Standard Aberdeen Investments Scoops first prize in military skills competition

Ten teams from the City of London’s financial and corporate sectors got together at the Honourable Artillery Company in City Road on Wednesday night (11^th October October) to battle it out at this year’s Exercise Sharpe Shooter.  Hosted by the City of London Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association, Sharpe Shooter is an annual indoor military skills competition at which City organisations are given a chance to compete against each other in a fun and friendly military environment.  The aim of the event is to generate awareness of the Reserve Forces among London firms, many of which have employees serving as Reservists and Cadet Force Adult Volunteers.

The winning team was from Standard Aberdeen Investments; in second place were City Corporation (B Team) and joint third place was the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Herbert Smith Freehills.

Other teams were from:

·         Bank of England

·         Nationwide Building Society

·         Ernst and Young

·         Worshipful Company of International Bankers

·         Tesco

·         City Corporation (A Team)

During the evening, each team visited 10 stands run by some of London’s Reserve Forces units and Cadet Sectors.  The statistics and the scoreboard were run by the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) who also provided escorts for the teams along with Officer Cadets from the University of London Officer Training Corps (ULOTC),

Stands included:

HMS President – spiders web, teamwork and coordination exercise

Royal Marines Reserve – weapons stripping and magazine filling test

217 Field Squadron– specialist search task

71 Signal Regiment – laser rifles and target shooting

Londons’–‘airsoft’ range

F Coy 7 Rifles– 81mm mortar tactical demonstration, assembling and firing

256 Field Hospital– stretcher and casualty challenge

3 MI Bn –operational imagery analysis

600 Sqn– flight simulator

City and NEL ACF– command tasks

It was a very closely contested event which was enjoyed by all who took part, Major David White, Commander 221 Field Squadron Royal Engineers (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) presented silver salvers to the winners and runners up on behalf of the Lieutenancy. The salver won by the winning team was donated by the Worshipful Company of International Bankers.

Patrick Trueman, Head of Charities, Standard Life Wealth and team leader on the night said:

“We were delighted to be able to take part in such an enjoyable event.  An excellent time was had by all and it was great to see some strong leadership and teamwork talents among colleagues really coming to the fore.  These skills so central to the functioning of the military, are also of huge importance to the success of our own firm.   We were all grateful to the regular and reserve personnel who put in a great deal of time and effort last night to put on a varied and exciting set of challenges. 

Standard Life Aberdeen is proud to support the role of reservists in our organisation and is a holder of the silver award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.”

Lieutenant Colonel Peter L d’A Willis, Secretary of the City of London Reserves Forces’ and Cadets’ Association said:

“This event is very important for us, it’s a fantastic way for us to engage with employers and give them an insight into what we do.

I would encourage any employer that receives a CV from someone with a military background to consider carefully the range of skills that they could bring to an organisation – there’s a mutual benefit for both parties.

The participants were involved in decision making, team building and leadership and leaderless tasks in a different environment – we hope the stands have helped them to uncover new skills which will rub off in the workplace”.