LORD LIEUTENANT'S MERITORIOUS SERVICE CERTIFICATES

I am sure that you will all join me in congratulating Captain Shaun Spilsbury and Sergeant Major Instructor Verity Burrows on the news of the award of the Lord Lieutenant's Meritorious Service Certificate. The certificates were both well deserved and will be awarded at a ceremony in October. In the meantime please take the opportunity to congratulate them when you next see them.

COUNTY BADGE

After considerable deliberation the design for our County badge has been decided and is shown below. It is plain, simple and easily recognised.

The anticipated size will be 60mm X 60mm, which is slightly smaller than the size of a Post It note and should fit neatly under the union flag on the left hand blanking plate.

KENT ACF TO EXERCISE IN CYPRUS

I would hope by now that all adult members of Kent ACF are aware of the opportunity for cadets (and adults) to take part in an exercise in Cyprus over the Autumn 2013 half term. The exercise covers both military and adventure training skills and will be conducted within the Sovereign Base Area on the island. The weather should be a welcome break from an Autumn UK too!

 

The exercise will be sponsored by 2 RRF who are the resident battalion and follows a tried and tested package first developed in South East London ACF by our Deputy Commandant (T), Lt Col Steele.

 

The exercise is being organised by Lt Col Steele, who should contact for further details and information. This is too good an opportunity for our cadet and adult members to miss.

 

You can also ask Col Steele about the opportunities for visiting Italy with the Italian ACF. Again this is a tried and tested package for our adults and cadets. Watch out for the Italians at Annual Camp in Okehampton and start learning some Italian!

CADET COVENANT

We are on the verge of signing a landmark Cadet Covenant with Canterbury College. The covenant follows the successful launch of an Armed Forces Covenant with Canterbury College, the first FE college in the UK to do so.

 

We will be the first ACF in the country to sign a formal agreement with a college and I fully expect to see the benefits almost immediately. The short term benefits will be free access to all of the college's facilities in the evenings and at weekends. More significantly, we will have free access to courses for cadets (post 16) and for adults. Some detailed work is still needed to be done to identify key and appropriate courses for cadets and where/when they can be delivered by the college. Equally, for adults the college is offering free PTLLS and CTLLS courses, which could significantly contribute to improved instructional skills in the ACF and career prospects outside the ACF.

 

I am very much looking forward to the signing of the Cadet Covenant along with the Air Training Corps and Sea Cadet Corps on Wednesday 24th July at Canterbury College.
The signing has been postponed until the end of August to allow all parties more time to prepare. It will also link directly with Kent Cadet Week (12-18 Oct 14).

 

ANNUAL CAMP AND BEYOND

By my calculation we are now just 37 days away from the start of Annual Camp. This may sound like a long time still, but in ACF terms it is just 2 weekends away! I confirmed with the County Training Officer yesterday that the County Block Programme is now complete and all 4 sub units now know the schedule for the fortnight.

 

As officers and adult instructors you should know what programme you will be leading or supporting for the entire period that you will be there. Expect some duties, although these will be kept to the absolute minimum. Visitors' Day will be Friday 16th August, with an Officers' Mess Dinner Night in the evening. The Sergeants' Mess will hold their Dinner Night on the following day (Sat 16th) and both events should be well worth looking forward to.

 

Following Annual Camp we will be holding an Officers' Study Day on Saturday 12th October at Sir John Moore Bks in Shorncliffe. The theme for the day will be the 1914-2014 Centenary of the outbreak of World War One and will focus on the development of sub unit plans for battlefield tour visits and cadets in the community activities. I know that B and D Coys are already ahead of the game in this respect, with an adult planning tour for B Coy in July this year and an "adopt a war memorial" project in D Coy already underway. There will be an Officers' Mess Dinner Night on the Saturday evening and I would hope to use the occasion to dine out some of our recently retired officers. 

 

The Summer edition of Footprint is in its final stages of production. If anyone still has newsworthy events they would like included, please let the County PRO know without delay.

GETTING READY FOR ANNUAL CAMP

The count down to Annual Camp has certainly begun and with just over 10 weeks to go before we deploy to Okehampton I would urge a last call to adults and cadets to attend. The provisional figures show that we should see something like 550-600 adults and cadets attending what promises to be very enjoyable and rewarding experience.  Talking to cadets as I go around the County it is clear that information is being passed down and there is a good understanding of what is on offer and what we are aiming to achieve.

 

Remember, Annual Camp this year will be different for a number of reasons; we will be joined by cadets and adults from the Italian Army Cadet Force, who will be joining the 3 star cadre (to be followed by our cadets and adults visiting Italy next year). Ranges this year will be delivered by a Permanent Range Team (PRT) which should further improve the County's shooting skills. The adventure training package being organised this year should be second to none and takes full advantage of the opportunities afforded by Okehampton's position. Finally, I am hoping that our County badge will be on display and easily recognisable on our new uniforms!

Also coming up soon:

D of E Gold canoeing expedition down the River Wye
Presentation of CVQO Level 1 Awards in Canterbury Cathedral
AT weekends for D Coy and the RE Sqn at Lydd
B Coy visiting Ypres

4 DIV TARGET RIFLE COMPETITION

It was a great pleasure to be able to visit the 4 Div Target Rifle Competition at Pirbright on Sunday and see our County Team win a place at Bisley later this year. There was some truly excellent shooting on the part of our cadets at distances of up to 500 metres.

 

I would like to thank the adults who gave up their time to enable the event to take place, namely Capt Roberts (County Shooting Officer), Maj Nisbet, AUOs Green and Moore and SSgt Blair.

 

Shooting is one of our core skills and one of the key attractions to cadets when they join. The target rifle sits at the top of the tree when it comes to shooting skills and I would ask all our adults to encourage cadets who have a desire to develop their shooting skills and/or get involved themselves!

 

County Badge Update: The Kent county map with Invicta superimposed seems to be gaining ground at the moment. Last few days to express a preference!