Writes Markus Feder, (Divs)
On Sunday 14 June 2026, nine cadets from the CCF Army Section across St Helen’s and Merchant Taylors’ attended a Fire and Manoeuvre Day to help with our training as a part of the CCF.
We started the day at 09:30, when we organised and set out our necessary kit for the upcoming activities. First of all, each cadet took a camouflage set and started applying different shades of mud and grass to our faces. Equipped with one shade of green and two shades of brown, we expertly prepared our faces to make it look as though we had faceplanted and felt sick all at the same time. This combination and elite colour theory (make a note art students) was perfect to be able to blend into the forests by the lake and the grass in the fields of Merchant Taylors’.
We also were given firearms that shot paintballs to carry all day to mimic what people have to do in the Army and to achieve the ‘Fire’ part of this expedition. We started with “pepper-potting” as a two, which is when one person advances towards the enemy while the other provides covering fire as protection. This process is repeated to create a consistent and reliable way to gain on your enemy in order to take them out easier. We learnt about the necessary terms that we had to call out during this process in order to stay safe, though some precarious looks from cricket players on the other side of the field showed us that we weren’t the protective force of nature some of us thought we were. We progressed to doing this same exercise in a group of four and even as a whole section, as these are the conditions that the Army have to perform the exercise in.
After many repeats of this exercise to drill the process into our heads, we were rewarded with a well-deserved lunch. All of us could enjoy rations that ranged from Rajma Masala to Breakfast Baked Beans, truly showing us the luxuries that the British Army can so luckily enjoy every day. Strategically, the Army makes all of their rations either constipatives or laxatives, so whichever meal you got would lead to the next few days being very interesting.
After “lunch”, we headed to a more wooded area of the school as we had spent the entire morning in an open field, and despite our meticulous camouflage, we were not difficult to be spotted. This time we performed the same exercise as before in groups of four and five, except this time we had to crawl through nettles and thorns to reach our enemy instead of being able to lay down on soft grass. The level of success varied, but it was a good bonding moment for us as our friends shouted “bang bang” to perfectly recreate the sounds and impacts of bullets. Personally, it was a lot more fun being the ambushers than the ambushed, but we all got to play both sides to understand the role of both parties.
To finish off the day, we practised clearing a house. We were taught how to systemically work through a building to check for and remove enemies as safely as possible. We learnt the order for going through different rooms and the correct command words to shout to alert other people of rooms that have been cleared. This was the first part of the day where we were allowed to shoot the paintball guns, and I can guarantee you those metal silhouettes stood no chance against us. Overall, the day was extremely fun and informative, and I think everyone there had a great time understanding more of what it is like to be part of the Army.
