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Combined Cadet Force

​The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, sub divided into Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army and Royal Air Force sections. 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".

One of its objectives is "to encourage those who have an interest in the services to become Officers of the Regular or Reserve Forces", and a significant number of British military officers have had experience in the CCF.

Before 1948, cadet forces in schools existed as the junior division of the Officers' Training Corps framework, but in 1948 Combined Cadet Force was formed covering cadets affiliated to all three services. As of 2019, there were 42,720 cadets and 3,370 Adult Volunteers.[1] The MOD provides approximately £28M per year of funding to the CCF.[2] Each school's unit is known as a Contingent, and there were approximately 500 in the UK in 2021.[3]

Although sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, the CCF is not part of the British Armed Forces or Reserve Forces; as such, cadets and adult cadet leaders are not military personnel and therefore not subject to military law or subject to military 'call up'. Some cadets do, however, go on to join the armed forces later in life, and many of the organisation's leaders have been cadets or have a military background.