New Commandant for The Royal County of Berkshire ACF

The Royal County of Berkshire Army Cadet Force announces the appointment of Colonel Sally Oakley as its new Commandant from 1 February, taking over from Colonel Anthony Shallow.

Colonel Oakley is a true product of Berkshire ACF. She joined the county in 1984 as a Women Sergeant Instructor. Since then, she has served at almost every level of the organisation. Her journey demonstrates long-term commitment and a deep understanding of cadet and adult volunteer development.

In her early years, she achieved her Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award as a CFAV. She also qualified as a Joint Service Kayak Instructor. These experiences gave her strong practical skills and professional confidence. As a result, they shaped a career focused on opportunity, training and progression.Read her bio below to find out more:

Colonel Sally Oakley ACF, Commandant, the Royal County of Berkshire Army Cadet Force

Sally joined the Army Cadet Force (ACF) in 1984 as a Sergeant Instructor of the Royal County of Berkshire ACF. In 1987 she achieved her Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s award and became a Joint Service Kayak Instructor. She was promoted to Staff Sergeant in 1989.

In 1994 she took on her first command post as a detachment commander for, Caversham, in Reading. She was promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major in 1995.

In 1997 she became Company Sergeant Major for ‘C’ Company within Berks ACF. During this role she took on the legacy role of organising the marches in Reading for the British Walking Federation. This became an annual event, money for the local Breast Cancer charity organisation. In 2000 she was awarded the Lord Lieutenants Certificate of Meritorious Service.

In 2002 she was asked to join the 17-cadet training team as a team member. Here she imparted her cadet experience to the team to help run courses for the adult volunteers; she also ran adventure training for the Combined Cadet Force (CCF). During this time, she was the Shooting Officer for the county and was a kayak instructor for the Cadet Centre for Adventure Training (CCAT), established in South Wales. Here she implemented and administered the running of adult British Canoe Union level 1 and 2 coach courses, which are now one of the focus areas at CCAT.

In 2004 she was commissioned and became second in command for ‘B’ Company Berks ACF. She was promoted to Lieutenant in 2006. In 2009 she was appointed County Training Officer for the county where she applied a large number of new training initiatives from the wider organisation. During this post, she established a robust 4-star progressive training program. She was promoted to Captain in 2010 and Major in 2014 and was appointed Company Commander ‘C’ Company Berks ACF.

After a successful board in December 2017, she was appointed Deputy Commandant of Berks ACF and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Whilst in this role she was also the Adventure Training (AT) Officer for the county. She organised and administered the Norway winter exchange visits with the Norwegian Home Guard.

She was in a key leadership role for ‘Step Change’ from December 2018 to January 2021. This was a National ACF Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) project. In 2019, to celebrate 40 years of women in the ACF, she organised for a group of female cadets and adult volunteers across the UK to attend the 21 Gun Salute held in York. She was a key member of the FrimFest committee, organising a festival at Frimley Park the National Cadet Centre to celebrate 60 years of the centre in the area. During the Covid 19 lockdown, the Step Change project ran D&I webinars, which Sally administered.

As a kayaking instructor, she has attended a Joint Service (JS) Alpine Kayak Meet in France and has run kayaking for a REME units’ adventure training week in Italy. She is a registered JSAT course provider. She has also attended CCF central camp since 2003 to 2023 as a paddle sports instructor.

Sally is a retired Scientist with 34 years of service with a global research and development organisation. She is a volunteer foster/trainer of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People charity and a keen recycler assisting with a local charity for terra-recycling.