Page 46 - 2021 AMA Summer

CADETS
ADVENTUROUS TRAINING IN THE ARMY CADETS
Cath Davies,
Army Cadets National Adviser for AT
CCAT team climbing in the Dolomites
Army Cadets it is all about the personal development of our adults and young people. We are confident that the changes we are putting in place will increase not only the amount of AT on offer but more importantly, the quality of that AT, ensuring the true aims of AT are achieved.
At this crucial juncture, when these huge changes are being implemented, I would ask AMA members two things:
If you appreciate the benefits you personally have gained from AT or have AT qualifications, is there any way you or your unit could support Army Cadets AT?
If you are about to leave the service, would you consider offering your assistance to Army Cadets AT? If you have JSAT qual- ifications, this is the way you can keep these alive.
If your answer to either of these questions is yes, please get involved. You can find your nearest ACF Detachment by putting your postcode into the search function on the link below: www.armycadets.com
The detachment will be able to put you in contact with the local Battalion, County or Sector Headquarters.
It is a long time since I wrote about Army Cadets AT in the journal and some might wonder why now, when
we haven’t done any training, never mind AT, for over a year! Well, ironically, the operational pause created by the lockdown came at the perfect time for the AT team at Cadet Branch in Regional Command. Adventurous Training Group (Army) (ATG(A)) had decided that Army Cadets would no longer be covered by the JSAT scheme. This had a number of implications, not least there was now no way of assuring the safety of overseas AT expeditions, as this had been done through the JSATFA system. It also meant our Cadet AT Manual needed rewriting to reflect the new situation, but first, what was the new situation!
Cessation of training meant we had time to rethink and rebuild and that is what we did, root and branch. We created an AT syllabus, because despite the inclusion of AT in the ACF and CCF charters, AT had never been part of the syllabus before. We then decided to address the grey area of Expeditions and DoE in terms of assurance by creating a Cadet Expedition and AT Assurance scheme, which would cover all these activities and categorise them by their technicality and the nature of the terrain in which they took place rather than the heading they came under! This will provide a robust system of assurance to protect both participants and the CoC. We rewrote the Army Cadet Expedition and AT Manual and instigated a scheme to oversee the maintenance and inspection of AT equipment held by units.
Not having the pressure to instigate a system to assure AT being currently carried out, we have been able to develop a system completely tailored to the needs of the Army Cadets. This means that rather than mould ourselves to a scheme designed for adult service personnel, we will have processes that suit a youth organisation. We will be able to give Regional Command AT grants to cadet expeditions in the UK as well as overseas, a big advantage for the
foreseeable future! Rather than AT desk officers with little knowledge of the Army Cadets dispensing funds, this will also enable us to target funds at cadets from more deprived areas, ensuring access to AT for all cadets.
We are recruiting an Army Cadet Assurance Officer to carry out the assurance task and assist units with AT and exped planning and AT equipment maintenance. In conjunction with the Cadet Centre for Adventurous Training (CCAT), we are developing Army Cadet AT qualifications to replace the JSAT scheme. These, along with the National Governing Body qualifications delivered by CCAT, will enable us to up skill the Cadet Force Adult Volunteers (CFAVs) to deliver the new AT syllabus. Of course, we will still recognise JSAT qualifications as there are many within the organisation who already hold these and we also want to ensure Regulars and Reserves with these qualifications can still assist Army Cadets with AT.
AT in the Army is about increasing mental and physical robustness as well as personal development, in order to deliver operational capability, but in the
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CCAT team on Via Ferrata in the Dolomites