First Parade
Saturday morning saw the whole Company fell in with the first address given by the Company Commander, Major Tim Hope.
Next it was the turn of Deputy Commandant Lt/Col Rodger Mills who had travelled to the camp to see how excellent Z Coy was, and the first order of the day was to hand out promotions....
Alex Buck from 10 Pl Romsey was made up to CSM, then his very own Detachment Commander Shaun Chinnock was promoted to full Lieutenant. Next SSI Steve Slack, DC from 4 Pl Overton was rewarded with his first pip after being successful at Westbury and being made 2/Lt.
Then it was the Coy being split into their respective cadres to get straight into their training. The First Aid cadre was not hanging about with SSI Karen Henley getting the cadets immediately into training on the art of CPR.
The other cadres were the recruits run by SSI Shane Radford with his staff, the 1* Training Cadre aptly overseen by 2/Lt Slack, the 1* testing run by SSI Kitty Yarwood, and finally the 2* Cadre run by Lt Shaun Chinnock. The emphasis of the main bulk of training was in skill at arms and navigation making use of the training area right outside the gate, and the weapons brought from HQ.
Saturday morning also saw Cdt Sgt Konor Grimsy (3) return from his Senior Cadet Instructor Course proudly showing his newly acquired badge that he'd sewn on during the train ride back - Congratulations!
After a full days training it was then to the main hangar for a informative presentation by the training officer Capt Andy Toze on how searches are made in hostile environments with his able partner Hunter the explosives dogand Aaron "Chief" Wickham standing in as the bad guy. Hunter showed the cadets how he would search a person and bags and Capt Toze explained the training required for him to effectively do this!
Then the cadets were warned not to make any sudden movements or noises as it was the turn of Wally the War Dog to just show the speed and viciousness that could be!!
You can be rest assured that no animals were harmed in any way during the making of the presentation....however "Chief" Wickham will be available for ACF duties in around six months time after his time in traction......
Sunday saw a new world record as the Coy had the accommodation cleaned and handed over, all camp clean, baggage packed and stacked in the hangars, first parade completed and into training at 0820 hours!! This gave plenty of time for the First Aid Cadre to be assessed and tested, the recruits inspected by CSM Manda Speight for their drill and turnout as well as other testing and training.
Also seen during the morning training session was a very very rare glimpse of the lesser spotted "CAA Wallet" - a massively shy creature that usually lives alone and only comes out during darkness....
The final parade was again addressed by the Company Commander who highlighted the achievements of the weekend with all 12 cadets passing their First Aid and several other gaining their star badges. However it was highlighted that the Company now has about 35 cadets at their 1* level just waiting for fieldcraft and a few others to move into 2* training! This means that for many cadets, Battle Camp is now a priority! Also two more promotions were awarded for L/Cpl Quinn (4) to Cpl and Cpl Sayeg-Priestley (5) to Sgt - well done!
