Over the first week of our Easter Break, Staff Sergeant De Guingand and I attended St Martins Plain Camp to complete a Senior Cadet Instructor Cadre (SCIC) which was run by London District Cadet Training Team (CTT). The course was attended by Army Cadets from a range of areas such as Berkshire, Middlesex and Leicestershire. Being the only 2 cadets coming from a CCF, we really put in the effort to arrive fully prepared to undergo the training and critical assessments of our military knowledge and skills especially since switching to the new ACS21 syllabus in September 2023!
After an entertaining minibus journey to the camp (and a McDonald’s pit stop!), we all assembled at 2100hrs for what was shaping up to be an exciting and jam packed course! The course was designed to identify which cadets have the ability to become good instructors and we were assessed in 3 distinct parts: our delivery of an instructional theory lesson, our delivery of an instructional skill lesson in the field and our ability to work as a team through our administration and organisational skills in a 24hrs long field training exercise.
Camps and external courses are always such exciting opportunities as there is such a variety of activities for us to get stuck into. A new experience for us was getting picked to be Duty Student for the day in which we were in charge of all the cadets, making sure we all got to places on time and our uniform was of the highest standard. Tuesday evening saw the opening brief led by Course Officer Captain Garbuja (RGR) and Lead Instructor Sergeant Thapa (RE) who were quick to settle us in with relatable jokes before setting out the expectations and training goals for the course and breaking us down into our respective sections.
Wednesday saw us receiving Cadet Force Instructional Technique lessons by RSM Roper (RAMC) in which we continued to learn how to deliver the best training possible to our cadets. Following a break we were then marched on the double to the drill square where we practised our drill, even learning a few new commands such as inclines and marking time on the march! After receiving more lessons after lunch, we were assigned our theory lessons (Identifying map symbols and features to aid navigation & Indication of targets) and given time to plan and prepare them ready for the next day.
The course continued with the assessment of our theory lesson. Our Section Sergeant, Sergeant Khobindra (QOGLR) made sure to give us all general feedback after each lesson was taught followed by 1 to 1 feedback of our own opinions of our lessons. Feedback is a vital piece of information that we will take into consideration when teaching future lessons to the cadets. SSgt De Guingand will be sure to follow the structure on how to teach a lesson effectively and I will focus on slowing down the pace of my voice in order to make sure all cadets understand what they are being taught. After a busy day we revised our weapon handling drills and had a final kit check ready to set out into the field for our skill lesson assessments (moving with and without a personal weapon & field signals) and our 24hrs field exercise.
After an early start of 0540hrs and a hasty breakfast, we made our way to the field where we would be spending the next day and a half. We arrived amidst a downpour of rain however the sun soon came out and we were able to make a start on our skill lessons. Something of particular importance that we learnt when teaching practical based lessons was to follow a principle known as EDIP. This is where the teacher Explains the skill, Demonstrates it to their students, gets their students to Imitate the skill followed by getting them to Practise it whilst giving feedback. I found that this will be particularly helpful in lessons such as ‘estimating distance on ground’ which is a lot easier to understand when you actively practise the skill!
In preparation for the bad weather ahead, we set up our bashas making sure it was water tight, as the section Sergeants are apart of the Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR), we were able to witness them using a tool known as a Kukri to cut down trees so we could use them to keep our bashas close to the ground. We then received orders to conduct a night recce patrol in which each section were instructed to observe a specific area known to have had recent enemy activity. Our route sent us up an extremely slippery and muddy hill and after mastering the art of not falling over, we reached our position and happily reported back to HQ that there was no enemy within that area.
After a successful night and much needed break (in between our shifts of sentry duty!) We finished off our 24hr field exercise with a section attack on 2 enemy positions! Being a part of the fire support team, our job was to lay down a rapid fire of rounds to suppress the enemy whilst the assaulting team snuck up on their position and eliminated them. With 90 rounds each, the enemy force was defeated in no time! After a successful attack and the chance to watch the other 2 sections conduct their attack, we headed back to camp for lunch and weapon cleaning.
Sunday saw our final parade where certificates were given and a final course interview was conducted with our section sergeant who was particularly impressed with our performance in the section attack and our approach to our lessons! By attending this course, we are now officially qualified to instruct up to and including 2 Star standard cadets in areas of drill and turnout, navigation, fieldcraft and revision periods of Skill at Arms and it has counted towards half of our 4 Star training!
Onwards to the next activity – 2 Star First Aid Training Day on 20th April!
Staff Sergeant M Swain
