Friday and Saturday were the RedR training course, which was an intense experience. Eighteen humanitarian aid workers learning about how to not be killed, and twelve actors (us) creating simulated situations in which we challenged how good they were at this. Briefing on Friday night, going through the politics of the fictional country the simulation was set in, the various factions, and the various timed scenarios we were creating during the afternoon. Followed by all of us descending on the local pub. The locals themselves reacted very well to a bunch of goths in combats turning up en masse, and all the aid workers in training were there as well, although we'd been told not to fraternise with them so that our intimidation of them the next day would be more effective. This didn't really work; I ended up in unwitting and interesting conversations with a couple of them, and later on we got involved in a game of pool, but for the most part we had a corner to ourselves. They let us stay (and kept serving us!) until 1am, which was great fun until six hours later when we had to get up and do energetic things in the cold outdoors.

So, sleep-deprived and slightly hungover, we drove around the abandoned airbase plotting the scenarios and getting our bearings, and our team leaders (we were split into four teams) telling us in more detail about what the simulation involved. I was with a few friends, and a guy called Julian whom we reckoned was ex-military just because he was so fucking good. He took it very seriously; we were there to be as hostile as we could, because the more realistic a threat we could pose, the better we could prepare them for the realities of conflict areas. He told us several times that what we were doing would save lives. No pressure then.

Sorted through military gear, picked outfits for our various different Julolan characters, drank sugary drinks and read up on our briefs. To get us feeling suitably aggressive my friend read to us from the Book of Revelation, particularly the bizarrely obsessive bits about lampstands,[1] and the locusts,[2] and the woe. Also eating; the food at the Fire Service College where the simulation was held wasn't bad at all, and there was lots of it. Picking up bits of military and political lore; just listening to what the experienced people had to say was fascinating. Learning how to be abusive and intimidating effectively. All sorts of things that don't come naturally to people with our upbringings; being persistently and abusively unreasonable, when faced with someone pleasant and reasonable who knows what they're doing, is much harder than it sounds.

Our first two scenarios were both formal military checkpoints. I was in full camo gear; I had a (fake) gun which Julian showed me how to hold; not pointing it but only a movement away, tense and threatening and there, and it was astonishing how much of a psychological effect that had, the grim power it engendered in me. Julian showed me how to wear the black desert head-dress like a shemagh, which he called a "them" (with a soft th as in therapy). It's worn slightly differently to the shemagh, having a firm band across the forehead, an end hanging down over the chest which can be used to wipe your hands and so on, and a loose length of cloth fixed underneath the mouth, which can either be left baggy and framing the face, or pulled up and tucked into the forehead band, thus covering everything but the eyes. Instantly psychologically effective - both wearing it, and seeing someone in it. One of the group had his whole head covered as an armed robber would, and the combination of that plus uniform plus gun was so menacing as to be almost inhuman. He became just a gun. It was fascinating to watch.

The convoy arrived; we blocked them in and gave them a hard time, getting them out of the jeeps, making them stand still with their hands up, asking questions and so on, but mainly the threat was from the silence and the guns. Julian did most of the talking, very close, very quiet, and very intimidating. It was long and slow and very tense. I'm not sure how much I can talk about the content of the scenarios in case any of you ever do the course, but getting a glimpse into the techniques of intimidation was compelling and disturbing and incredibly interesting. Later we were jovial manipulative African dignitaries, and after that drunk bandits out for everything we could get. In hindsight I regret not going all out, but, despite the effect of the outfits and weapons, I found being constantly, abusively aggressive, in broken English, when faced with good-natured compliance really really hard. Trying to push people until they cracked; remembering the physical tricks that make people feel threatened. Still, we got all their money. And the team leader's shoes.

Afterwards the participants had a debrief, which we didn't sit in on. Which was also odd; being the actors, but not being the ones getting the feedback, because it's the aid workers' ability to survive that's important. The other teams had been in much more combative situations. It was utterly exhilirating, but the adrenaline comedown was a bitch.

[1] Rev 1:12-13, 1:20, 2:1, 2:5, 11:4.

[2] "Like horses prepared for battle... Their faces resembled human faces, their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth, and they had breastplates like breastplates." No shit, Sherlock. (9:3-11)