Army Cadets
The Royal Anglian Regiment is proud to support the Army Cadets and is affiliated with multiple Cadet units across the East of the UK. The young people in these units then wear our regimental insignia proudly for the training events and when they are on parade and public events.
The ACF can trace its beginnings to 1859 when there was a threat of invasion by the French. The British Army was still heavily involved abroad after the Indian mutinies, and therefore had very few units in this country. The Volunteers were formed to repel the possible invasion. History was to repeat itself in 1940 during the Second World War when the Home Guard was formed to help counter a threatened invasion by the German Army.
Immediately following the formation of the Volunteers came the start of the Cadets. In 1860 at least eight schools had formed Volunteer companies for their senior boys and masters, and a number of volunteer units had started their own cadet companies. Typical of these were the Queen’s Westminster’s who placed their 35 Cadets at their head when they marched past Queen Victoria at her Hyde Park Review of the Volunteers in 1860.
Why Join the Army Cadets?
Becoming an Army Cadet has heaps of benefits.
The most obvious being that you get to take part in loads of exciting and challenging activities such as fieldcraft, adventure training, first aid, music, sports and shooting, to name but a few.
When you join as a cadet you will make lots of new friends and get the opportunity to go on annual camp where you will meet cadets from other detachments in your county. You may even get to go on expeditions to amazing places in the UK and sometimes even abroad.
Adult volunteers in the Army Cadets
Adult volunteers in the Army Cadets fall into two main categories. There are Adult Instructors (AIs) who directly train the cadets, and Army Cadet officers, who have more of a leadership type role and are involved in training and managing AIs as well as cadets. Approximately two-thirds of our adults are AIs and one-third officers.
Unless you are joining the Army Cadets after being an officer in the Regular or Reserve Forces, you will need to spend some time as an AI first, before you are able to become an officer. This allows you to get to know and understand the organisation well enough to gain the authority required to lead and inspire other adult volunteers, some of whom may have been in the Army Cadets for many years.
