Students get action-packed taste of army life

Bomb disposal exercises, field cooking, vehicle recovery and tough fitness challenges were part of an action-packed visit to Carver Barracks for students from Cambridge Regional College.

The 33 Engineers pulled out all the stops to give the student a real taste of life in the front line, putting on a series of punishing challenges to test their teamwork, fitness, discipline, leadership and team spirit to the limit – all key attributes for the Army.

Two hundred students in the college’s Uniformed and Public Services faculty were put through their paces by the professionals in 10 different challenges, with nine teams competing against each other.

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The students had to race against the clock carrying heavy equipment for the field gun challenge, winch a crashed vehicle to safety in a ‘war’ zone, cook a meal using basic outdoor tools and hunt for mock Improvised Explosive Devices hidden in the woods by the Royal Marines.

Emergency casualty evacuation, fire drill and a practical session on riot control from an officer in the Police Support Unit were also part of the action-packed day, which finished with a night under canvas – interrupted by a series of night exercises and attacks.

The day was organised by CRC Uniformed Public Services lecturer Stuart Clarke and a team of higher education students on the HNC and HND Public Services course, who helped run the activities alongside the experts.

He said the students had received a great taste of Army life.

“It was a fantastic experience for the students and we are very grateful for all the amazing support we received from Major Shepperson and the 33 EOD Regiment. Without them and the very generous use of the Army’s training grounds, we wouldn’t have been able to stage such a realistic and testing day,” he said.

“We also had incredible support from the Royal Marines, the Police and Fire Service who all took part in a great day and really put the students through their paces with a highly realistic series of challenges. It was a big test of all the skills and knowledge they had learned over the past year.

“This year our higher education students played a key role in helping to plan and run each of the 10 activities and they did a superb job and provided inspirational leadership for the younger students.”

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For more information, please contact Lynn O’Shea, Cambridge Regional College Press Officer, on 01223 418773 or email