Annual Camp 2008- Nesscliff

Annual Camp 2008 started with rock climbing and abseiling, the vast crag was scaled by a steep path which, thankfully, had a rail along side it. At the top the cadets captured their breath and lowered themselves over the edge (some needed more encouragement than others!) and completed the circuit to the ground. Climbing took place on an outdoor artificial wall, a variety of routes ensured that both seasoned and rookie climbers were challenged and pushed to their limits.

 
Tuesday was our day as a contingent; we used this time to visit the Cold War museum. The variety of hangers encased a whole host of technology from the era, especially from the Berlin Airlift.

 
The second half of the week began with out military training day, a selection of skills and methods were taught throughout the day. These included vehicle checkpoints where cadets checked cars for weapons (or not in the case of L/Cpl Ramsbottom).

Arresting allowed younger NCOs to show leadership and cadets to implement their newly learnt section battle drills. We were given a situation and told to retrieve items of interest. The dastardly criminals were apprehended at the scene after a great deal of shouting when they tried to get away.

Building and clearance involved the only command task of the day, cadets patrolled up to a small moat and built bridges across from what they could find. No one fell in, unfortunately.

 
Casualty evacuation involved patrolling to a Spartan tank and retrieving a fallen soldier, we used a basha (primitive tent) to lift the man and take him to safety. Finally, hostage rescue allowed cadets to unleash paintball havoc for the first time whilst clearing rooms. The operation went well except for the amount of paint that seemed to have appeared on the hostage, we may have needed to practice a bit more. For those who may be worried the hostage was a foam doll. Our second to last day saw paintballing, kayaking and mountain biking. For paintballing Birkenhead went with Christ Collage, this was the only inter school group that went; we HAD to win. It all came down to the last round, we had protected the bus with ease but we needed to make it a lot harder for our enemies now we had switched roles. The attack seemed impossible; the button to disarm the ‘bomb’ was inside the fortress of a bus which had one way in and out. With severely thinner wallets we charged.

The attempt rapidly became a stalemate, a group of Sgt Tickle, L/Cpl Ramsbottom and Cadets Thomas, O’Connell and Langan noticed the flank was open and things began to change. They pounced like wild cats on their prey and swept through their positions, we had soon won the round and the day to the joy of 2Lt Paxton. Kayaking took place on the lake nearby and for those who didn’t want to get as wet, mountain biking along the canal was available. The cadets who went on the water got soaked through and thoroughly enjoyed their experience.

 
The final day was the competition; Birkenhead won the DCCT range competition after practicing every night for the whole week, our gun run team also did well winning their first round but not reaching the final.

Camp came to a close with no one wanting to leave, thank you to all the staff that made it possible.