Cambrian Patrol 2014

May 8, 2014

On Friday, 2nd May, a section of 10 CCF cadets set out on a competition that our school had not entered for 6 years and which we had had minimal preparation time.   On Sunday, 4th May, we returned with a Bronze medal, lots of aches and pains and an experience behind us that we will not forget in a while!

We were competing alongside other school teams and county teams, some of which had been preparing since September, yet when faced with our tasks we were a solid section, supporting, encouraging and motivating each other through the tough times (of which there were many!).

Our first challenge was 1.5 mile speed march with our webbing and day sacks followed by a shoot straight after.   It was a strenuous and exhausting start to the day, but with a positive mind-set and determined attitude we finished it and nailed the shoot afterwards with targets being hit at every opportunity!

We then had to set up our harbour area, constructing a model to present and follow out a CTR (night observation exercise) based on the orders given by our IC Ieuan, our model and the orders following gained us multiple valuable points, followed by an extremely detailed CTR patrol report!

The following morning after a 04:45am start we set out on a navigation exercise that would take use to 5 different stands, and even though we got ‘disorientated’ and made a detour meaning we missed our first stand we did not let this stop us, we persevered and climbed the side of many hills which at the time seemed to be similar in size to Everest!

The first stand was a tactical observation exercise in which we had to show our use of hand signals and tactical movement ability to approach and observe an enemy position.

The second stand was a navigation exercise in which we were asked to locate areas on the map, take bearings and give and find six figure grid references.  We then walked to the stand where we carried out a section attack, here it was proven that we were a team with good communication skills, disciplinary skills and pretty handy with our rifles as well, the enemy was successfully overcome with Charlie team flanking the position and delta team providing covering fire.

The final stand was a command task stand followed by an emergency first aid stand, the command task was based over a minefield and had the mines been active we would be missing a few legs however we pulled through worked together and got over to assist the casualties!  The casualties were from a crashed helicopter and all three were dealt with quickly efficiently and safely showing our skill at first aid and again our communication skills.

We are all thrilled with our bronze medals, even more so knowing we missed a stand and had still received such a prestigious award!

Thank you very much to all the staff who were there to support us, you made the experience a lot more enjoyable.