Royal Marine Cadets from the Combined Cadet Force at King’s Leadership Academy Hawthorne’s are now coming to the end of another year of successful training, and with this came another opportunity for the cadets to put into practice the leadership and fieldcraft skills they have learned.

Recruits, who are in their first year with the CCF, worked in sections and focussed on developing their navigation skills, how to conduct a brief using a model which was constructed from the reconnaissance they had previously carried out, and consolidated this in a recce patrol of the area. It was impressive to see how far they had come since starting, and how section commanders autonomously lead their sections throughout the day in all regards.

1 Troop, who are 2nd and 3rd year cadets, again worked in groups of 8 firstly conducting Cover and Manoeuvre/Fire and Manoeuvre lead by a Cadet NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer). The Cadet NCOs commented on how hard it was to plan and brief but mostly to command once the blank firing started. Our Senior NCO, Cadet Sergeant Mirynowski commented how looking after yourself, your own equipment, your own rifle, then your fire team and your opposite fire team, both groups of four people, can become really difficult and at times, confusing. He also commented that this taught him how important preparation and planning was and how crucial it was for everyone to have a real clear understanding of what they were doing along the way.

The CCF utilises military themed activities to develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self reliance, resourcefulness, endurance and perseverance. This was certainly achieved through another great Field Day.