise “Cambrian Patrol” held in the United Kingdom, by clinching the gold medal. An eight-member team comprising strong soldiers of Infantry Corps of Pakistan Army participated in the exercise, where 85 teams of 15 nations’ militaries including the United States, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand and India participated.The US won Silver medal while Indian team could only managed to get Bronze.The UK Army’s Commander 12 Mechanized Brigade, Brig. General J C Maciejewski while giving away the medal to Pakistan Army’s team said “Pakistani Soldiers are the best – their role in war against terror is commendable.”Seeing the level of their preparedness the world is confidant that they are in safe hands in the presence of Pakistan Army, the British Army’s Brig. General added.
Lt. Colonel Jamal Commanding Officer of the Infantry Unit which participated in the exercise while interacting with APP termed the winning of Gold Medal a big honour not only for Army but for the country as a whole.Team leader Major Asfandyar, who was jubilant after winning the prestigious award, said the team was given variety of tasks in 48 a hours time span while over 250 judges – 200 of them visible and other 50 non visible – had round-the- clock adjudged the performance of the Pakistani team. Around 15 major tasks besides a numerous number of small tasks were perfectly undertaken by the soldiers who were carrying over 30 Kgs back-pack each during the exercise.“Pakistan Army team comprises Ninjas”, Major Asfandyar said while quoting comments of a senior army officer from the UK Army who observed the performance of Pakistan Army team throughout.
Exercise Cambrian Patrol is a prestigious British Army exercise which is organized annually in United Kingdom in Wales. Apart from teams from British Army, teams from military establishments all over the world are also invited to participate.
It is a three-day exercise in which the teams, comprising eight members, are required to infiltrate into simulated enemy lines and perform multiple tasks including obstacle crossing, close target reconnaissance and exfiltrate successfully in real time environments. For Year – 2010, a total of 86 teams participated in the exercise, including 70 British and 16 teams from other countries of the world including.
Though this exercise is being undertaken in the UK since 1951, Pakistan Army was invited to participate in 2008 for the first time. At that time, Pakistan Army had won Bronze while in the proceeding year it won Silver and now it has risen up to win Gold – App
