Army Cadet Force and What it is All About

The ACF is all about helping 12-18 year olds to learn new skills and improve themselves in many different ways. It's an opportunity for young people to get a taste of Army life, as well as allowing them to stretch themselves away from school and to find out how much they can achieve and have a lot of fun in the process.

Cadets units meet one or two evenings a week to train in skills that include first aid, navigation, field craft, survival and skill at arms. Potential cadets parade for a number of weeks to allow them to see if they really fancy having a go with the ACF, and to let the ACF see if they think that they are serious about taking part.

Training starts immediately after signing up and you will find yourself on the way to achieving your first badge. Initial training takes place at a local detachment, or out in the country or at camps and training centres during weekends. It's here where they'll get stuck into practical training.

The highlight of Cadet training is Annual Camp. This is a two-week adventure where Cadets learn field craft and have fun with other detachments from all over the County. It's organised on a County basis with all the Companies within the County taking part.

In a nutshell the Basic Facts are:-

Members meet once or twice a week in the evenings at their Detachment hut or somewhere in their local community.

The smallest feasible unit is about a fifteen cadets. The largest unit may have 50 to 60 members or in special circumstances even more.

Ranks range from Cadet all the way up to Cadet Regimental Sergeant Major, the highest rank only achieved by the best

The Adult Instructor(AI)/Cadet Ratio is 1 Adult Instructor to every 5.6 cadets and if there are female cadets, as in most Detachments, then there will be at least one female AI parading at all times.

There are two basic types of activities:-

The first is Green training, which means all the military activities, training and shooting, visits to military establishments and exercises.

The second covers civilian and Adventurous Training activities, including sports like football, hockey, netball, rugby, athletics, as well as hill walking, mountaineering, caving, climbing and quad biking. In all these events, cadets take on responsibility - and senior Cadets even organise some activities themselves within the detachments