National servicemen train in New Guinea DPR/TV/319

Fifty young National Servicemen are carrying out jungle training in New Guinea as part of Army 'Exercise Sprinkler Two'. They are getting some of their most valuable training since they joined the Army. Mountain tracks are hard to climb in the mountainous Maprik area, 60 miles from Wewak on the north side of Papua New Guinea where the exercise is being carried out and many of the men realised for the first time what conditions their fathers and uncles had faced during World War Two. The soldiers were not pressed too hard in case of heat exhaustion and progress was slow. Even so they covered nine miles of heartbreaking country in the first day. Then it was time for a rest and meal. Combined with the military aspects of the exercise the soldiers are taking part in a new role for most of them acting as ambassadors to the native village people with whom they come in contact during the eight day patrol. Before dawn of the second day they were on the move again stopping beside a mountain stream to wash and shave. From then on each mountain became a major obstacle. Not experienced bush walkers let alone mountaineers the young soldiers often needed a helping hand. But as the day wore on they found themselves becoming more acclimatised and able to move faster. The razorbacks of New Guinea were a new experience to the National Servicemen but 'Exercise Sprinkler Two' is the sort of tough training that makes real soldiers. It will stand by them when they return to 5th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment Headquarters at Holsworthy New South Wales.