In 2008 the Maritime Reserves entered the Royal Navy Field Gun competition for the first time. This is our fourth consecutive year and the competition is firmly fixed in the Maritime Reserves Calendar. We have just 14 days to train together, and considering that before the two weeks the vast majority of the reservists had never even set eyes on a field gun let alone pulled one this is always going to be a mammoth task.

Pulling such a team together in the first place was really quite a big achievement, bearing in mind that the vast majority are holding down full time employment or in the middle of exams. They come from all over the country and occupations range from Surgeon to university student and just about everything in between. Due to these civilian commitments, we only have two weeks training and preparation prior to the competition. So it’s all pretty hectic. We do have two fitness weekends prior to the two weeks and now an extra weekend to get familiar with the gear, which means the crew are able to hit the ground running at the start of the fortnight.

The job of pulling all this together falls to Lt Cdr Grassy Meadows, who is a ex command field gunner with numerous experience and success in command and later in the Brickwoods competition. Putting us through our paces is our PTI is Henry Gibson, and as ever our FGO is Sur Cdr Wilcockson.

Last year was our most successful year by far. We started with a good number of people who were keen to run, had no major injuries, and had the support of our sponsors. By the end of the heats we had run a sub 1 minute 30 seconds, justifiably reaching the final of Plate 2. In doing so beating the aggregate time of 6 other crews. Mission, for last year, accomplished Mission for this year, Plate 1.

We were lucky enough to have donations from the RNRMC and Sir Donald Gosling Maritime Reserve fund, who have been kind enough to donate again this year.

visit the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity website.