My experience as HM’s Lord Lieutenants Army Cadet (Northamptonshire)…

My name is Staff Sgt Joseph Barley of Yardley Chase (Minden) Detachment, A Company, and I am proud to say that I currently hold the prestigious position of HM’s Lord Lieutenant’s Army Cadet 2024-25. I have been in the cadets now for just under four years, and in this time have been subject to some amazing opportunities ranging from snowboarding in northern Italy, to escorting Royalty with the Lord Lieutenant, to throwing smoke grenades, clearing buildings and using night vision out in the field. I am lucky enough to have been selected as HM’s Lord Lieutenant’s Army Cadet 2024-25, and through this have had the chance to engage with some amazing people from all over Northamptonshire and attend some fantastic events and experiences.

Road to the position:

I was first told about this position in late March of last year by my detachment commander, who asked if I was interested in the role or not. Me, not knowing the first thing about the position, agreed to my name being put forward to the Senior Officers of A company. A month later I was asked to attend an interview with my OC; I did some research about the role the night of the interview and thought about some possible answers in my head for certain questions. I was one of fourteen candidates put forward for this interview, and much to my pleasure – and somewhat surprise – I was told a few weeks later that I had been the successful candidate for A coy. Next was the official interview, this time with a senior officer from county; I was up against three other candidates, two of which were from Leicester and one from Rutland, all going for the Northamptonshire role. I was positive with how it had gone, but now, I just had to wait.

Annual Camp 2024:

Annual Camp was hosted at Castlemartin camp, in Pembrokeshire, Wales – I was on this camp for fifteen consecutive days, in which I did a week of senior training and a week of helping the younger cadets of A Coy. The suspense leading up to the final parade on the last day was unreal – the Lord Lieutenant’s cadets for the coming year were going to be announced. They announced all the other awards first and then finally got on to the part I was waiting for. It was time. They read out my name as the recipient of the position of HM’s Lord Lieutenants Cadet for Northamptonshire and I shot up from my seat with a huge grin on my face and marched to the front of the parade to collect my award and take a photo – I was buzzing. After receiving my award, I marched back to my seat, feeling on top of the world.

Investiture:

The next part of the process was preparing for my investiture which was set to be happening in October. This entailed writing a speech to read at the ceremony, and also making sure I had all of the correct uniform. After being issued my uniform, I made sure it fitted correctly, that it was suitably ironed and my shoes were polished perfectly to a mirror shine (a lot of blood sweat and tears went into bulling those shoes). When it came to the time of the event, I went in wearing my new uniform, proud as ever; the investiture ceremony was an amazing experience and I got to meet the other LL cadets from other cadet branches for the first time. It finally felt real.

Events:

From the get-go, invitations to military and civic events were piling up and I made sure to attend as many as possible. Some notable events included the Feast of St Crispin and St Crispinian – my first event -, along with the Remembrance Day parade, and we were also lucky enough to host a royal visit from HRH Duke of Gloucester. And there are plenty more exciting events planned for the rest of the year!

My journey and time so far as a LL cadet has been amazing – I have been lucky enough to experience some amazing things and it has opened many doors for me. I would recommend to any cadet to go for it and see where it could take you… because look at me – a year ago today I definitely would not have thought I would be writing this piece! I hope you enjoyed hearing my story and thank you for reading.