CCF Parachute Cadre 2018

The CCF’s annual static line parachute cadre took place on Saturday 25 August 2018, this year also raising money for the Royal British Legion in this most poignant of years for the charity. After a 0530 hours start, ten Sixth Form cadets undertook an intensive day’s training at the Joint Service Parachute Wing in Netheravon, the home of Army parachuting. The cadre learnt about the rig, exit drills, canopy handling and a previously unimagined litany of malfunction drills. And then, on a beautiful August evening, they took to the sky with some dry mouths and shivers of excitement, and one by one leapt solo from the door of the aircraft 3,500ft above Salisbury Plain. An exhilarating few seconds of free-fall, a relieving whoosh as the parachute deployed, and a glorious few minutes of swooping above green fields as a golden English sun sunk to the distant horizon. Commended on their canopy handling by the Army Parachute Association’s instructor, all ten cadets landed gently on their feet (sort of) with broad smiles of delight and pride at having achieved something quite special, showing in so doing the courage and endeavour at the heart of the Corps’ ethos.

M M OWEN

Lt

Training Officer