The captioned training course was first co-organized by our Association and the Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps (HKACC) for its members in the last couple of years. The course had been stopped by the Corps since last autumn for administrative and other reasons. At the recent request of the HKACC,the training programme was resumed on Thursday 7 September 2007.

The theoretical session of the Arms Handling course was conducted by Mr. Frank Tang, our Council Member in the evening of 7 September 2007 at the Hong Kong Aviation Club, Kowloon City, with the presence of Mr. Eddie Tsoi, Hon. Secretary, Mr. John Tang, Hon. Treasurer and Mr. Neil Fung, Chairman of the Shooting Committee. The session was well attended by 18 Air Cadet Officers and 1 Cadet.

The fundamentals of shooting, including the marksmanship principles, the importance of Normal Safety Precautions and basic shooting techniques were taught by Frank, with course outlines dished out. All trainees showed keen interest in the subject matters. The practical training session was conducted by Frank in the following afternoon (i.e. Saturday 8 September 2007) at the Kau Wah Keng A1 Shooting Range. Frank took command of the activity as the Chief Range Officer (CRO), while John and Neil (with rifle RO qualifications) served as Range Officers (RO) and Jeff, Jimmy together with Raymond Yeung (a life member) as Safety Officers (SO). All the 19 cadets turned up in full uniform for the small-bore rifle training under the command of Major John Siu, OC (New Territories Wing) of the HKACC. They were divided into four details, each comprising 5 persons under the supervision of the aforesaid ROs/SOs during the zeroing and grouping practices. The shooting activities were conducted smoothly.

At the end of the event, a formal declaration was administered by Major Siu for each and every cadet in the presence of Frank to ensure that no one was in possession of any live round or empty cases upon leaving the range. A random opinion survey with the trainees was also conducted. The response was overwhelmingly positive. The cadets all wished to have more similar shooting practices and other arms training co-organized by HKRA.

The opportunity is hereby taken to thank all who have made this event a success. Frank is a charismatic coach, highly disciplined and efficient. His proven experience in coaching benefited all. Our special thanks go to the ROs & SOs who were devoted to their important job on the firing line. Last but not least, the hard work in venue arrangement/preparation and logistics support of both Mr. Rai and Mr. Law also warrant a mention-in-despatch.