I’ve just returned from a 3 day tactical exercise at Nesscliffe with Ellesmere College CCF. We had been expecting to go to Swynnerton but, being a lowly cadet force, we lost it to a ‘priority user’. Nesscliffe is a great training area local to the school but, being jus down the road we use it quite regularly and it’s nice to go somewhere else once in a while. Things where also made more complicated by the number of other units training on the area but, given the restrictions, we managed to have a productive couple of days.

The main focus of the training was on developing the Year 9 cadets who had limited fieldcraft knowledge and for whom it was their first exercise. Over recent weeks, they have undergone fairly substantial Skill At Arms training with the L98A2 Cadet GP rifle in preparation for these 3 days. The first task was to get them through their WHTs (weapon handling tests), while the older cadets prepared a couple of fieldcraft lessons to deliver to the Year 9s later in the afternoon.

The lessons on Personal Camouflage, Obstacle Crossings and Duties of a Sentry where the first opportunity for the Year 11 cadets to put their instructional skills into practice following the successful completion of their Methods of Instruction Cadre earlier in the year. Then lessons where certainly not flawless, but it was good to see them using techniques, adapting their approach from one group to the next, and reflecting on the effectiveness of their lessons.

I then took the Year 11s off to find our own harbour area, as they were going to act as ‘enemy’ for the Year 9s. On recent exercises, we have based ourselves out of bunkers to cut down on administration time and maximise tactical learning. However, this doesn’t give the cadets as much practice at looking after themselves and their kit in the field and constructing effective shelters. Acting as enemy often involves a fair amount of waiting around, but being ready to drop into a role at short notice to facilitate the training of the main body (in this case, the Year 9s). This provided the ideal opportunity to spend the time setting up bashas and living under the trees, while the Year 9s went through orders and rehearsals for the night ambushes.

Getting to the first ambush site proved a bit awkward. The route was easy enough but, with other units moving around the area, we found ourselves unable to move for a while as what sounded like a whole platoon patrolled passed us on the other side of a hedge. However, once triggered, the ambushes seemed to go well from our perspective with a good weight of fire being put down.

The second morning had the Year 9s doing a round robin of stands including Section Attacks, Building Clearances, Target Indication, an Observation Lane and Stalking. The afternoon was taken up putting the Section Attack lesson into practice, after a quick bit of revision, by attacking 3 enemy positions. This is not only good practice for the newer cadets, but also a test for the section commanders who are required to make decisions under pressure – not easy. The second night was another opportunity to brush up on those ambush drills from the previous night.

This morning was scheduled to be a short one, with a couple of deliberate attacks on bunker complexes on our way back to the pick up point. This all went fine, and enabled us to be back at Ellesmere College for an afternoon in the swimming pool. The Royal Marines had sent us a couple of diving instructors for the day, so the cadets had the opportunity to get masks and oxygen tanks on and learn a few basics. There was even talk of running a more formal course at some point – sounds good to me!