Self-Reliance Expedition

 Forty Cadets from the Third Year spent the last weekend of May half-term undertaking a demanding assessment of their navigation, campcraft and self-reliance. Having prepared their own routes and completed route cards, the Cadets headed out onto the North Downs in callsigns of eight, carrying all they needed (in some cases confectionery for a regiment) on their backs. As the sun beat down mercilessly, they passed through a sequence of checkpoints, sometimes even in the right order, and under the beady-eyed supervision of assessing staff most groups made good progress, even if others found themselves passing floating ice sheets or steaming mangrove swamps. Well before sunset, however, all groups had reached camp for a feast of nutritious fare from boil-in-the-bag ration packs and a game of cricket at the campsite before a chance to rest their tattered feet in their tents.

All told the recruits showed no little competence with the map and compass and plenty of fortitude under a baking sun. Exhausted, blistered, sun-baked but satisfied, the recruits can be proud of a strong showing in this stern test of their skills and mettle.

Capt Mathew Owen, OC Army Section