# Army Colonel returns to roots: Cadets



## big bad john (17 Jul 2006)

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/PeopleInDefence/ArmyColonelReturnsToRoots.htm

Army Colonel returns to roots
17 Jul 06 
Colonel Steve Davies MBE has served all over the world during his 31 years in the British Army but it is his experiences at the Chorley Detachment of the Lancashire Army Cadet Force that he thinks have most influenced his successful Army career.


Col Steve Davies MBE talks to Army Cadets at Chorley, Lancashire 
[Picture: Chorley Guardian] 
Col Davies, 47, is now Chief Of Staff of the Army’s 2nd Division, the Division which looks after the Army in Scotland and the North of England. 

During a visit to the North West last week, he took the opportunity to return to the Chorley Detachment of the Lancashire Army Cadet Force, where his military interest began. For it was here, as a teenage schoolboy, that he walked through the doors of the cadet hut in Devonshire Road to begin his long military career. 

Col Davies said: 

"Membership of the Chorley Detachment of the Army Cadet Force set me up for life. The experience gave me purpose, allowed me to focus on what I wanted to achieve and developed in me a strong ambition to be a soldier.

"I joined the Army as an apprentice at the tender age of 16, but was quickly spotted as officer material and subsequently attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. I was then commissioned into The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment – wearing the same cap badge as I had as a cadet – and went on to command the 1st Battalion of the Regiment. I am now Chief Of Staff of the Army’s 2nd Division.

"I credit my successful military career as being in no small way a result of my service in the Army Cadet Force, for which I will be eternally grateful."

Born in 1959 in Darwen, Lancashire, Col Davies spent most of his childhood living in Ulnes Walton and attended Bishop Rawstorne High School in Croston. He joined the Army Cadet Force in 1972, only leaving as a sergeant when he joined the Army in 1975.

After completing training at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, COl Davies served with 1st Battalion The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment in Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Canada, Norway and West Germany. 

In 1998, he was given the honour of commanding the Battalion, as a Lieutenant Colonel, and served as Commanding Officer in Northern Ireland, Catterick and Canada. His many other appointments include a 12 month spell advising defence chiefs in Sierra Leone. He was awarded the MBE for his work in Sarajevo, where he held a post in the headquarters of the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps.

The Army Cadet Force (ACF) is the Army’s youth organisation for youngsters age 12 to 18. It is one of the biggest youth organisations in the country, with over 40,000 cadets. The North West has over 160 ACF Detachments.


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