Combined Cadet Force

The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation in the United Kingdom. Its aim is to "provide a disciplined organisation in a school so that pupils may develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self reliance, resourcefulness, endurance and perseverance".

It exists almost entirely in UK independent schools, although a few grammar schools and a handful of comprehensive schools also have contingents.

A school contingent can have any combination of Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force or Royal Marines sections (although the latter are rare), with the Army Section almost invariably being by far the largest. Pupils normally join around the age of 13. Both sexes take part in CCF activities.

The CCF was created on 1 April 1948 by the amalgamation of the Junior Training Corps (formerly the Junior Division of the Officers Training Corps) and the school contingents of the Sea Cadet Corps and Air Training Corps. CCFs are still often referred to as "the Corps".

CCF cadets generally hate to be confused with the Sea Cadet Corps, Army Cadet Force or Air Training Corps, possibly because they see themselves as closer to officers than the other cadet forces or possibly just due to pride in their separate status. The RAF Sections of the CCF wear the RAF cap badge, whereas the ATC wear a separate cap badge.

CCF officers are generally teachers from the school, and are not normally eligible to be called up. They hold commissioned ranks up to and including lieutenant colonel or its equivalent in the other services. Cadets hold standard non-commissioned ranks prefixed by "Cadet". The highest ranks in most schools are Cadet Coxswain (Chief Petty Officer) (Navy Section), Cadet Regimental Sergeant Major (Army and RM Sections) and Cadet Warrant Officer (CWO) (RAF Section), but some larger contingents also have Cadet Under Officers. In the RAF section, for parity of ranks among the different sections, there is a special rank, that does not exist in the regular RAF, of Junior Corporal equivalent to Lance Corporal in the army.

On 1 April 2003 there were 1,300 officers and other staff and 26,210 cadets in the Army Sections of the Combined Cadet Force.