The Following is a first-hand account of a student’s experience from participating in the “Sports Camp”

When I hear the word “Special Task Force” the images that rush through my mind are people raiding buildings, hostage extractions, sporting fancy military tech but that’s not exactly what we signed up for when we were asked to stay for three days at the STF camp in Katukurunda.

At first, I was quite on edge thinking that these upcoming days are going to be a back breaker but surprisingly it was nothing like I expected it to be like. When we arrived we were warmly welcomed by officers clad in their camo uniforms, they gave us a tour around the place and laid the ground rules for us to follow.

We woke up around 5.00 a.m. the next morning, got ready, and headed to the classrooms. After a short introduction about the days plan we were lectured on leadership, teamwork, psychology and personality building. The officers taught us well and I believe that there was much to take out of their presentations.

After a long day of learning we went to the pool to entertain ourselves. The officers challenged us to a treasure hunt like game underwater which was quite fun and after that ended we were engaged in an exercise to enhance our public speaking skills in which the best speakers were given a few tokens of appreciation for their talents.

The next day was closer to what everyone else came prepared for. Early morning the officers took us outside on an empty stomach for physical training. When we finished all the stretching, warm-ups and a few exercises, we were led to believe that the PT session was over; It was not the case however.

After breakfast we were taken to the grounds and divided into teams and prepared for proper fitness test which included activities like, log carrying, lifting tires, crawling through tight tunnels, crawling under barbed wire, climbing sky high ladders and various other activities that you would expect in a soldiers training regime.

Doing these activities as a team, was at first was difficult, but we put our heads together and made the most of what we learned from our lectures. Our team ultimately ended up victorious once we got in our groove.

The officers had done a background research on us and pointed out there were two of us who did Air Rifle Shooting; my Vice Captain and I. We looked at each other and raised our hands, then the officers told us that we have got a rare chance to shoot live rifles, I was quite excited and looked forward to it eagerly.

After a very tiring day of dragging tires and what-not, we fell asleep almost as soon as we reached our billet.

The next day was our last day, the officers had arranged a visit to the “Black Museum” a museum built to honour the fallen officers/soldiers of the STF which also showcased captured LTTE weapons, propaganda, destroyed vehicles and other remnants.

After the closing ceremony we packed our things and were ready to leave but our journey was interrupted by a pleasant surprise from the STF. They took us to the STF CQB (Close Quarters Battle) training area and demonstrated a hostage rescue drill with live rounds, it was just like what we see in the movies loud entrances, guns blaring people shouting commands. Once the guns went silent and the show ended we headed back to Colombo.

Those 03 days have been an unforgettable experience I hope I get a chance to go there again.

Ruchith Ranasinghe
Captain
Air Rifle Shooting