SHOOTING—MY FIRST TIME
By Cdt. J. Scott
When I went shooting, I was extremely
excited. All cadets met at the Visitors car
park at RAF Cosford and formed up; we
marched down to the shooting range
where we would first do our initial weapons handling. When we went inside, we
were split up into two groups for the number eight rifle; we were then introduced to
our teacher.
The first thing we learnt was how to pick
up a rifle and to check if it was loaded or
not; how to hand over the rifle to another
person; how to get into the correct prone
position; load and unload the rifle and how
to handle a misfire.
Uniform inspection results
24th April
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Cdt. D. Bentley
Average score: 8.6
Cdt. N. Lofthouse
Average score: 8.6
I practiced until I got it all correct. Then it
was time for our test. I practiced more to
double check that I was doing each procedure correctly. I started to get really nervous because some people failed and I was
worrying whether I would fail. I went into
the examination room; the person testing
me asked questions, such as why you have
to make sure that you push the round into
the chamber until resistance is felt.
Luckily I passed the test.
Afterwards, all the cadets that passed the
test went onto the range; before we did;
we put our bags down and then an instructor told us all of the instructions to do
while on the range. We were separated
into groups then entered the range in that
order. My group had to wait a long time;
we were third. All cadets got into the
prone position and then were told to shoot
ten rounds at the target. I took my time
taking the shots, I wasn’t very good but I
still enjoyed it a lot.
The most iconic moments were when I
passed my weapons handling test and
when I shot my first bullets. I found it
amazing and it will be an iconic memory
that I will never forget. ?
By Cdt. Vince
Cdt. S. Cox
Average score: 8.4
Cdt. A. Kenney
Average score: 8.2
Cdt. Williams
Average score: 8.2
On Saturday 19th April myself and other
cadets from squadrons around the Wing
marched into Cosford base to take part in
a shooting weekend, to learn the N? 8 rifle
training or the L98A2 rifle training.
At first we were split into groups I was on
the course for the first time so I took part
in the N? 8 training. A Warrant Officer
taught my group the drills for the weapons
handling test (which is to see whether you
know how to use this particular weapon
safely).
The No 8 rifle was used in WW2 and the
rifles we used were replicas. Drills consisted of handing the weapon over to another
person safely, pointing it in a safe direction
and checking to see if there’s a round inside, loading, firing and unloading the rifle.
By Saturday afternoon we were at the
ranges where some cadets completed and
passed their weapons handling test. The
other cadets took it in turns to shoot in
group, while waiting the other cadets chatted to each other.
Other cadets thought that it was interesting learning the skills, the N? 8 is not too
technical to shoot and they were surprised
how comfortable it was to shoot.
It’s also nice to do something different as
you probably won’t get this opportunity
outside of cadets.
On the Sunday, by the end of the day, I’d
shot 40 rounds and we were able to keep
the cards we shot through to see how well
we had done. While shooting we were
asked to think about grouping the shots
inside the target. Overall it’s about learning a new skill and taking advantage of the
experience.
As cadets it’s important to take advantage
of opportunities. Of course you won’t want
to take part in each one but if you feel you
doubt yourself and feel you may fail at an
opportunity your only answer is to take the
opportunity for its the only chance for you
to make that change of opinion.
GO, GO, GO and enjoy yourself!
Activities cannot happen without you, you
cannot achieve without taking chances. ?
CADET OF THE SPRING SEASON
Cdt. A. Kenney has been chosen for his consistent high level of commitment,
enthusiasm and respect.
2497 (Cosford) Squadron Altitude | 2497cosfordsquadron.moonfruit.com
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