Life as a journalist may not always be a bed of roses, but reporter Katherine Jacques might just appreciate the comfortable surroundings of her newspaper’s office a little more after taking up the challenge to become an Army cadet for a day.

As the self-confessed office wimp, Katherine, from the Kent and Sussex Courier, was challenged to spend an afternoon at the Crowborough Training Camp along with the Hertfordshire Army Cadets, a group of 13 to 18-year-olds bursting with energy.

The group of youngsters had left their computers and televisions behind to spend two weeks at an annual camp in East Sussex and Katherine went along to see what they get up to.

During her visit Katherine chatted with the cadets, observing some of the tests that they were put through including target shooting, navigation and field craft, and even tried her hand at abseiling.

She said: “Dangling on a rope half way down a 40ft tower in the pouring rain, I wondered how people could enjoy abseiling, let alone do it as part of their career.

“After my first, and last, experience of abseiling I was taken to Pippingford Park where a group of cadets had set up camp for two nights. I was whisked around a lake on a motor boat where canoeing took place and was even given a chance of steering it.

“After that I was attacked with camouflage make-up by the mini-warriors who were undergoing field craft.

“Crawling around on your belly and hiding in bushes while looking for the enemy looked great fun, but the precision of the experts showed their skill.

“Despite the fact they had been woken up at 6.45am, which deputy commandant Lt Col MacLeod insisted was not early, and had been out in the lashing rain all day, morale was high.

“And I was sure I would not have been able to pull off looking so happy while prancing around in a green outfit with a gun.”

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