Cullybackey College 1st (Northern Ireland) Battalion Army Cadet Force

The Army Cadet Force Our Motto: Inspire to Achieve

The Army Cadet Force is a long established National Voluntary Youth Organisation who have over 154 years’ experience in offering “Fun, Friends, Action, Adventure, Qualifications” to cadets ranging in age from 12 years to 18 years old. Throughout the UK over 46000 young people have taken up the challenge of becoming an Army Cadet, with over 1500 cadets from a wide range of backgrounds and areas here in Northern Ireland it is also one of the most inclusive, cost effective and progressive youth organisation your son or daughter could join.

The Cullybackey College Detachment has continued to flourish and have been producing some fine cadets, such as Cadet Lance Brandon Lee (Left) who won the Best Overall Cadet at the National Mini Micks competition at Magilligan

The Detachment are proud to be badge Irish Guards and to be known as Mini Micks (Irish Guards cadets are known as Mini Micks following the nickname of the “The Micks”) Cullybackey cadets are amongst some of the best qualified in C as many of the cadets have achieved their Star levels and have attended many different courses ranging from canoeing, climbing, and Signals

They had the honour to attend the St Patrick’s Day Parade with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards at Aldershot and got presented a sprig of shamrock by the HRH Duchess of Cambridge. (Pictured Right)

WHAT CAN YOU DO AS A CADET Army Cadets work towards a common Cadet Syllabus covering many subjects from military type training adapted to young teenagers to community based events sport, more of the activities we do are listed below: Drill – Teaching the cadets to follow commands ‐ commonly seen as a foundation to teamwork First Aid ‐Learning a very important life skill ‐ cadets undertake various levels of First Aid training throughout their time in the ACF, on completion of 4 Star they can complete a fully recognised First Aid at work course Fieldcraft ‐Playing soldiers with all the kit ‐ Cadets will learn basic Military tactics such as blending into their surroundings to cooking to building a shelter and much more Duke of Edinburgh’s Award–In action together ‐ Cadets can use much of their cadet service to interlink with their Award. The Army Cadet Force and the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme have a long history together. Skill at Arms‐ Safe handling of cadet weapons ‐teaching the cadet to use our weapons with safety and confidence before taking part in any target shooting Target Shooting – Applying marksmanship principles ‐to take part in competition shooting BTEC –Extra qualifications for our cadets ‐ Cadets on reaching 16 years of age and having achieved 3 star can undertake a BTEC in Public Services equivalent to 4 GCSE’s grades A*‐C, most cadets will gain at least a merit. Invaluable to those planning on university education. Adventure Training – Testing the cadets to their limits ‐ Cadets can take part in a large selection of adventurous activities ranging from kayaking to climbing, mountain biking to skiing or run over a military obstacle courses. WHERE and WHEN DO WE MEET

Weekly‐ The Detachment meets each Wednesday evening in the Boys Gym in the college between 7.30pm and 9.30pm.

Monthly – Cadets can attend weekends away at our purpose built £5mCadet Training Centre at Magilligan Training Camp, Co Londonderry where the cadets can put into practice everything they have learnt at the Detachment, as well as some specialist courses such as Signals, First Aid, Target Shooting and more. A weekend away generally costs £10. Cadets can attend a minimum of 4 weekends per year but can also attend other weekends such as sport D of Ed etc.

Annually‐ Cadets will get the opportunity to attend a camp depending on their age. Cadets who are below the age of 13 years can attend a 7 day Easter Camp at the Cadet Training Centre. For those above the age of 13years have the opportunity to attend Annual Camp which is 2 weeks away in England this is generally seen as the culmination of the cadet year where most will achieve their Star level. Cost is approx. £65

If you want more information about CullybackeyDetachment speak to any of the of pupils who are Army Cadets or come down to see what we get up to on a Wednesday evening, it’s easy to join come along we will give you an application form, your parents fill it in and that’s it, “you are now an Army Cadet”

For more information on what we do in the 1st (NI) Battalion Army Cadet Force please log on to our battalion website the link is below: https://armycadets.com/county/1st‐northern‐ireland‐battalion‐acf/