Trentham Army Camp Trip

On Friday 7^th June, Year 5 went to Trentham Army Camp for a visit as part of our current inquiry on Conflict and Peace.

We were told to be at the gate by 9.30am. The first thing we did when we arrived was to have an initial briefing. We met Colonel John Howard and his team of soldiers who were going to be working with us for the day. It was really interesting to see that some of them were wearing the brand new army uniforms that camouflage themselves in every type of terrain, unlike their old uniforms which only camouflage in one terrain.

The next thing that we did was to head over to the field with a couple of P.T. Instructors, who took us for some very rigorous “fitness training.” The first thing he told us to do was 3 knuckle press-ups on the icy grass because some of us talked too much. It was cooold! Then he told us how to play a game called ‘wack-a-bat’ which is like “stuck in the mud” except instead of being tagged, you have to get whacked by a bat.

For the second part of training we had a competition. First of all we were divided into 8 groups, and then we had to move around 8 different activities, spending 4 minutes at each one. Some of the tasks included having to carry a bunch of tyres and a big heavy log to one certain place then build a pretend cannon, rolling a log to a place, lifting things, having to crawl under nets, making structures and having to use speed. All of this on the freezing, icy, cold and muddy grass!

After all that exercise we were starving so thankfully it was now time for morning tea. There were slices of watermelon, rockmelon, mince pies, drinks, sandwiches, cakes and scrumptious types of cheese.

Next they took us to a special place where they keep the L.A.V.’s – AKA Light Armoured Vehicles – even though they weighed 20 tonnes each!!! They could carry about 6-8 soldiers, 2 gunners and 1 driver. They had 2 cannons, two grenade launchers and 2 machine guns. Even though the L.A.V.’s were 5 metres long they were actually pretty cramped.

Next we went to the Ammunition/Bomb Museum. There were parachute mines, torpedos, land mines and sea mines that destroy submarines and bazookas.

We saw shells, grenades, cannonballs and a container made of see-through plastic, full of gunpowder.

We also went to a little concrete area where we could control a $250,000 bomb disposal robot that could do practically anything you wanted it to do. There was a man that was wearing a bomb proof suit. Another student told me to punch the suit as hard as I could, so I did - bad mistake! I hit it so hard I took skin off my knuckle!!

For lunch we shared food from Army Ration Packs and got to meet with some of the S.A.S. soldiers.

After lunch we were all given green makeup compact sets. Inside there was a small mirror and three colours, black, light green and dark green – used for applying camouflage makeup! Some of the students completely covered their whole faces, arms and legs, looking hilarious.

Next there was a machine gun relay race where we had to hold a $12,000 machine gun. The machine gun was actually far heavier than I thought it would be.

Then we had another competition trying to throw plastic dummy grenades at a target. The person that won got two bars of dairy milk chocolate.

  

Finally we met someone called Daniel, (D.J.). He is a navigator in the NZ Air force. It was great being able to listen to him talk about what he does and ask him some questions about his job. Some of his responsibilities include checking the fuel and making sure that the planes and helicopters are in good condition before they go up into the air.

Just before we left – we had a quick came of touch rugby with 5P challenging 5S and then our parents arrived to take us home.

All in all it was a fantastic trip, with many of the boys saying it was the best school trip ever!

We would like to thank Colonel John Howard and his team for all of the time and effort they put into planning such a wonderful day for us.

Don't forget to check out all the photos in the 5S Star Gallery!

Ben & Alex