Page 21 - Cadet Review Spring 2025

NEW
OFFICERS
FIND IT EASY
TO TAKE ALL
THEIR KIT TO
CAMP
We all suspected that 2/Lt Fred Owen took the
kitchen sink to camp, now we know for sure.
Humberside and South Yorkshire ACF
thought they knew all the tricks when it came
to preparing for camp; most of us abiding
by the maxim PPPPPPP, Prior Planning and
Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.
The shock to the system caused by living in
the field, was relieved by newly commissioned
Second Lieutenant Fred Owen, and which
brought smiles to the faces of A Company
when they discovered that they would not have
to rough it so much on their gruelling 2 day
Field Training Exercise.
Although Fred is well known for being
prepared for anything though even he could
not carry all the necessary equipment to camp
this year. Fred, who until being commissioned
was the Company Sergeant Major for A
Company had relinquished all the stores and
the vehicles he used to control.
However, he was not put out, and
commanding his platoon in his inimitable
fashion ensured that the platoon would be
able to use ablutions in the field. We all knew
he used to carry the kitchen sink to camp in
previous years, but this year he even managed
to have it delivered onto the training area.
Alex in India as part of
the successful
Himalaya 10 expedition
The transition from teenage
Cadet Under Officer to
regional Schools Cadet
Engagement Officer, reflects
the Cadet Forces' enduring
influence
By Alex Johnson-Summers
One of the first editions of the Cadet Review featured my final Annual Camp
as a Cadet. My cadet career culminated in the role of OC Challenger Company
- an initiative that saw 25 senior cadets deliver two, one-week camps for
the county’s most junior cadets. With minimal adult supervision, the senior
cadets devised the training programmes, booked feeding, managed stores,
wrote transport plans and delivered nearly all the training to just over 200
cadets. I reflect now on the incredible level of responsibility on 18-year-old
shoulders. Though challenging, those two weeks opened more doors for me
than anything else.
Not content with my cadet adventures being over at that point, I re-joined
the ACF after university, as a Cadet Force Adult Volunteer (CFAV), to help
ensure that the next generation of students at Hymers College – my former
detachment - had the same opportunities I have had. Almost immediately,
I joined an expedition to the Indian Himalayas where 17 cadets and 6
adult instructors summited a mountain called Kanamo that stands 6000m
tall – around the height of Everest Base Camp. This sparked my ongoing
passion for expeditions. I've since led several Company-level events and a
detachment Exped along the West Highland Way in 2022, marking Hymers
Detachment's 30th anniversary.
2021 proved a game-changer in my Cadet Force experience when the
RFCA employed me as the Schools Cadet Engagement Officer for Yorkshire
and Humber. Now, I support 27 Combined Cadet Forces in schools across the
region. I work with Contingent Commanders and school leaders to grow and
improve their units. I think 18-year-old Alex, desperate for some direction in
life, would be pretty chuffed with that outcome!
CADET REVIEW SPRING 2025 21