‘Rolling Thunder’ Signals Competition

On 4^th-6^th March, Cambridgeshire Cadets and adults took part in ‘Rolling Thunder’; the National Cadet Signals Competition.

The competition took place at Blandford Camp, Dorset, home of The Royal Corps of Signals, and was sponsored by the Corps and HQ Support Command. The cadets who volunteered to take part were all from 2 Coy. They were; Cdt Delahaye, Cdt Caley, Cdt L/Cpl Coltman, Cdt Mcalinden and Cdt Thompson. They were supported by adult instructors Lt Al Protacio, Clr Sjt Richard Bayliss, SSI Dale Irving and SSI Porl Lamonte.

14 different County teams took part from all around the country. The teams were set a series of challenges and assessed on their knowledge and teamwork. This included ‘Kim’s Game’, an exercise in which information must be gathered and memorised, a test on the history of signals and communications, and a ‘code cracking’ game where signals were sent by morse code and semaphore with information needed to release locks. A further exciting game involved the defusing of a pretend bomb by relaying information over the radio.

On the Saturday evening the cadets took part in a fun general knowledge quiz with a prize awarded.

Although disruption to training caused by the Covid Pandemic resulted in our County sending a team of largely junior cadets who had not had extensive signals training, the team make a fantastic effort, learned an enormous amount and did well, coming 8^th out of 14. This was a strong performance considering the circumstances, and was testament to the hard work and enthusiasm of our cadets, as well as the commitment of our adults who had trained them in a short space of time. 1^st Place went to Sussex ACF. The adult instructors, none of whom had attended the competition before, saw the whole experience as a superb learning opportunity which will enable our county to field an even stronger team in the future.

SSI Porl Lamonte said: ‘its been an amazing experience, a lot of fun, and the cadets did really well. All the cadets had a great time and are really keen to return next year.’ SSI Dale Irving said: ‘For a junior team to do as well as they did was a great achievement. As adult instructors we can take back what we have learned, build on it, and return much stronger next year.’

Text by SI Doug Stuart

Thanks to Lt Al Protacio, Clr Sjt Richard Bayliss, SSI Dale Irving and SSI Porl Lamonte.