Tricky Tests For UN Troops In Military Competition

UN troops based in Cyprus have been competing in an annual military skills competition.

The multi-national event takes place inside the buffer zone in Nicosia and tests teams on a whole range of military capabilities.

Drawn from a host of nations they spend their days working together, patrolling the UN buffer zone that divides the two sides of Cyprus.

But for one day each year colleagues become competitors as the UN hosts its hotly contested military skills competition.

The teams are tested over half a dozen disciplines, including their driving skills.

On one cross country circuit, each team, in this case Serbians and Hungarian soldiers, gets 20 minutes to complete a series of tasks.

Manoeuvring their UN trucks through some tricky terrain, tested on not just their driving, but their communication skills too.

"We've designed this to correspond with every terrain they'll be up against," says WO2 Jim Furness, Master Driver, UNFICYP.

"The design is to test everybody equally...and be able to drive confidently, but more importantly, safely."

They teams face an assault course, orienteering and a command task.

They are also tested on an incident reaction stand - a mock UN helicopter has crashed close to a pretend minefield and it is the teams’ job to extract the casualties.

Being tested is a team from 7 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps – the British Army unit currently deployed on Op Tosca.

A disorientated passenger wanders towards the minefield and has to be restrained, while the walking wounded are led away.

Nearby, the troops find the pilot and have to deal with a simulated fatality.

Last year a team from the Force Military Police Unit took top honours in the competition.

One of the other key competition tests is marksmanship.

This year the organisers devised something a little different - a game of darts on the firing range.

After 13 hours of activities, victory went to a British Army team with Argentinian sides taking second and third place.