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Devon and Somerset Wing Adventure Training Competition 2007
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The Wing Adventure Training Competition was held over the weekend of 22 - 24th June 2007, on Woodbury Common near Exeter.
Teams began arriving during late afternoon on Friday to find the base camp already established and the Competition set to roll.
The weather for the week end was set to be pretty awful - but hey - what is Adventure Training without the rain!!
Most of the disciplines were set to take place on the Common, with the shooting and Judging Distance being held at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, at Lympstone.
Once all of the Teams were registered, the Competition got under way with a round robin of visits to the map reading stance, judging distance and shooting, ferried by mini bus, and visits to Command Tasks, Agility Course, in the local area and the First Aid and Kims Game close by the Camp Area.
Cadets had established themselves in bivouacs close by the Control Area, and were already under scrutiny for personal administration, cleanliness and tidiness and competence at living in the field.
Competition events were concluded by 1830 on the Saturday evening, but a request from several Teams (mad fools!) provided them with an additional opportunity for a second run around the Agility Course, before preparing their evening meal (compo - ugh!) and settling down for the night.
There had been a number of heavy or rather torrential rain showers during the day, but this had not dampened the spirits of the Cadets who, when asked if they wished to abandon the day due to adverse weather, were quite unequivocal over their response - so we ploughed on!
A quite awful night weather wise, was a tribute to the manner with which Cadets had constructed their shelters, and not one abandoned his shelter for the relative comfort of the 12 x 12 tent provided for such an eventuality.
Sunday morning dawned with the prospect and reality of even more rain (I don’t think God likes us running these competitions!!) and so to the Inspection. Marks were awarded or deducted, according to how each bivvy area was presented, the availability of kit, turnout of the cadets and general competence in the presentation of each team.
The final element of the Competition is the "Endurance Course Run"
This takes place over a pre set, hilly course on the Common and in truth is a pretty arduous cross country run through bogs, tunnels, ravines, pools and water features.
It is hard work!!
The Cadets loved it!!
Once this event was over it was back to the Camp Area to clean up and break camp for another year.
The winning Team once again came from 41F Squadron, and congratulations to the best team on the day. Make no mistake it is a pretty comprehensive and demanding competition, and tests teams on many different military and associated skills, and the winning Team deserves to be congratulated.
Congratulations also must go to all of the Teams who took part, and subjected themselves to the rain, a variety of different and difficult tests, the rain, a night out under a bivvy, the rain, a very arduous cross country event, the rain, but who all seemed to take something away from the event. What a great bunch of youngsters we have!
Thank you also to the Staff who endured the rain, a cold and uncomfortable night, moderate food and remained cheerful throughout. We need more Staff like these!
They ran all of the competition events in a professional manner, dealt with enquiries about marking from other Staff and cadets, remained cheerful under difficult conditions, but best of all, turned up to give the Cadets to opportunity to have the benefit of this event.
We hope to see more of you next year
Devon and Somerset Wing Cadets - Visit to Portsmouth 2007
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On Monday 11th June, 35 Cadets and 3 Members of Staff from Devon and Somerset Wing, were collected from various points in the area for the annual visit to Portsmouth.
This visit is hosted by the Royal Navy Careers Office in Exeter, and our thanks must go the Warrant Officer Geoff Crewdsen of the Royal Marines and his Staff for arranging the visit once again.
The coach trip to Portsmouth passed uneventfully (in the past we have had break downs and burst tyres!) and we arrived at HMS Excellent in time for our evening meal.
Once settled in to our accommodation on board HMS Bristol, Cadets took advantage of the on board activities in the form of table tennis, sight seeing from the upper deck, snooker and of course the sweets and drinks machines. It was a new experience living on board a warship, and difficulties were experienced in finding one way around the ship, and even looking for the toilets was interesting - never mind the correct use of them!
The following morning we cleaned our accommodation and departed HMS Bristol for breakfast in HMS Excellent - a shore establishment - and then on with the tour.
This began with a boat trip around Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, with a commentary by one of the Staff Members who apparently has experience of this part of the world, and who endeavoured to point out all of the interesting landmarks (and some not very interesting!)
We learned about the Semaphore Tower where, in the early days of the Royal Navy signals could be passed to London by line of sight signal towers in 15 minutes, (now we know how Telegraph Hill got it’s name) why the Portsmouth Dockyard was so important strategically, and even the background to the Battle of Trafalgar and why it was so important to this Country - and how the French Emperor Napolean’s aspirations and failures, were to be repeated some 135 years later by a German called Adolf Hitler - this time the Royal Navy had the assistance of the Royal Air Force!!
We then travelled into the Dockyard and were treated to a tour of HMS Victory, including a moment in the area deep inside the ship where Lord Nelson died
We then went to a facility called "Action Stations" where we saw a film about the Navy dealing with pirates and desperadoes, who had taken some hostages and were holding the British Government to ransom. The most important element of the film was the way that many different service skills including flying, engineering, damage control, and infantry battle skills came together to rescue the hostages and save the day.
We also had the opportunity to test our skills on several different types of simulators, to see how we would cope with flying a helicopter, conning a ship, paddling a canoe or even climbing a rock face. There was a computer section to allow us to access different types of packages, games and internet sites, and a number of hands on scientific experiments and demonstrations.
We then made our way to HMS Nelson for lunch and to collect packed lunches for the journey home.
After lunch we toured HMS Warrior which was Britain’s first iron clad warship, and it was interesting to see how conditions had moved on since Trafalgar. The biggest improvements seemed to be a moderate improvement in the living conditions for the sailors, and improvements in the technology surrounding the armaments and propulsion of these ships.
We then had some time to spare to visit the local shop whilst the obligatory puncture was repaired and we could set out on our journey back to the West Country.
Once re united with out coach we set out for Devon and arrived back at Exeter during the early evening.
Overall this was an interesting visit and reminded us that the Royal Navy also provide flying opportunities, and that team work usually sees off the opposition.
Well worth giving up a day to take part, and recommended for next year
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