On Wednesday 19 June, the CCF travelled to Zulu training area in Thetford. Upon arrival the cadets and NCOs constructed their bashers ready for the night ahead, thankfully unlike last time, the sun was shining and there was no rain. After this, the cadets cooked their ration packs to prepare them for Wednesday night’s navigation exercise.
After a brief from Mr Morgan, the cadets were split into groups with an accompanying NCO and completed the night navigation exercise, implementing the patrol formations that they had learnt and practiced in training. Cadets enjoyed the exercise and earned a much-needed sleep.
In the morning, cadets and NCOs got up early to start preparing breakfast. Having eaten, taken down their bashers and packed their bergens, the cadets were split into two groups for the day to complete two stands. The first stand was a chance for the cadets to practice and improve upon patrol formations across different terrain. They were also able to practice communication in the field by using different hand signals. This is vital in a military situation and the cadets approached it with enthusiasm and were as a result successful in patrolling across varying terrains. The second stand was measuring distances and a stalk. The NCOs created an observation lane where the cadets demonstrated their ability to accurately measure distances between different points, again implementing vital skills that they have been taught in their CCF afternoons at school.
Over in the Army section camp once all bashers were established, the sections were split up to conduct some brief practice in patrols, conducting snap ambushes, designating rendezvous positions and more. Blank ammunition was distributed among the cadets and battle prep began: slings were attached to rifles and magazines were loaded. This revision session was crucial for the Year 10 cadets as once the sun had set, the Year 12 NCOs led them in patrol formation to an ambush position. Three fire teams took up positions on each flank and then we just had to wait until the enemy (Year 12 officers) wandered past, before almost 40 rifles opened fire upon them, ensuring that no one was able to escape!
The following morning we were straight into more blank firing manoeuvres, allowing Year 10s the opportunity to take up leadership roles when it was safe to do so. The CCF then returned to school on Thursday afternoon. Overall, thanks to all the officers and NCOs, the field day was extremely successful, giving the cadets another good opportunity to use their military tactics over more realistic terrain.
Overall it is these out-of-school exercises which allow the Ipswich School CCF to be so confident when on the summer army camp with other schools present. Many skills were developed and the outing hugely increased the confidence of our junior Year 10 cadets.
Article written by Elena F and Henry M, Year 12
