CCF Army Away Day

Earlier this month, the Army section of Shiplake’s CCF travelled to Bicester for the annual CCF Army Field Day to partake in reconnaissance, rifle training and code breaking. Below is the report provided by Head of CCF Mr Macpherson, who accompanied the boys on their trip.

"The CCF Army Field day this term was conducted at Piddington Training area near Bicester. The aim of the training was to give the Year 10 cadets an opportunity to practise their marksmanship skills on the live rifle range, and for the senior cadets to test their leadership skills by leading the Year 10s through patrolling and a section battle drill.

The cadets arrived at the training area just before sunset and quickly moved into the Forward Operation Base (FOB). Once stores were sorted and everyone had cooked a meal from their army ration packs, it was time for the sections to go out on reconnaissance patrols. 

It was pitch dark by now, with no moonlight and in true military style there was to be minimum light used during the patrols. Each section was given a target to recce and search for intelligence, no easy task in an unfamiliar area with no visibility. The leadership of the senior cadets was certainly challenged, not only by leading the patrols to the target but also by the searches of the target compounds. The patrols, however soon returned with all intelligence gathered. All they had to do now was to decipher the intelligence that was written in Morse code. While the intelligence was being decoded, the other cadets were set to task manning the two sentry towers, a watch list was organised and the cadets rotated through without any interference from staff. 

Once the intelligence had been decoded, it was time to get the cadets to bed. Sentry routines were stopped and everyone called it a night as they had a busy day to wake up to.

The cadets were not overly eager to wake up in the morning; though, when they did finally emerge, they went about their business with enthusiasm. 

The plan for the day was for Year 10 to spend the morning on the range, while the senior cadets practised their leadership and section battle drills. The afternoon would see all the cadets back together for one final attack on the ‘enemy stronghold’. 

The range package went well and all the Year 10 cadets had the opportunity to shoot. There were some decent scores, considering it was the first time they had actually shot the Army rifle. In the meantime, the senior cadets were put through their paces practising section battle drills with a particular focus on their command and control.

At lunchtime, we all reconvened at the FOB and prepared for ‘battle’. Again, the afternoon were split into two halves: while one group was attacking the enemy stronghold, the other would be taking part in a camouflage and concealment stance that would test their stealthy movement over an area of ground as they tried to sneak up on an observer/sentry. Again, the cadets performed really well, especially considering the heavens opened and the drizzle we had been experiencing was now coming down in heavy downpours.

Over the field day, every cadet was (in different ways) taken out of his comfort zone and challenged but at no point did their morale or enthusiasm drop. With the poor weather, we were lucky that the FOB had basic but indoor beds and that the cadets were not sleeping out in the woods. However, the cadets were still out in the elements all day. It is to their credit that right up to the final act of the day, they were still smiling despite looking a bit tired. 

The Army cadets will now prepare for the CCF summer camp at Wathgill in Yorkshire. The Cadet Training Team is running this camp and the cadets will have the opportunity to carry out more military activities as well as some adventure training."