28th October 2012
A team of four Royal Marines Cadets from Luton were chosen to represent the whole of the Sea Cadet Corps at the Cadet Inter-Service Skill at Arms Meeting (CISSAM) this year. The team, comprising Cpl D. Loveland, L/Cpl E. Spraggon-Quinn, L/Cpl J. Salmon and L/Cpl J Matthews joined twelve other Sea Cadet teams from across the country in Pirbright Camp in Surrey to take on the teams from the Army Cadets Force (ACF) and Air Training Corps (ATC).
CISSAM is a more complex shoot than anything the cadets had done in the past. Matches included the Montgomery of Alamein, made up of a deliberate, rapid and snap, as well as the Earl Roberts (AMS) which included those three and an addition advance (make safe, stand up, sprint to the next point, ready, fire), the Rifle Pairs in which two of the team had to work together to complete the run downs and shoots in the time limit, and the Falling Plates, which was an elimination match in which teams have to shoot down all the falling plates in the quickest time. If this wasn’t hard enough, the weather conspired against the teams as they competed in a combination of rain, wind and even snow at one point.
Overall, the Luton team came Fourth out of all the SCC teams, a fantastic achievement considering that this was their first time and had had comparatively little practice compared to other teams. Furthermore Cpl Loveland, pictured above receiving his Corps Colours from the Captain Sea Cadets, Capt Mark Windsor RN, scored 262, by far the highest individual score within the Sea Cadets Corps, which put him in 51st place and unfortunately just one point short of Cadet 50 (the top 50 shots in the whole competition). Cpl Loveland was awarded a Gold Medal for being the best shot in the SCC by the Commandant Colonel of the Army Cadets. As top shot, Cpl Loveland went on to compete in the joint Sea Cadet team against the Army Cadets and Air Cadets, earning himself a CISSAM Bronze Medal. A huge well done to all cadets involved.
More photos can be found on the Gallery page. There are two other main shooting competitions in the calendar. The Area .22 is shot in February, the Target Rifle is shot around April and next years SAAM will be shot in June/July. Both Sea Cadets and Royal Marines Cadets can apply – watch out for announcements in the new year.