The following year Bridges undertook an artillery officers' course at the School of Gunnery at Middle Head, after which he was posted there as a staff officer. In 1889 he qualified as a gunnery instructor and in October 1890, having been promoted to captain the month before, he was sent to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and to the Royal School of Gunnery at Shoeburyness for training. Upon returning to Australia in 1893 he became Chief Instructor at the Middle Head School of Gunnery. He was promoted to major in September 1895, and he held positions on several military committees and conferences. In late 1899 Bridges became one of four New South Wales officers seconded to serve with British Army units during the Second Boer War. During his time in South Africa he took part in actions around Kimberley, Paardeberg and Driefontein before contracting typhoid. After being evacuated to England, he returned to Australia in September 1900.