A Swindon surveyor has just returned from three days of intensive training although discussion on the finer points of fenestration and asset management curiously never came up.

"Instead," says Ben Gooding of King Sturge in Milton Road, "I was up every day at 5am and by the time I finally got back to the office, I could hardly walk."

Entitled Exercise Executive Stretch, and run by the Territorial Army at its base in Pirbright, Surrey, Ben, aged 25, and other office workers from across the region engaged in a variety of pursuits designed to improve their leadership skills.

These included:

Towering Inferno making their way through a burning three-storey building in the dark and under fire.

Sudden Impact following an explosion, they find a burning wreck with casualties requiring life-saving attention.

Brute Force an assault course completed in a set time frame.

Bomb Burst recovering a vehicle using pulleys and ropes when unexploded devices have yet to be identified.

Backwoods Soldier survival outdoors, including the construction of an improvised shelter, creating heat and finding water.

Said Ben: "There was a lot of running involved which, to be honest, a lot of us weren't really prepared for, but the Army gave us a lot of support.

"They didn't exactly shout at us but rather gave us verbal encouragement a privilege of course we had paid for."

Ben says the experience was gruelling but enjoyable. "It made me a little more aware of what people are and are not capable of."