THE 08 Lavesum Camp ATA Haltern Germany

By ASgt R. Worthington Surrey Wing ATC
Last Update: 25/11/2008 15:27:30

Sixty-five teenagers had a half term break with a difference when they travelled to Germany with the Air Cadets. The cadets and staff from five Squadrons across Surrey Wing enjoyed a week long camp at Lavesum Barracks near Haltern am See in North West Germany.

The camp, hosted by No 4 Overseas Squadron and supported by Flt Lt Constable, started with a long coach journey across the Channel then through France, Belgium, Holland and of course Germany. However, the journey was the perfect chance for the cadets to rest before a week packed full of new experiences including weapons training and a whole day shooting on an electronic target range, which one cadet described as "the best range I’ve ever fired on”. This was followed by another whole day on a section defence range. A Cadet Corporal from 323 Epsom & Ewell Squadron commented, "Although it was freezing cold on the range, the atmosphere was amazing. It was so exciting shooting at moving targets at 400 metres.”

But it wasn’t just shooting all week. The cadets took part in a variety of activities including, initiative exercises, sport, fieldcraft training and even a day at a theme park. All these activities were building up to the main event of the week a 29 hour exercise where the cadets got to put into practise everything they had learnt. This included staying out over night under canvas, undertaking ‘missions’ and having to cook for themselves.

Surprisingly after all the exertion of the week, the cadets still had enough energy to dance the night away at the end of camp disco. Every cadet got a memento of the week in the form of a camp T-shirt. There was a competition to design the camp badge to go on the t-shirt, which was won by Sergeant Wigley of 328 Kingston Squadron.

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