The recently-completed Exercise Pukpuk is just one piece of the whole preparation of the 1RPIR to support the PNGDF and the Government deliver security to APEC 2018.
This was highlighted by the Commanding Officer for the 1RPIR, Lt. Colonel Boniface Aruma, who told media that the battalion will be the main joint task force group that will provide security for APEC.
Aruma says his troops have already embarked on conventional operations training, which commenced last month and will finish on the 15th of December.
“The personnel are out on field going through conventional operations which is the basic fundamental of war fighting.
“It’s living in the jungle, operating in the jungle and fighting the war in the jungle,” he says.
“If they know the basic fundamentals and are very competent in their profession on how to live and fight the war in the jungle then that sets the conditions for them and makes it easy for our soldiers to transition into conducting security operations inside towns and cities.”
Aruma says for the troops to be effective and efficient in their tasks, they need to go through the fundamentals first.
“Each infantry soldier in the battalion is required to complete a combat fitness which is a 25km march that you need to complete in 6 hours with a minimum of 30 to 40kg pack.
“Those are steps that we have taken as a unit to really solidify the conventional skills of fighting the war in the jungle.”
The troops have been out on training for the past two weeks with initial foundations training in Taurama then onto Goldie then finishing off with the 25km pack march.
Meanwhile, following the wrap up of the conventional operations training yesterday, Aruma says the troops will go for a brief break then onto urban operations training, which will start in January 2018.