CADET INTER-SERVICE SKILL AT ARMS MEETING – 1ST (NI) BN BRING HOME THE SILVERWARE!

1st (NI) Bn’s shooting teams made the journey to Pirbright and tell of their experiences at the Cadet Inter-Service Skill at Arms Meeting:

On a dull October evening, the 3 battalion shooting teams from A, C and D company embarked on the journey to the Cadet Inter Service Skill at Arms Meeting (CISSAM). The journey consisted of an overnight boat from Belfast to Liverpool and a 6 hour minibus ride through England but finally we made it to the location of the competition, Alexander Barracks, Pirbright. 

At the early time of 0530hrs everyone was awoken and we began our day with a short zeroing session and practice on the range. We then moved on to the start of the competition. The first scored match for the teams was the urban contact match. This match consisted of each firer shooting in the prone, sitting and kneeling positions. Spectacular results were achieved by all team members during this match with Sgt Harry McCaughey coming 2nd overall. This finished the day’s shooting for the teams and we all looked forward to the Chinese buffet we were all going to scoff ourselves at later.
  
With stomachs still full from the previous night’s feast, 0530hrs on Saturday morning yet again was another unpleasant awakening to say the least. However we managed to gather ourselves together long enough to be first out on the ranges. Saturday was a very busy day for the teams with 4 matches being shot. These were the defence match, advance to contact match, advance and reorganisation match and the LSW and rifle pairs match. Each shooter had their ups and downs throughout the day, however overall scores were very promising. We found out later that night that Cpl Ben Hazelton and Cpl Jake Johnson, representing A company, had come 1st in the LSW pairs match:

Photo above: SI Victor Hazelton (Dungannon Open) , Cadet Corporal Ben Hazelton (Dungannon Open), Cadet Corporal Jake Johnston (Larne), SMI John Johnston (Larne). Two immensely proud fathers with their sons.

A company had also achieved 2nd place in the section match. Other placings included Sgt Harry McCaughey coming 1st in the ACF and 2nd overall in the competition and both Cpl Ben Hazelton and Sgt Harry McCaughey being selected for the Inter Service match on Sunday against the Air and Sea Cadets. 

It was clear on Sunday morning that all the cadets were becoming exhausted from the past days of intense shooting but we had to carry on and give our best for the final 2 matches. Everyone except Ben and Harry had a break in the morning due to the inter services match taking place. This match is highly regarded in the competition because of the bragging rights given to the winning service. This year, to the immense disappointment of Ben and Harry, the gold medals went to the Air Cadets. The match was very close with only 2 hits on the target separating the ATC and ACF. 

The teams then quickly moved to the falling plates match, which had already began. This match consists of 2 x 4-man teams running 100metres, getting into the prone position then shooting down 10 small metal plates as quickly as possible. The winning team is the one to hit all the plates first or the highest number of plates. Valiant efforts were given all around but the undisputed winner was the C company team. The team, including officers were ecstatic, with a mighty roar coming from Harry once the final plate had been hit. 

Overall 1st Battalion Northern Ireland had a very successful competition bringing some much needed silverware to add to our ever-growing collection. 

Main picture above shows the C Company team, who won the Falling plate and were the 3rd Placed ACF team:  Cadet Sergeant Harry McCaughey (Cambridge House Ballymena), Cadet Colour Sergeant Richard Love, (Ballyclare), Cadet Corporal Arron Cowan (Ballyclare), Cadet Corporal Matthew Logan (Ballyclare), with their personal “hauls”.

Photo below:  Cadet Lance Corporal Jason Dripps (Magherfelt Detachment), Cadet Corporal Ben Hazelton (Dungannon Open Detachmanet), Cadet Corporal Jake Johnston (Larne Detachment), Cadet Tom Ferguson (Dungannon Open Detachment).  All 4 came 2nd in the section match (combined score of LSW and Rifle pairs).

Article written by  Cadet Sergeant Harry McCaughey & Cadet Corporal Ben Hazelton