Central Coast Long Range Shooters, CA, December 14, 2024, the 246th Battalion of the California Cadet Corps of Greenfield High School had 15 cadets attend Marksmanship Qualification. The Cadets had a two-hour long gun safety class, and a safety briefing before they started. Cadets had the opportunity to handle the training instruments and get to know how to work them. They got a chance to load magazines with six snap-cap rounds. Once the Cadets headed to the Range the fun started. 

There was a safety briefing, then began a practice round where each cadet was given 30 rounds of 22lr and each had time handling the instruments. After that. The actual qualification part of the event began. There were three positions the cadets had to shoot from, the prone position, the crouched position, and the standing position. Each position required 10 shots. 

The Marksmanship Qualification event was a great opportunity for everyone to improve their shooting skills while reinforcing the importance of firearm safety. Throughout the experience, participants learned key safety rules like keeping their finger off the trigger until ready to shoot, being aware of their surroundings, and handling the training instruments responsibly.

The 246th Battalion of the California Cadet Corps hosted a Field Day where cadet teams competed against each other in 5 events: Tug-of-War, Human Ring Toss, Sumo Ball, T-Shirt Relay, and Inflatable Costume Race. 90 cadets attended, one team winning prizes and bragging rights. 

The overall goal of this event was for cadets to become familiar with cadets from other classes, thus strengthening their unit. The event started in the morning and continued into the afternoon, wrapping up with a barbecue provided by Greenfield American Legion. 

This was the first time the unit held a Field Day. Because of the growth of the Greenfield High School program, at 128 cadets, cadet leaders felt it necessary to hold an event that mixed cadets from various companies in order to build camaraderie. 

The 246th Battalion of the California Cadet Corps of Greenfield High School had 36 cadets including five King City cadets that attended leadership training. There were three Leadership Schools: Officer Candidate School (OCS), Intermediate and Advanced Leadership Academies where cadets learned better communication skills, planning events, maintaining morale, close order drill and esprit de corps. 

The three leadership courses helped cadets grow as leaders. At OCS cadets learned how to be a cadet officer, with emphasis on the CACC Core Values and Warrior Ethos, close order drill, CACC eleven Leadership Principles, CACC leaders code, Officership and cadets attended a promotion board in the hopes to promote to the next rank. During the Intermediate and Advanced Leadership Academies, cadets practiced how to effectively communicate, studied company formation, planned lessons for first year cadets and worked with their company leadership to develop team loyalty and began planning their first events. 

The 246th Battalion of the California Cadet Corps of Greenfield High School had 20 cadets attend Basic Survival, earning the coveted red beret. Cadets went through several types of classes: first aid, foraging, knife safety, tool and rope making, shelter building, fire starting and water purification. Another common activity for cadets was hiking. 

For Basic Survival, cadets were divided into three teams of around 21-25, then separated into groups of three. Groups consisted of cadets from different schools throughout the state, so nobody knew each other. The purpose for this is to get cadets out of their comfort zone, so they are comfortable with the uncomfortable. They spent the week outdoors using the skills they learned to constantly improve their situation. On the last day, to complete survival and earn their red beret, cadets faced their final challenge, a crucible. The focus of the crucible is to test their knowledge of the survival creed and physically challenge them. Aspects of the course vary from year-to-year. 

Survival training is held each summer and is open to cadets who are in high school and are members of a battalion. 

The 246th Battalion of the California Cadet Corps of Greenfield High School had five cadets attend the California Cadet Corps Sate Marksmanship Competition at Camp San Luis Obispo. 

At the end of the Competition the five cadets earned third place and brought home a trophy for their school. This was the first time that the 246th Battalion competed in the Marksmanship Competition. 

Two of its cadets improved their qualification to Expert allowing them to wear the expert badge on their uniform. have earned the Expert Marksmanship badge. For the future, Marksmanship the commandant hopes that more cadets qualify for marksmanship so that the battalion can send teams to compete next year.

The 246th Battalion of the California Cadet Corps of Greenfield High School had 12 cadets attend the Spring Recondo. Recondo is a training event that allows cadets to complete various challenges to work towards earning the Recondo Badge. 

Some of the scheduled events for this Recondo were the 8k Ruck March where cadets would carry 20 or 30 lbs in a backpack depending on the cadet’s body weight, 5k Run, Map Reading Test, Land Navigation Course, Marksmanship, and Rappelling. Although the event did get interrupted by unexpected rain and many events got cancelled, the cadets persevered and completed what events they could. 

To end this event, the officer in charge of the event held an award ceremony to honor the cadets who completed their 10 events to earn their Recondo badge. Staff Sergeant Santiago and Captain Nunez both received their Recondo badges at this ceremony. All participants received a certificate for persevering through this event despite the rain. 

If you ask any of our cadets who attended this Recondo they will say “Although the rain ruined a lot for us, it was still a fun experience and any who want to attend should.” Overall, Recondo taught cadets how to make the most of their situation and build their teamwork skills.

The 246th Battalion of the California Cadet Corps of Greenfield High School had 36 cadets attend the Cadet Olympics. The cadets participated in five events: a 5k run, Plank Hold, Slingshot, Obstacle Course, and Rifle Hold. Cadets needed to meet a minimum requirement for all events and successfully complete four of five events to earn a ribbon. 

The 5K needed to be completed in under 45 minutes, the plank had to be held for one minute, the slingshot required two successful shots, the obstacle course required completion of seven of eight obstacles and the eight-pound rifle had to be held overhead for five minutes. All cadets successfully completed at least four out of five events.

The overall top performers were C/SGT Enrique Villanueva and C/SGT Ckoudi Rojas-Acosta.