During a recent weekend, Basic Training Cadets from E Company were put through their paces on their in-house Basic Cadre.
Due to the geographical distance within the E Company footprint, training locations were established at Scunthorpe, Waltham with the Shooting element based out of Kirton in Lindsey.
Basic Training Cadets, met at their training locations for a 0900 start on Saturday morning. The cadets and CFAV based over in North Lincolnshire headed to the Range first, where SMI Zara Thorpe was waiting to put the cadets through their training & testing on the Air Rifle. In the majority of cases, this was the first time the cadets had seen and got hands on with the weapon system and much of Saturday was putting the cadets from North Lincolnshire through training on the Air Rifle, but they all worked hard under the teaching of SMI Thorpe and passed their weapons handling test before the end of the day.
While the cadets over in the North East Lincolnshire contingent got to work on their testing programme, getting through testing in Drill & Turnout, Military Knowledge, Expedition and Navigation and even managed to get some revision on the safe handling rules ready for their range day. After a long day, all the cadets left still smiling and excited that they had achieved something and were well on their way to pass their Basic Training Level.
All too soon it was Sunday morning and the CFAV retuned to open up the detachments so the second day of testing could begin. Cadets arrived early at Scunthorpe, so they could get to the range for their shoot while the bus headed to Waltham to collect the very excited and eager cadets from North East Lincolnshire to take their turn at the range.
By lunch time, the cadets based in North Lincolnshire had completed their shoot and were back at their training location in Scunthorpe, ready to push through an afternoon of testing to finish off their star level.
Even wet conditions and the downpours didn’t stop the cadets passing test after test and by 4pm Sunday, the 21 cadets who had taken part in the weekend had passed their basic cadre.
Captain Vicki Brooks, Training Officer E Company said: “It was a difficult run into the weekend, with our RCO contracting Covid– but we’re thankful for the 11th hour help from SMI Thorpe. The cadets and CFAV had a great weekend. It wasn’t just about the cadets passing their star level, but about team work and working together to give the cadets an opportunity.”
She went on to say “Thank you to the CFAVs who gave up another weekend to put this event on, especially when they have stepped outside of their comfort zone. We as a company look forward to developing the cadets and the CFAV together”.
