Smoke, stretchers and eyebrow threading: Sophie sees Sandhurst battlefield challenge
Dressed in a camouflage jacket with her hair tied back, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, looked relaxed as she met members of the British and Canadian armed forces taking part in a competition named in her honour.
Ten military teams from across the British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and the Canadian armed forces compete in the annual Duchess of Edinburgh Cup.
This is a demanding test of battlefield skill and teamwork – and was held this year at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
The event brings together units linked to Her Royal Highness's honorary military appointments who compete in a series of physical and mental challenges inspired by real combat and crisis situations.
This year's competition was organised by the Royal Army Medical Service, and opened with a simulated drone strike scenario, where teams had to assess casualties and deliver emergency treatment inside a dark, smoke-filled tent.
Captain Lizzie Willis, from 144 Parachute Medical Squadron, told BFBS Forces News: "It's chaos – so as soon as you go into the environment, you don't know where to look.
"And you're kind of drawn to someone, often people are shouting, but they're probably not the sickest. It's very disorientating, and the smoke just adds to that."
Next came a series of high-intensity stretcher races, testing the teams' stamina and coordination. After a promising start for 5 Rifles, who took a strong lead, the opening round was won by Canadian contingent the Lincoln and Welland Regiment.
They narrowly won the race after the 5 Rifles team came unstruck when their casualty dummy fell off the stretcher, tripping one of the team over and handing victory to the Canadians.
Team leader Sergeant Ashley Hielema said: "It was challenging, but it was fun and it was good to work together as a team... just ensuring the casualty's okay, they're not going to fall off and making sure we can get them to safety as fast as we can."
Away from the physical challenges, the competition also featured a command task inspired by a nuclear incident, where participants had to use ropes, pulleys and clips to neutralise an imagined threat.
Major John Prescott, from Royal Army Medical Headquarters, said the problem-solving element showed impressive ingenuity.
He said: "Believe it or not, the idea came from one of the team members – the way she threads her eyebrows.
"So she wanted to use the same idea on the 12ft rope, and trap the device, and that will allow them to control the spin, and turn and drop the device to render it safe."
Private Katie Perks from 1 Medical Regiment added: "Considering we've been jumping off walls and diving into swimming pools today, that's probably the most stressful thing we've done all day. I think it just took a lot more thinking and planning."
After a full day of competition, 1 Medical Regiment were crowned the overall winners of the Duchess of Edinburgh Cup, with RAF Wittering taking second place and 1 Royal Irish in third.
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