Page 154 - The Bugle 2018

‘INSPIRE TO ACHIEVE’ IS THE ARMY CADET FORCE MOTTO
‘Inspire to Achieve’ is the Army Cadet Force motto, and for Oxfordshire (The Rifles) Battalion it has been a year of both Inspiration and Achievement. In no area of activity has this been more apparent than in our engagement with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. When Captain Trish Mack took on the role of DofE Officer for the Battalion three years ago it was a somewhat neglected aspect of our training. Today more than 100 cadets are enrolled in the scheme and it is thriving. Every company has a trained DofE rep and all Detachment Commanders are familiarised with the scheme’s opportunities and requirements. This year’s most satisfying achievement was to see our first Gold awards – Lieutenant William Cannon, Serjeant Instructor Hannah Warwick, Serjeant Instructor Ognjen Balac and Cadet Regimental
Serjeant Major Megan Norwood – enjoying a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Last year’s Annual Camp at
Saint Martin’s Plain was beset with challenges –
truncated because of an operational deployment bumping us from the camp and training areas early into the second week and a safety case recall of all 5.56mm ammunition the day before our range package was due to start. Nevertheless, in the time we had we made best possible use of the excellent facilities available at CPTA – not least for senior cadets some house clearance drills in the old Napoleonic fort under the excellent tutelage of 4 RIFLES JNCOs; cadets are always inspired by the opportunity to work with the Regiment’s excellent regular and reserve soldiers. The year’s company weekends have worked towards the achievement of star passes in the Army Proficiency Certificate while also preparing for a longer and more challenging camp for 2018 at Swynnerton – where we find ourselves at time of writing. This year we have conducted the training and testing within the context of an exciting scenario-based exercise revolving around securing a bunker for use by an Emergency Regional Government HQ – and we got our VIP visitors fully immersed by having them play that role!
Oxfordshire (The Rifles) Battalion ACF
Our Gold DofE Award Winners (Left to Right) [Serjeant Instructor O Balac, Captain T Mack (DofE Officer), Serjeant Instructor H Warwick, Lieutenant W Cannon]