The Foundational Intelligence Skills Course (FISC) was designed to develop intelligence-related skills of intelligence representatives at Company and Battlegroup levels.
The course was run by The First Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles (1 RGR) Intelligence Cell, where 15 soldiers from 1 RGR and The Third Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles (3 RGR) participated.
Wewere taught and then tested from the very basic level of intelligence to much more sophisticated methods.I never knew how one piece of information could be processed to become critical intelligence until I attended this course. We were taught in detail about Intelligence Preparation of the Environment (IPE), which includes Battlespace Area Evaluation (BAE), Threat Evaluation, Threat Integration and Draft decision Support Overlay (DSO).
As an Infantry Section Commander, we have briefly used the 7 Questions tool for planning but here we studied the details of Question one, which included;Ground, Enemy forces, Friendly forces, Human terrain and Prisoners of Wars (POWs).
On the last day of the course the group were divided into three teams of five and each group was required toback brief Question one to Officer Commanding A Company. This is a routine task for Intelligence Cell personnel, who oftenback briefthe Commanding Officerduring operations and training. A scenario was given for the Question one: each group had 4 hrs to prepare and 40 mins to deliver. Groups worked rapidly, delegating tasks assome started to work with maps, others with Threat Evaluation and Integration. A finishing touch involved finalizing Advice and Recommendations to the commander.
Groups delivered with confidence and presenters ensured that each evaluation helped to inform a command decision. Indeed, all students following the course will always ask themselves ‘so what?’ when giving an assessment, always adding value.
As a student I feel this course was progressive and challenging, if somewhat stressful! I was thoroughly delighted to be identified as the Top Student. The importance ofinterpreting assumptions and deductions to refine information to become intelligence was a key learning point for all who attended.
The Instructors were experienced and professional in delivering instruction, which made it easier to understand the world of intelligence.
By Corporal Prakash Limbu, The First Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles
