Around 200 soldiers have finished a gruelling two-day exercise designed to test every unit of the Bermuda Regiment.

The recruits carried out day and night manoeuvres in the East End of the Island, culminating in high speed boat assaults on Paget and Cooper’s Islands which, as part of an exercise dubbed April Advance, were “occupied” by aggressive insurgents.

Despite the hard work — and lack of sleep — the part-time soldiers appeared to relish their weekend in khaki.

“There ain’t nothing like it. I enjoy it for the experience — and you get to meet new people and create lifelong friendships,” Private William Pitt said.

The 27-year-old airbrush technician from Warwick, who volunteered for the Regiment, added: “It doesn’t matter where you come from, where you are, what your lifestyle on the outside is like — and there’s only one colour here. Green.”

Private Deon Jones, a landscaper from Warwick, was called up to the Regiment in January. Despite his lack of experience the 22-year-old got through the weekend unscathed.

“I do camping, so this isn’t too tough,” he said. “And I knew what was coming because my brother did this. I do what I need to do.”

Private Ronald Simmons, from Pembroke, said he planned to pursue a full-time military career in the UK or US.

The 31-year-old, who is currently looking for a civilian job, added: “I like the army life — I love it. I volunteered because I wasn’t always a good kid. The Regiment was a life changer — I got tired of the streets, so I joined the army.”

Restaurant cashier and Bermuda College student Private Gere Scraders, 22, who is planning to become a teacher, said her Regiment experience would help her civilian career.

“It’s more experience of life — and hurting feet and the lack of sleep is tough as well. But I’m still enjoying it,” she said.

Sergeant Major Jeff Patterson, who runs Boat Troop, masterminded the transport of soldiers in five boats at high speed in the dark.

He said: “They seemed to enjoy it — they’ve all got smiles on their faces. But it’s hard not to enjoy yourself on a boat.”

Sgt Maj. Patterson added that large-scale exercises allowed all the units to work together and improved teamwork and morale.

“If all the subunits just train by themselves, it’s not as good,” he explained.

“This gives the other parts of the Regiment the chance to see what we do — and it means they don’t have to walk everywhere either.”

Regiment Commanding Officer Lt Col Michael Foster-Brown, who took charge of the HQ team in the field during the exercise, said: “It’s been a very intensive 36 hours with a scenario that there are insurgents in the East End of the Island.”

“They may not get to employ these skills directly, but the skills involved — command, control and coordination, the small-scale team skills and planning — are all hugely transferable to everything else we do.

“All our training is aimed at creating a foundation of teamwork and trust for a range of Regiment responsibilities, like disaster and hurricane relief to oil spills and internal security.”

Lt Col Foster-Brown added that the training was also vital to ensuring troops hit their peak for Maple Thunder, the Regiment’s annual overseas exercise, to be held in Canada in May.

“Hopefully, people will go back to work on Monday morning enthusiastic about what they’ve done, which will lead to better retention and recruitment,” he said.