EXERCISE COMBAT CADET
Mr Capjon reports:
Our team won Exercise Combat Cadet for the first time since 1999. Not only that but we won four out of the five trophies possible over the two days, coming second in the other.
Exercise Combat Cadet is the annual competition held by 7 Infantry Brigade (aka The Desert Rats) allowing 22 teams (of 9 cadets) from all over their area of responsibility, which includes roughly 7,500 cadets from both CCFs in schools and ACFs from each of the nine counties, to compete over two days. The aim is to pit the best cadets from each school or detachment against one another in a number of areas. The first day is a tactical patrol covering 11 different stands testing the Army Proficiency Syllabus and the ability of our senior cadets in leadership roles. The second day is a 5km run followed by the obstacle course and ending with a shoot – all completed back to back and timed.
We won the following awards:
1) the Tactical Patrol shield – for the scoring the most points on day 1
2) the Phase Two shield – for scoring the best combined time on day 2 (by 1 second)
3) the Highest Scoring CCF Cup- for scoring the most total points among CCF teams
4) the Exercise Combat Cadet shield – for winning the overall competition
Matthew Sutton came second in the individual Section Commander competition
To top all of this we managed to be successful despite losing our original Section Commander, 2I/C and a number of other team members to the virus that beset the school at the end of term. As a result Matthew Sutton stepped up to lead the team at the last minute which makes his achievement all the more remarkable. We were also unable to take a reserve, which was problematic when one of the team was injured early on Day 1, meaning seven cadets had to do the job of eight for most of the competition; this also meant we incurred time penalties on the second day but still beat everyone else.
All in all this a truly rare achievement by the cadets involved especially given the appalling list of completely unpredictable problems we faced in the final build-up after two terms of excellent and well-ordered training. It confirms our place as one of the best Army Sections in the Brigade, and that in turn puts us in high company nationally.
Team:
I/C Matthew Sutton
2I/C Ben Kilburn
Connor Grant
Rick Tong
Tom Lomas
Alfie Agar
James Barrell
Harry Hobday
