Feature
Scottish Battalion Trains With NATO Allies
7 SCOTS are on the move, embedded in the Red Earth training area in Knin, Croatia.
They're participating in Exercise Sava Star, a two-week training exercise that gives the battalion a chance to train alongside NATO allies.
They're using the DTES kit, or the Deployable Tactical Engagement Simulator.
It works like laser tag, with sensors on their weapons and clothing measuring their accuracy and enemy kills.
7 SCOTS, 51st Higland Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, is an Army Reserve unit based in the North of Scotland.
There are 4,000 Army reservists in Scotland, and 7 SCOTS is faring well.
130 troops signed up in the last year, and 35% of those participating in Sava Star are new soldiers.
With so many new recruits joining the ranks of 7 SCOTS, Exercise Sava Star is very much about getting back to basics, giving some troops their first taster of an overseas exercise, while cementing the skills of others.
It's the start of a three-year plan for the battalion, which wants one of its companies trained up and deployable by 2019, to assist its regular counterparts on operations worldwide.
And as one of two reserve battalions in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, 7 SCOTS is always going to be busy.
This is the first of three special reports about Exercise Sava Star.
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