CCF

COMBINED CADET FORCE

Jonathan Cason

The CCF resumed in April and we took on our new recruits from year 10 bringing our numbers to over 40.

With summer camp coming up fast and only a few Thursdays to prepare we took all the cadets planning to come on camp to Longmoor for their weapons handling training. Twenty-seven cadets in all were trained over the course of a day by the cadet training team and are now proficient in the use, cleaning and safe handling of the SA80 rifle.

The four who were unable to train on this day were taught on the Friday before summer camp (just in time!) This years’ summer camp was very different in overall set up but still provided the cadets with a great number of activities. Instead of a residential camp school were allowed to dip in to camp on a daily basis, we decided to get the full experience and went to all four days. Day 1 was a range day where cadets fired weapons on the long and short range and fired shotguns and took part in a clay pidgeon shooting competition. Day 2 was a survival day where cadets learnt how to track in different terrains, how to start fire with improvised tools and collect water for drinking safely, how to build shelters and sleeping systems in open country and how to make traps for catching food. Day 3 army training day. Cadets built catapults, took part in a TIBUA exercise (training in a built up area), paint balling and an escape room.

Day 4 was Adventure Training day, involving paddle boarding, kayaking, raft building, climbing, archery and mountain bike training. Needless to say both students and staff had an exhausting but exciting four days. We will be recruiting our next group of cadets from year 9 shortly.