Mountain Leader Training Cadre
Encyclopedia
The Mountain Leader Training Cadre is a training element of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 which provides instruction in Mountain Warfare
Mountain warfare
Mountain warfare refers to warfare in the mountains or similarly rough terrain. This type of warfare is also called Alpine warfare, named after the Alps mountains...

, Arctic warfare
Arctic warfare
Arctic warfare or winter warfare is a term used to describe armed conflict that takes place in an exceptionally cold weather, usually in snowy and icy terrain, sometimes on ice-covered bodies of water...

, cold weather survival and operations, and cliff assault. The Cadre
En cadre
En cadre or cadre is a French expression originally denoting either the complement of commissioned officers of a regiment or the permanent skeleton establishment of a unit, around which the unit could be built if needed...

 has a permanent staff of Mountain and Arctic Warfare instructors and trains Mountain Leaders for employment in the formations of the corps.

Mountain Leaders and The Cadre's role involve all aspects of mountaineering
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...

, reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

, route-finding, rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...

, ice climbing
Ice climbing
Ice climbing, as the term indicates, is the activity of ascending inclined ice formations. Usually, ice climbing refers to roped and protected climbing of features such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, and cliffs and rock slabs covered with ice refrozen from flows of water. For the purposes of...

 and survival in cold temperatures. Each company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...

 sized sub-unit within a Commando
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

 is required to have at least one Grade 2 Mountain Leader (ML2) who will have undergone training with the Cadre. Grade 1 Mountain Leaders will conduct Cold Weather Warfare for Company groups upwards.

History

During the 1950s the Royal Marine Cliff Assault Wing formed to train Marines in rock climbing and cliff assault techniques. Elite training of Cliff Leaders in the late 1950s required rocky landings from various small craft (kayaks, Zodiacs and other motorized assault craft) often in heavy seas onto the Cornish coast, and rapid tactical ascents and descent of the vertical faces. This skill set was necessary for exposing all trainees during the last week of the commando (green beret) course. Instructors publicly demonstrated (e.g. at Navy Days) commando methods of abseiling and high-speed fixed rope descent from clifftop grapple-hook anchors. These would typically include the `run-down' method (a simple face down arm wrap, sometimes demonstrated on high urban buildings, and essential when carrying small arms) and the `front swallow' and other dangerous slides down a fixed rope. These demonstrations were discontinued after a young officer was killed during a display in Madison Square Garden in 1960. His name was Antony Laurence Easterbrook, RM Captain, 31 years old . The remit of the Wing grew through the 50s and 60s until it became responsible for Winter Warfare and Reconnaissance, becoming the Reconnaissance Leader Troop. Becoming the Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre in 1970 the personnel moved to Stonehouse Barracks in Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, training all units in 3 Commando Brigade
3 Commando Brigade
3 Commando Brigade is a commando formation of the British Armed Forces and the main manoeuvre formation of the Royal Marines. Its personnel are predominantly Royal Marines, supported by units of Royal Engineers, Royal Artillery, The Rifles, and the Fleet Air Arm, together with other Commando...

 in its new role in defence of NATO's northern flank covering Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...

 during the later Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

.

In 1992 the Cadre was split, forming the nucleus of the Brigade Patrol Troop
Brigade Patrol Troop
The Brigade Patrol Troop is a troop of Royal Marines, United Kingdom, under command of the Support Squadron 3 Commando Brigade. The Troop consists of six teams of four men each. They are employed in a reconnaissance role, ahead of the main force collecting information on the enemy and reporting...

 and becoming the Mountain Leader Training Cadre. The Cadre later reunited before splitting up again in 2000. The Cadre remains based in Stonehouse however cold weather training is carried out in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

Courses

ML2 is open to Subalterns
Subaltern (rank)
A subaltern is a chiefly British military term for a junior officer. Literally meaning "subordinate," subaltern is used to describe commissioned officers below the rank of captain and generally comprises the various grades of lieutenant. In the British Army the senior subaltern rank was...

 and Other Ranks
Other Ranks
Other Ranks in the British Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force are those personnel who are not commissioned officers. In the Royal Navy, these personnel are called ratings...

 who have completed Junior Command Course. The course is 8 months long and takes place over the autumn and winter months in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. Training includes rock climbing, survival, Resistance to Interrogation (RTI), patrolling and raiding, snow and ice climbing and cold weather survival. All candidates are required to qualify as Military Ski Instructors.

The final assessment is a patrol exercise in Norway involving infiltration, close reconnaissance, exfiltration followed by capture and RTI.

ML2s will provide Mountain and Arctic Warfare training within a sub-unit command and will support ML1s in unit training.

ML1 is open only to Royal Marines who have completed Senior Command Course. Training similarly takes 8 months, with candidates instructing ML2 training under supervision before being assessed by experienced trainers instructing in regular units. The course completes on the PATROLEX with ML2s, as section leader and similarly culminating in capture and RTI.

Conflict role

Whilst the Cadre is a training and instructional unit, the expertise held by the permanent staff can be exploited in conflict, as experienced ML1s these Marines may be called on to form reconnaissance patrols or lead cliff assaults for 3 Commando Brigade
3 Commando Brigade
3 Commando Brigade is a commando formation of the British Armed Forces and the main manoeuvre formation of the Royal Marines. Its personnel are predominantly Royal Marines, supported by units of Royal Engineers, Royal Artillery, The Rifles, and the Fleet Air Arm, together with other Commando...

.

Falklands War

During the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

 the staff and students formed two patrol groups and were engaged in direct action alongside other Brigade assets, such as the Battle of Top Malo House
Battle of Top Malo House
The Skirmish at Top Malo House was fought on 31 May 1982 during the Falklands War, between 1st section Argentine Special Forces from 602 Commando Company and a patrol formed from staff and students of the British Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre, a training unit of the Royal Marines placed under...

.
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