MILITARY police went back to the past to train for future operations.

156 Provost Company, 4th Regiment Royal Military Police, stayed in the field throughout the week-long training session in Wales, living only with the kit they had in their backpacks and relying on their boots for travel.

Exercise Eagles Redcap saw the troops training and supporting an ally’s security forces as they tackled an uprising backed by a hostile neighbour.

They practised gathering evidence and handling detainees, as well as infantry attacks, first aid and patrolling.

Captain Carl Ingham said: “This training is about preparing for our high readiness role with 16 Air Assault Brigade.

“With the end of operations in Afghanistan, we need to move on and train for different operations, environments and adversaries.

“That means relearning conventional military policing skills, which have not necessarily been forgotten, but weren’t needed in Afghanistan.

“There’s been a lot of dusting off of old doctrine and going back to our basic skills and drills, such as route signing.

“Sennybridge has proved the arduous and demanding environment we wanted, but everyone’s performing well and morale is high.”

Lance Corporal Tom Dutton, 24 from Newark, said: “We’ve been actively patrolling on foot across the area to interact with the local population, setting up vehicle checkpoints and investigating incidents.

“It’s been tough, with cold weather, heavy rain and very boggy conditions underfoot, but it adds to the fun.”

The training is 156 Pro Coy’s first major exercise since it moved from being a standalone company within 16 Air Asslt Bde to join 4 RMP.

The change, carried out with the creation of 1 Military Police Brigade as part of the Army 2020 reforms, is designed to pool resources.