Basic Training
On joining one of the three military sections, you will be assigned to a unit of around a dozen cadets, who will be your team for much of the first year. To begin with, you will be shown how to wear your uniform correctly, and be taught how to march as part of a team. This fundamental skill has several functions – prime amongst these is developing the responsiveness and self-discipline required to undertake future activities safely, whether out on the water, on the shooting range, or in the air. More immediately, it enables you to appear with pride and confidence in public as members of the Contingent on Remembrance Sunday in November, and the spectacular Annual Review in the Spring.
Basic training across all three sections is wide-ranging and includes First Aid, map and compass skills, teambuilding tasks, and safe use of the cadet rifles. You will also follow a training syllabus specific to your section, with the intention of passing your basic training tests by the end of your first year.
Further Training and Leadership Roles
After the first year of basic training, you will develop specialised skills within your Sections, such as joining the Air Squadron Trophy team, or going on exercise with Patrols Platoon. The most committed and promising cadets can expect to take on leadership roles as Non-Commissioned Officers(NCO). This typically involves planning, delivering, and reviewing weekly learning activities for junior cadets – we expect our NCO’s to be able to take ownership of much of the Contingent’s training.
Our aim is for emerging leaders to develop the practical skills and personal confidence that will make you a success in the workplace after school. The most senior cadets will regularly chair meetings, plan training programmes, discuss performance and risk management, and give presentations – very much the kind of skills you may see in a management meeting in most careers in the ‘real world’. They will also develop the vital soft skills of being a thoughtful and inspiring role model to others.
Many employers are ex-cadets themselves, and instantly recognise the value of having been a Non-Commissioned Officer in the CCF.