The Cadet Skill at Arms Meeting (CADSAM) for 2017 was held from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 September 2017 at Pirbright Ranges, Alexander Barracks; the home of British Army Phase one recruit training.
Charterhouse teams
A Team: Caius Patel, Michael Shutt, Archie Woodhouse and Henry Waldern
B Team: Scott Nettleton, Frederick Markus, Charles Timms and Alexander Zu Sayn Wittgensayn-Sayn
The competition started quite well with the Charterhouse team fine tuning their marksmanship skills by zeroing their rifles before the main competition started. This is a very important technique where the firer adjusts the sights of his own rifle to the exact point of impact, so that without further sight adjustment he can hit any type of target at any distance from 50m to 300m. At the end of the zeroing session the team were feeling confident in their rifles.
Match 1 - ‘Advance to Contact’
The first match started on the range 300m from the target. The targets popped up and our B Team engaged them as best they could with the ten rounds (bullets) they had. Three of the team were on target, F Markus looked to be hitting the target a little low, outside of the top scoring ring of 5 points, probably only scoring 4 for each hit. Being perfectionists, a message was covertly sent to F Markus from the coach (Flight Sergeant Lay) to raise his point of aim a little for maximum points during further shoots at this distance. F Markus decided to quickly adjust his sights which led to him to, wrongly, being disqualified! This action was immediately challenged by the coach and after a minute of technical rifle shooting discussion, F Markus was back in the game. Next, the team had to get their lungs filled for a run. The targets popped up 300m away for 55 seconds and the team engaged them with four shots, then ran 100m to be closer to the target and engaged them with 3 more shots, ran a further 100m so that the targets were now only 100m away and fired another 3 shots at them. Now 2 targets 200m away popped up for 20 seconds and the boys had to hit them both with 5 shots, which the all did. Finally for this match a target was exposed 200m away for three seconds and the firers had to hit it with one shot, this happened ten times, now a short rest before the next match. The A Team did the same match, all without issue.
Match 2 - ‘Urban Contact’
The match starting 100m from the targets, the boys engaged the first target from the prone (lying down) position with five shots, the second target with five shots from the sitting position again from 100m. Once the target had disappeared they ran 25m before the next target popped up, adopted the kneeling position and shot it five times. Once that target disappeared the boys ran forward, only to get within 50m of the target before it was exposed, they all adopted the kneeling position and shot it five times again. Both teams did this match together and with the A Team running alongside the B Team, the best shooting of this match was witnessed and commented on by the range staff, who were provided by 11 Infantry Brigade, an accolade the whole team can be proud of.
Match 3 - ‘Attack and Reorganisation’
After lunch there was another long range match, starting with a sprint. At 400m the first targets came up, which was the indication to sprint 100m towards the targets adopt the prone firing position and fire as many shots as possible before the target went down thirty seconds later. Another 100m run followed immediately with the boys engaging the targets 200m away with one shot each time they popped up. A further advance, albeit at walking pace (patrolling) was done and when the firers were within 100m, the targets came up again. The firers went prone and fired, all our targets fell, they then quickly moved into a trench and watched for further targets, they came up, the boys fired and the targets dropped and did so for the next 8 times. Again both teams did this shoot side by side and the B Team were now on par with the A Team, learning very quickly from their more senior team mates.
Match 4 - ‘Defence’
For the final match of the day all the firers were in a trench line with targets in front of them, anywhere from 50m to 300m away, hidden in the grass and on top of the hill in the distance. Each firer had 30 rounds and 30 targets to hit, the first one came up 300m away, the line fired, all targets fell, I heard myself shout “YES” in my head as no other team had done this, let alone both teams from the same school, then all hell broke loose. Targets came up and had to be hit many times for them to fall, some had very carefully placed trees and bushes close to them to obscure their view but both teams did what they do best, adapt and overcome.
The boys in both teams had performed well and felt that they had done their best. As a highly trained team they had in their arsenal of knowledge the marksmanship principles, their own personal points of aim, application of fire to different targetry, knowledge and procedure of the matches and above all, confidence in themselves and their rifles, all we had to do was wait for the morning to find out the results.
Charterhouse teams
A Team: Caius Patel, Michael Shutt, Archie Woodhouse and Scott Nettleton,
B Team: Frederick Markus, Henry Waldern, Charles Timms and Alexander Zu Sayn Wittgensayn-Sayn.
Final Match - ‘Falling Plates’
This match is a knockout round, four team member’s sprint 100m to a firing line 200m away from ten 30cm square steel plates lined up next to each other. Once they get to the firing point they load their rifle, make ready and open fire, the winning team is the one who knocks down the ten plates the fastest. The B Team were first up against Surrey ACF A Team. The whistle was blown, they all rose from the prone starting position, ran to the firing point, loaded, cocked their rifles, took aim and fired, all plates stood firm at first but then started to fall as the second and third volley of fire went down. Soon the B Team had four plates down, then five against Surrey ACF’s three, but Charterhouse were now out of ammunition and Surrey had conserved theirs. Another plate fell, then another, finally when their ammunition was expended they had hit down six plates and we had only five. That was the end of our B Team’s CADSAM, but they had done very well at their first ever event and should be justifiably proud of their achievements.
The A Team were up next against another Army Cadet Team, Kent ACF. The ACF Teams have a county of around 3000 cadets to choose from, we have 13, and Kent were the reigning champions. The A Team’s first run was perfect, a steady run and very accurate fire hitting every plate in 22 seconds, including the 100m run! S Nettelton had a little trouble finding his point of aim on this first run but that was no problem for A Woodhouse who just kept hitting every plate he fired at, including one from S Nettelton. The second, third and fourth runs through to the final were just as good and now the whole team were on target and averaging 19 seconds for each run. The final was going to be the toughest run, against Surrey ACF, the team who knocked out our B Team and were also very fast and knocking down their plates. The whistle blew and the teams set off with Surrey always about 2 paces ahead of Charterhouse, a planned tactic from our team. Both teams open fire almost simultaneously, Surrey first then M Shutt. Their first plate did not move, M Shutt‘s fell as did the other 3 team member’s plates, then the next 4 fell then the last two. Charterhouse had saved their best until last, an 18 second run beating Surrey ACF, who still had three plates standing as our last plate fell. An almighty cheer rose from the watching crowd as the last Charterhouse plate fell, not because of any CCF – ACF rivalry, but because both teams put on a fantastic display of marksmanship under pressure.
Final Results
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First Second |
Charterhouse A Charterhouse B |
Winners of the Weapon training Championship Cup
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Overall Cadet Team (ACF/CCF) Second |
Charterhouse A Charterhouse B |
Winners of Queen Victoria Jubilee Challenge Cup |
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First Top Shot Overall Second Third |
CPO C Patel Charterhouse Cdt H Waldern, Charterhouse C/Sgt M Shutt Charterhouse |
Winners of the 4th Battalion the Buffs Trophy |
| Falling Plate Champions |
Charterhouse A Second Third |
Winners of the EPNS SE District Skill at Arms Trophy Surrey ACF A Surrey ACF B |
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Photographs top to bottom:
CADSAM Team 2017
Caius Patel - Champion at Arms 2017
Falling Plate Champions 2017
