Jonny Priest is Guest of Honour at Survival Graduation
18 Feb 20
News
The course teaches aviators from across Defence the
basic principles and priorities of survival. Students are taught what to do,
how to think and how to use survival equipment in the event of an incident that
may lead to them being isolated. They undertake a rigorous training schedule
and come away with skills including fire lighting; building shelters; finding,
building and preserving water and food and how to psychologically cope with the
challenges they face.
At the end of each course, a guest of honour is invited
to present students with their graduation certificates and to speak to them
about challenges they faced. All of the guests have been bestowed awards for
bravery during their careers – including JP.
This particular training cohort - Permissive Land
Survival Course 01/20 - was made up of 24 students with a mix of pilots, weapon
systems operators and ISTAR specialists from both the Royal Air Force and Army
Air Corps. JP was invited to speak to the students just hours after they had
returned from their training, which had taken place during a particularly cold
and wet week in January!
JP with the 24 graduates of Permissive Land Survival Course 01/20
JP spoke to the trainees about his career as a whole and the series of events that led to him being awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). He spoke of the challenge of leadership on operations and the importance of cooperation across the services on joint operations.
During an exchange with the Army Air Corps in his time
flying the Lynx Mk 7, JP was detached to Kenya in support of Army training. Whilst
there, him and his unit were called upon to support Operation Barras which had
been initiated to rescue soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment who were being
held captive in the jungle by an armed militia group known as the West Side
Boys.
JP was
awarded a DFC for his leadership and bravery during the rescue mission in which
he flew a lynx Helicopter in a close air support role, supporting the units on
the ground and the RAF Chinooks who recovered the soldiers.
JP left the students with the advice: “Treat every tour as your last and you will have an amazing time”.
Congratulations to all of the graduates and we wish you the best of luck for your future military careers - we are sure our paths will cross again!
JP signing the SERE wall of honour.
All images MoD Crown Copyright 2020, with thanks to Mr Gordon elias.
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