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Exercise Blue Hackle
Swynerton training area, Staffordshire, was the venue for the Army section's March field weekend this year.
A mixture of NCOs, seniors and recruits spent the weekend living in the field, practicing routines and brushing-up their skills.
After a reasonably quiet first night, the cadets were woken by a dawn attack on their harbour area. After repelling the enemy, the rest of the morning and afternoon was spent visiting a number of stands, including First Aid and Obstacle Crossing. 
Patrols were then sent out to find a suitable site for a full scale ambush; after quiet and noisy rehearsals, the ambush was set and successfully executed as the enemy passed on their night time patrol.
Later, recce patrols located the enemy base, which was then kept under observation for the rest of the night. Darkness can play tricks on the eyes and on the mind: the enemy were seen to pack up and move out of their camp in the early hours; in fact they had done no such thing, which made the cadets first-light attack on the enemy rather tricky.
The exercise finished with a platoon strength attack on the enemy emplacement, which involved moving across open ground under cover.
Reasonable weather and a benign training area helped to make the weekend a great success.
Lt Burden
