The cadre is part of the Mountain Leader and ISTAR Company within Specialist Wing of the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines and is based in Lympstone.

[3] Elite training of Cliff Leaders in the late 1950s required rocky landings from various small craft (kayaks, Zodiacs and other motorized assault craft) often in heavy seas onto the Cornish coast, and rapid tactical ascents and descent of the vertical faces.

Instructors publicly demonstrated (e.g. at Navy Days) commando methods of abseiling and high-speed fixed rope descent from clifftop grapple-hook anchors.

These demonstrations were discontinued after Captain Antony Easterbrook, a 31-year-old member of the Cadre, fell to his death during a display in Madison Square Garden in 1960.

The series followed the progress of 25 prospective members of the cadre as they endure survival training on a Hebridean island (Islay) and Arctic conditions in Norway.