Page 170 - Rifles 2017 Issue No 3

Somerset Cadet Battalion (The Ri es) ACF
Headquarters: Jellalabad House, 14 Mount Street, Taunton, Somerset TA1 3QE armycadets.com/somersetacf
WE WERE THE ONLY TEAM TO REMAIN FULLY TACTICAL OVER THE WHOLE FREEZING WEEKEND
“Somerset Army Cadets offers signi cant, life-changing opportunities for young people, many of whom come from backgrounds where they are at a disadvantage. Army Cadets can give them choices that would never normally come their way; ones that create aspiration and vision, from which comes a determination to get along, perfectly exempli ed in the military structure where young people can do and achieve so much, preparing them for life and work beyond education. Regardless of what they do after Army Cadets, the winner is society which is enriched by motivated and responsible young people”, stated the Commandant.
The county has excelled in sports and in many areas of cadet activities, but it is with shooting that we have done particularly well. The Shooting Team are the current Regional Target Ri e Champions and winners of the Montgomery of Alamein Cup (L98A2 GP ri es). Finally at the end of July 2017, to add the icing to the cake, LCpl Kezaya Nichols won the Cadet Imperial Meeting with LCpl Sam Rudge following up a close 4th.
Earlier in that week the team also quali ed for this year’s National Cadet Competition at Bisley, with two teams entered. Adults and cadets attended the Pre-Bisley Target Ri e Coaching Course and went on to compete in the Inter-Services Cadet Ri e Meeting at Bisley. Seven out of our eight shooters achieved the Cadet 100 and were awarded their medals and County Colours. Eventual Imperial winner LCpl Nichols achieved 6th in the Cadet 100 out of over 400 competitors and received her National Shooting Colours, going on to compete in the Cadet Inter-Ser- vices Match where she was 3rd highest scorer out of 8 rers and 6th highest scorer of the whole competition. Sjt Brandon Harvey achieved 4th in the Individual 300yds Shoot whilst Cpl Chelsea Walter achieved 5th in the Patriotic Shield at 500yds. The Somerset A Team were Runners Up and received silver medals in the Canada Cup. The Somerset A Team achieved 7th and the B Team 10th in the Frankfort Trophy. The Somerset B Team achieved 5th whilst the A Team achieved 20th in the Watts Bowl - a superb run of success.
Away from shooting, the Silver Bugles Band under the guiding hand of Capt (BM) Scott Bunker continues to grow in strength and profession- alism, having recently won the National Cadet Band Championships held at Okehampton. The Silver Bugles Band again proved to be outstanding ambassadors for the Battalion. On two nights at the beginning of June the Band played alongside The Massed Bands & Bugles of The Ri es, Sounding Retreat at Horse Guards Parade in London and in a number of cases were mistaken for regular forces, albeit somewhat diminutive ones, by former Ri es and Light Infantry of cers! The Band also played at a number of other prestigious events, including Armed Forces Day at Weston-super-Mare and will end their year playing at the Menin Gate in Ypres in September as a part of the First World War 100th Anniversary Commemorations.
It has been a busy and challenging year for the Battalion, with Annual Camp at RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall where we successfully combined APC and adventurous training, with a particular emphasis on water sports. The PR Team also added to their accolades, winning the ACF Wilkinson Sword Awards for Public Relations Excellence in both the Photography & Newsletter Categories for the fourth year in a row.
For the second time Somerset entered a team in the Cadet Cambrian Patrol, after being the rst non-Welsh team to enter this arduous and prestigious event, taking place on the Sennybridge Training Area. The Welsh rules were impenetrable once again, seemingly making it impossible for an English team to win! We were the only team to remain fully tactical over the whole freezing weekend and once again the cadets were delighted to be mistaken - at a distance of course - for regular troops!
168 CADET FORCES
THE RIFLES
SOM ACF Shooting... getting the basics right
...It does what it says on the ag!