MTP AND POSSIBLE COUNTY BADGE

Ladies and Gentlmen

You will by now be aware that our issue of MTP has arrived in the County and is being distributed via the CAAs on a one-for-one exchange with CS95. I fully expect that all CFAVs will be wearing MTP by the end of Feb, less any adults who have yet to supply their sizing sheets. And yes, brown boots will eventually be issued!

We will also shortly be issued with rank slides, which will be a generic "ACF" slide. I would like to canvas your opinion on the idea of producing a cloth County Badge for adults to wear. I am not convinced that we should procure a County rank slide as I am aware and support the strong Regimental and Corps loyalties which I know exist and are currently displayed on slides. A better option might be to go for a badge.

If we go ahead with a badge it would have to appear on the left arm (where Bde flashes usually go) and not on the right arm as it would not be a TRF.

My own thoughts would be for a Kent badge, with the white horse, probably on a red background in the shape of a shield. Something not unlike the badge at the top of this blog!

If we go ahead I would like to go to Annual Camp with a new collective adult badge, so I would welcome your thoughts over the next few weeks.

Could I ask regular (if there are any!) visitors to this blog to forward this post to colleagues so that we can gauge the feelings of a wide spread of the adult community.

WELCOME BACK IN 2013!

Firstly, a slightly belated Happy New Year and a welcome back to training in what will be a very busy year. It was a great pleasure to see a number of you at Dibgate for the first Adult Update Weekend and also the RE Sqn at work at Collingwood a week before. The next adult weekend takes place in early February. I was very pleased to be able to introduce our new Honorary Colonel, Col James Partridge TD DL to adults training at the weekend. Col Partridge is keen to get around the County ans meet as many adults and cadets as possible, so don't be surprised if he pops up at your training events over the coming months!

I think that most people have now met the new Deputy Commandant (Training), Lt Col David Steele, who has joined us on promotion from SE London ACF. The second new Deputy Commandant, Lt Col (Designate) Chris Gilbert, will be returning to duty at the start of February to begin the handover/takeover with Lt Col Masters. Lt Col Gilbert will take up his post as Deputy Commandant (Admin) on 1st April.

I would like to draw your attention to the latest Army Cadet Magazine, which is heavily focused towards the hot topic of adult commissioning and so will be of particular interest to our 17 AUOs and others contemplating this career pathway. The other strong themes in the magazine are training safety and Values & Standards. I would encourage you to study the article written by GOC Sp Comd, Maj Gen Boag, who has ultimate responsibility for the ACF. You will find the link to the current magazine below.

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=441f728e-e75b-4a4a-b06a-ef8b486e785c

Our Main Effort as a County must now switch towards the preparations for Annual Camp to Okehampton in August. The County recce will take place over the weekend of 16/17 March, after which the detailed Coy/Sqn plans and arrangements will be confirmed. The price this year will be fixed at £80 per head.

I would also like you to start thinking further ahead to 2014 which will be the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One. I took a party of officers to Flanders last October for a Study Weekend to scope the potential for cadet visits in 2014. I am hoping that the Coys/Sqn now carry out a similar planning exercise and then make detailed arrangements for cadet visits in 2014. Kent, being so close to France has an obvious advantage when it comes to visiting France/Belgium and is not without evidence of the impact of WW1 itself.

Commandant's Christmas Message

I would like to thank all the adults in Kent Army Cadet Force for their unstinting loyalty, support and determination throughout this year and to wish you all a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas and New Year. I look forward to continuing the challenge of cadet training and to work with you throughout 2013. I would like to pass on my special thanks to our Civilian Assistants whose work very often goes unseen, but without whom the adminstration of detachments would be an additional burden on the uniformed staff.

2012 proved to be very busy and very different for us in many ways. An annual camp at Easter was probably the hint that the year would be like no other. Despite the cold nights and the slightly shorter hours of daylight than we would normally be used to we achieved what we set out to achieve. We now have annual camp to Okehampton (10-23 Aug)  2013 firmly in our sights. The first recce has been and gone and the County recce is scheduled for March. Annual camp will feature all the normal activities you would expect at camp, including the opportunities for AT and at Coy level a day out. Costs are provisionally set at £80. We embarked on the delivery of Level 1 qualifications to our cadets, something that I would like to see continue in the new year. We also achieved 7 gold awards at D of E and had an enjoyable Officers' Study Period to Ypres in Belgium.

The County celebrated HM The Queen's Diamond Jubilee with medals, a spectacular dinner at Priestfield and the lighting of a beacon at Dibgate.

I am very pleased that 2Lt Ian Packer has started what I am confident will be a steady and successful programme of commissioning for our Potential Officers. With 17 Adult Under Officers currently undergoing training I am looking at asteady outflow from Westbury of young (and not so young!) officers who have the ability to lead from the front at detachment level. If anyone else is considering the challenge of commissioning I would urge them to make contact with Maj Nisbet who is running the PO Cadre.

We have said goodbye to a number of long serving members of Kent ACF this year; RSM McGowan, who led the Sgts' Mess for the last three years, Capt Morris form our AT team and Lt Col John Pankhurst, one of the longest serving members of the county and one of our deputy Commandants. All will be sorely missed, but the new year will usher in a new team, with two new Deputy Commandants and a recently appointed RSM and SO2. We were also able to say farewell to the outgoing Honorary Colonel, The Viscount de L'Isle MBE, on his retirement, with a celebratory a dinner at Dibgate in November.

Looking back to the start of the year I set out the key aims and objectives for this year and 2013. These were to:

"Increase the uptake of older cadets on CVQO awards. It goes without saying that all cadets who fulfil the qualifying criteria should be registered and should complete the assessment package. BTEC awards add real value to the life chances of our cadets and engage directly with parents, schools and other stakeholders.

2. Improve the uptake for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, at all levels. As with CVQO awards the County is currently behind the curve with the uptake and completion of awards well below the levels we should be achieving, despite the considerable personal efforts of Capt Woods and his team.

3. Further develop shooting as a core activity available to all cadets. The introduction of the new air rifle should be used as a stimulus to putting shooting back on the map. It goes without saying that shooting is one of the key incentives to joining the ACF, forms part of the overall "Cadet Experience" and is an excellent tool for so many disciplines. The County has had some notable achievements of late and I commend the Shooting Officer for his efforts.

Looking at these three areas, they should become our ME for development.

For adults, I wish to see major development in the sphere of potential officer training and development and with encouraging CFAV to develop AT skills and qualifications.

Across the County there is considerable talent, enthusiasm and expertise amongst the CFAV community and I am indebted to the staff who make things happen. There is however still room for improvement and development, particularly with uptake of activities by cadets and it is here that we all share a corporate responsibility."

I would encourage you all to look and review not just how successful (or otherwise) we have been at these, but how YOU have contributed, or could contribute towards them in 2013.

The Honorary Colonel, Colonel James Partridge TD DL passes on his warm regards at this festive time of year and hopes to get the opportunity to meet as many adults and cadets as possible early on in 2013.

I have been prompted by the SO2 that I need to produce the Directive for 2013/2014, which I shall aim to do over the Christmas/New Year period and put out via the CoC in the January/February.

Again, well done for making 2012 a success and for continued success in 2013.

Have a very Happy Christmas with your families and friends.

Jeremy Wilson

PS: In 2013 I will be looking for a new County Training Officer (to take post after Camp) and a County Sports Officer.

New appointments to Kent ACF

I am sure that everyone will be delighted to hear that a Brigade Promotion Board has confirmed the appointments of our two new Deputy Commandants, to succeed Lt Col's Pankhurst and Masters, who retire from their posts at Christmas 2012 and Easter 2013 respectively.

The first appointment will be Major David Steele, who will take up his post on promotion in January 2013. Major Steele is currently the County Training Officer in South East London ACF, where he has established an impressive portfolio of achievements for the Sector and its cadets and adults. One of his key developments and achievements has been the establishment of a formal association between the Italian Army Cadet Force and South East London ACF. This has enabled a large number of the Sector's cadets and adults to have the opportunity to train in Italy and for Italian cadets to train in the UK. I am hoping that this initiative may migrate over the border from London and provide our adults and cadets with similar opportunities!

Maj Chris Gilbert needs little introduction to the County, where he has an outstanding record of service to Kent ACF. Major Gilbert will take up his post on promotion on 1st April 2013.

Both Deputy Commandants will be taking up slightly re-defined roles and duties and line management responsibilities, details of which will be promulgated through the chain of command before Christmas.

The incoming RSMI, RSM Sullivan will be taking up his post at County Headquarters in December this year. RSM Sullivan has a bold vision to take the county forward over the next 3-5 years, particularly with regard to AI training and development. In this, he will be working closely with the incoming Deputy Commandant, the County Training Officer and the OC County Training Team.

The fourth new appointment is that of Lt Tara Yong as the next County Adventure Training Officer, to succeed Capt Mo Morris who retired earlier this year. Tara has an impressive record of delivering the AT experience in B Coy and will now be looking to expand this to the County as a whole. Finally, Lt Mark Johnson will be taing over County wide responsibility for CVQO awards for cadets and adults in the new year. Lt Johnson has lately been serving with B Coy.

I know that all adult members of Kent Army Cadet Force will support all the newly appointed adults and work with them to develop and enhance the opportunities that we able able to offer our cadets.

New Honorary Colonel

I am very pleased to be able to confirm the appointment of Colonel James Partridge TD DL as our new Honorary Colonel, to succeed The Viscount De L'Isle MBE, who retired in the summer.

Col James Partridge was commissioned from Cambridge University OTC into the Royal Artillery in 1981, serving with 100 (Yeomanry) Regiment, which he commanded for two and a half years, until 1998.  Since then he has held several staff appointments, including TA Colonel, Royal Artillery and Deputy Commander 2 (SE) Brigade.  His last active post was in Reserve Forces & Cadets Division in the Ministry of Defence, where he sat as the Reservist member on the Cottam Review of the Reserve Forces.  He is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court and practises in Tunbridge Wells.  He has two grown up children and lives just over the County border near Crowborough.  When time permits, he is a keen walker and dinghy sailor and enjoys touring in England and France.

It is my intent that OCs invite Col Partridge to a weekend event, certainly well before Annual Camp 2013, in order to give him the chance to meet Officers and Adult Instructors and to see cadets undergoing training.

Commissioning - 2Lt Ian Packer

I would like to congratulate Ian on his outstanding success at the Cadet Force Commissioning Board. He is now the newest officer to join Kent Army Cadet Force from our Potential Officer Cadre and will return to his detachment in his new role as the commissioned Det Comd. I would like to think that Ian's success will provide an inspiration to the remaining 14 Adult Under Officers. There is now a vacancy in the cadre! Please apply to me through your OC if you are interested in taking Ian's place.

Officers' Study Period 13 Oct 12 - EX YPRES RIDE

After a very early start on Sat 13th October, Officers from Kent ACF embarked on Exercise Ypres Ride, a short battlefield tour of the Ypres Salient in Belgium, with a focus on locations signifcant to the 3rd Battle of Ypres and the cap badges worn by members of Kent ACF. Sites visited included Larchwood, Hill 60, Hooge, Tyne Cot and Essex Farm, before completing the day with a meal in Ypres and the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate. Lt Col John Pankhurst laid the wreath with Capt Keith Bloor on behalf of the County.

Special thanks go to the four OCs for leading their teams in the research and preparation of presentations on the ground, on topics of particular significance to their Coy cap badges.

The Salient lived up to its reputation from WW1, being wet, cold and muddy!

There are pictures of the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate from Saturday evening on the Last Post website. See the link below:

http://www.lastpost.be/en/x/60/photobook?album=314