News & Info > CCF Exercise ' Exercise Dagger' at Scraesdon Fort CCF Exercise ' Exercise Dagger' at Scraesdon Fort Trevor Law, describes an action packed weekend for the Third Form CCF cadets held last weekend. “On a gloomy, wet and foggy weekend in the Plymouth area, the Army and Royal Navy (RN) cadets of the Milton Abbey School CCF took part in Exercise Dagger Thrust at Scraesdon Fort and HMS Raleigh. The RN cadets stayed at HMS Raleigh on the first night and had the opportunity to conduct powerboat training in the Plymouth Sound, unfortunately the wind was too strong for the planned yacht sailing. The RN section then joined the Army section pupils at Scraesdon Fort and acted as the enemy troops for the Army section during the tactical exercise on Saturday evening. Scraesdon Fort was built between 1859-1862, it is now disused but used by the Royal Marines and cadet forces for training. The Army cadets arrived and were given a brief history of the fort by Capt Law and a tour of all the tunnels leading down into the darkness. The first tunnel descended some 300ft down steep stairs to the lower levels. After the tour the cadets slept in the rooms on the top level, morale was high even though Capt Law had informed them that the fort was indeed haunted by a lone soldier who had been crushed when a cannon was fired. An early start the next morning and lessons on how to cook the 24 hour ration packs, followed by packing their field kit and learning how to put up a poncho in the field - their sleeping quarters for the night. Then the cadets started getting down to the proper training, starting with a Close Quarter Battle (CQB) lane with Lt Williams, one of our Officers in the Army section and Sjt Williams from the Cadet Training Team at Blandford. The scenario that the cadets were briefed on was that they had been cut off from their own troops and had to make their way to friendly lines, taking out any enemy on the way. This was done individually and then as a pair, firing blank ammunition at the enemy targets. Whilst the Army cadets did their training, some of the RN cadets were taken on a tour of the fort and had a weapons lesson refresher with Capt Law. After lunch the Army cadets continued their training with Advanced CQB with Capt Law and Sjt Williams, this was in the form of room clearing drills in various parts of the fort. We started off with the drills, split them down into teams then had them going through shooting at targets on the way. We then had the instructors playing the enemy, hiding in the rooms to catch them out. The rest of the RN section arrived and had their tour of the tunnels and we went into the tactical phase of the exercise after dark. Due to the weather we remained in the fort instead of camping in the woods, we moved out as a patrol to the entry point into the fort down in the moat. The enemy were hidden around the fort on the different levels to take on the Army cadets as they cleared the fort tunnels and rooms. The Army cadets couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces as they moved silently through the tunnels, using torches now and then to clear the rooms and check the passageways and stairs ahead of them. They moved as two sections clearing different areas before linking up to clear the top of the fort together. The RN enemy were cunning as they hid in the shadows and darkness awaiting the unsuspecting Army sections. Several firefights and room clearances in the middle parade area and that was cleared, then up the stairs to the top where the main enemy were hiding. As the rooms were cleared simultaneously down both sides of the top parade area, with smoke being thrown to cover their movements the fort was eventually cleared and a job well done. The next day the final part of the training was a demonstration on how to break contact given by seven chosen cadets. As the cadets patrolled tactically through the undergrowth the enemy to their right opened up with a hail of blank bullets; their reactions were swift and the enemy pinned down by heavy fire, the cadets broke contact away from the area with smoke hiding their escape. Now they all had to clean the weapons and tidy up after themselves ready for the coach back to Milton Abbey, morale was high and soon most of the cadets were asleep on the journey back. Well done to all those who could make it, I am sure they had a good time and they quickly picked up the training they received with some really good results.”