A cohort of new Royal Bermuda Regiment recruits partnered with members of the Turks & Caicos Islands Regiment to continue their crash course in military training this week.

The 34 trainees endured the mid-July heat for fitness drills, discipline checks and lessons that ranged from map reading to first aid.

For Marine David Newlands, of the TCI Regiment, the experience was challenging but not unfamiliar.

The corporate manager said: “I’ve grown up on military bases and I’ve been to boarding schools, so I’m preprogrammed and I know the game.”

Marine Newlands acknowledged that the training still tested him “both mentally and physically”, explaining that there was a lot of discipline involved in the course.

“They don’t guide you by the hand,” he added. “They give you your instructions and they let you go — and if you falter, you get punished for it.”

The 34-year-old said that the recruits quickly formed bonds and he learnt to be a much stronger team player during the camp.

He added: “Learning how to be a team player was one of the main driving factors that made me join the regiment.

“I’m usually either a leader or a singular operator and here I was initially worried how I would mesh into that.

“After seeing the self-discipline and having to work together as a team just to do basic things like get the rooms ready in the morning, we all became closer.”

Recruits continued their rifle training yesterday when they learnt commands and practised with blank rounds.

Bermudian recruit Private Camille Chin-Gurret said that she was “nervous” to try firing blank rounds but was excited about the experience.

She said: “All of our training and hard work is coming to fruition.

“It’s definitely rewarding to take all of our learning and practice and put it all together towards Friday when we all finish.”

Private Chin-Gurret, from Pembroke, said that her platoon had set up camp at Hog Bay Park in Sandys on Monday before soldiers spent that night undertaking shifts on patrol.

She said that the training had taken her outside of her comfort zone but she enjoyed seeing different parts of Bermuda.

The 25-year-old, who works as an underwriting analyst, added that the camaraderie had been almost immediate and very rewarding.

She explained: “It’s been great getting to know different people — Bermudians and people from Turks & Caicos — that I never would have met before.”

Members from the TCI Regiment joined the RBR through a partnership between the two British Overseas Territories.

Marine Olivia Graveley, from the Turks & Caicos Islands, said the training camp had been “eye-opening but refreshing”.

She added: “It’s been a serious two weeks — pretty brutal, but necessary.”

The 34-year-old said that, while the training was exhausting, she knew it was important not only to keep the recruits fit and prepared but to teach them important skills.

She said the next few days leading up to the conclusion of the foundational training would be filled with revision and examination.

Marine Graveley added: “What I do like about the way in which they’re teaching is that it’s really not set up for you to fail but they do want you to pay attention and be confident in what they’re teaching you.

“The rest of the days will just determine if we’ve been paying attention well or not.”

RBR Second Lieutenant Shane Helberg, the recruit camp’s platoon commander, said there had been “top-quality delivery of lessons” from the instructors involved.

He added that the remaining recruits had shown grit and determination in spite of the relentless heat.

“The point of recruit camp is not a summer camp, it’s a training camp,” Second Lieutenant Helberg said.

“Everyone expects what they’re getting, but our purpose isn’t to break people.

“Unfortunately, the weather is what it is, we’ve just got to deal with it.”