I would just like to thank Ryan for this blog as it has been valuable not only for my son but his parents aswell all way through from his 1st interview. My advice stick to the middle if you can! There was one rule no laughing. This was quite a good idea (top tip number 1). It is phenomenal, and you will not regret going. 156 Squadron lost more than 170 crewmen and 139 Squadron lost . Quite a shame there will be no passing out parade but he has got through and us awaiting deployment when home, These can be purchased in-person on your graduation day, or by emailing gradsales@swansea.ac.uk / telephoning 01792 987097. We didnt sink but we didnt win either! They tend of cater for all abilities and it used to be that the fitter people actally had a harder time. Your university will also encourage you to hire your gown. This was one of the parts of training I was kind of meh towards. They are usually accompanied by the academic staff of their university or college. You are supposed to sleep in your bed every single night and anyone caught will be disciplined and every night I did sleep in my bed apart from the night before final inspection. Thank you for this! It's where you formally become a member of the RAF. I really enjoyed hearing your story and progression through the RAF! This is so that the gown hire company can reserve the right size gown for you. I am not the fittest in the world but I can run long distance. Really sorry I didnt get back to you sooner. You forgot to mention how human the instructors became towards The end of the training, or did you not see that? For UAS, you dont really have a rigid training course prior to joining. If youve recently graduated from university, check out our post on books for graduates who want to excel in their careers. As well as your bed, youll most likely need to re-label pretty much all your kit (with green sniper tape and stencils.. which takes ages and is very tedious), dust relentlessly, and then dust again, and hoover pretty much everything. We were stood by our beds for almost 2 hours for our final inspection. I can vaguely remember a course having to delay their graduation because they made too many mistakes on the rehearsal so its really something you have to nail as an intake. May you reach all your goals. Ive been asked if this is in-depth as your original medical with CAPITA. All university graduation ceremonies will be different. I am currently at Halton too. So you have to learn all the components, how it works, how to clean it and how to disassemble it and put it back together. This post has been under construction for almost exactly one year. At the start of your ceremony, there will be an academic procession. The fitness test is exactly the same format as PRTC, so theres not much to report here. We will help you to turn your degree into the right career for you. Meal times are honestly the most enjoyable part of every day. The age range was 18-36. Afterthe speeches have ended, staff willdirect you to the stage to collect your certificate. Grad day feels good purely because its well deserved. Hope this helps! If its local, youll be able to go off base into the local area (Aylesbury, Milton Keynes etc). Thats fine. After heading back up to our rooms, we all started talking unpacking and getting on with what we had to do. Hopefully the weather will be decent and you have the outdoor graduation rather than one in the BDF. I made it to the top of the stairs a few minutes later and found the bed that I wouldnt be getting enough sleep in for the next 10 weeks. Not going to lie. Then there may be a post-ceremony celebration at a location nearby. One question i have is regarding weekends. Just try not to stab yourself in the hand with your bayonet and all will be good! Senior academic lecturers and staff, some of whom youll recognise will walk onto the stage. He is feeling unsettled and having mix thoughts. However, things get a bit more complicated when you include a rifle and have to learn new drill moves with it. When you arrive back at Halton, its time to clean your rifle and its filthy, so its going to take a while. 1.2 Step 2. Your friends will be calling and texting you; you'll be calling and texting your friends; your parents and/or family will also be in touch; and even your grandmother, who's 1,000 miles away, will want to call and . what happens on raf graduation day. It was a great day! Its a great day out and its aim is to reinforce and develop what youve already learnt as part of GSK (Air power, RAF history etc). Food on training camps is not as good as Full time camp food. Once the parade is finished, you get a while whoever came to see you. Day 31.thankfully passed. Ensure that you wear a comfortable pair of shoes and youll be fine. Never enough time for either so at every opportunity get prepping or sleeping! You willprobably be feeling a mixture of emotions;happiness, relief, excitement and maybe even some worry or disappointment that an important part of your life is now over. Good luck and godspeed!! It was a bit tough but being brought up in the 1940s not so bad ! I cant quite recall the way it goes but its nothing like your pre-joining medical. Youre up early, you muster outside your block like you have every other morning and you are met by your regular flight staff, you go to breakfast as usual in the mess and then you march down to begin your day with the Regiment. This was heaven compared to rooms back at Halton! You get back from AT and the real hard work starts. Ive learnt that not much changes at all, even if it seems like it has! [Ultimate Guide]. We arrived to find we were in 6 man rooms with two bunk beds. Plus if its outside youll probably get a flypast too! The Cpl shouted Are you enjoying yourself? During this initial phase fitness will become part of the recruit's daily routine. Im currently in the very, very early stage of my application (My AST will be on Thursday) So you get thrown out the door by the Cpl when they think youve been exposed enough and suddenly you can breathe. Oh look there's someone you once made eye-contact with in the library, NEW BEST FRIENDS. Horror Mystery Thriller A masked killer begins murdering students on the school track team after a track runner dies upon completion of a 30 second 200-meter race. Ex Blue Warrior used to be a 3-day exercise at Bramley Training Area, but this was in 2014/15. What did you do in the RAF? Theres a lot to take on board during drill and its really easy to get frustrated but muscle memory will come into effect without you knowing much about it and things suddenly seem to get easier. The opportunities are endless once you get out of training. Youll also find that a lot of the other recruits wont even be aware that youll end up being a Sgt in the near future after training. 5. I was doing it in the middle of winter, and by the amount of water I lost through sweat while wearing a CBRN suit, I wouldnt fancy doing it in summer. I would just like to thank Ryan for this blog as it has been valuable not only for my son but his parents as well all the way through from his 1st interview, Whats the accommodation like at phase 2, I know its different for every base put your input would be much appreciated, my phase 2 is at mod st athan. Very similar to Ryan with obvious different phase names, near 40 odd yrs apart !! It sounds cheesy but its your time to look good and show off what you know rather than the instructors doing it. The post-weapons weekend off is much needed. Hi, this blog was great to get to understand what my partner is going through! X. Hi All, I found this blog very useful for todays trainees. I am 36 however. Banter is part and parcel of being in the RAF. Simple, really. Hi Jason, Ill help you explore. I believe the longest run we did at basic training was 5 miles cross country. After the speeches have ended, staff will direct you to the stage to collect your 'certificate'. Basic Training Graduation is a very important day. Hi Chloe, it can vary quite a lot! Or you may be given a card with your name on it. Some of this stuff is dull, some is actually quite interesting depending on how geeky you are and what trade youre going to be. In order to hire your gown, you may need to provide the measurements of your head and your gown size. It depends. I usually managed a few texts throughout the evening and a call every few days before bed. The time has come for the big, scary final inspection. When your name is called, you walk across the stage,take the certificate,and shake hands with the person giving it to you. They will usually state where to hire your gown from as the specific gown that you will wear will be unique to your university and your course. This was probably my least favourite part of basic training. The shoot went well for my course with all but one passing. It enables us to celebrate the achievements of our students with their families, friends and lecturers and it is always a special time for our whole community. He will start at the outer edge and work his way in, if he cannot bite anything there due to armor. Our instructor was a sniper by trade and the stealth instinct definitely showed. Youve put in many hours on the parade square and in the Burton Drill Facility (BDF), and youre only one full dress rehearsal away from graduating into the Royal Air Force. You dont see too much of your regular flight staff at this stage as you move down to the RAF Regiment for IFPT (Initial Force Protection Training). Does anyone have information about what training / activities are open to recruits who have completed their basic training and have a number of months wait before the specialist training starts (due to Covid restrictions)? They were looking equally apprehensive. sumer kahalagahan sa kasalukuyan . Hope all is going well at training? Facebook About 5 laps of the bush later, I felt like a relatively normal human being again, so I headed over to wash my kit and get all the CS off everything. Happy Graduation. Graduateswill once again stand up for this part. Youll be so good at drill by now that youll be laughing hysterically at new courses attempting to march in time. Being able to attend this once-in-a-lifetime event should be on every family member's bucket list. We hope this post helps you to understand what happens at a graduation ceremony. Youll probably just be more organised and better at ironing and kit prep! It has to get messy before it gets clean, right?! Most people choose the Oath of Allegiance, even if theyre not hugely religious or religious at all. The average age is 18-22, I would estimate. Your graduation day is one that youll reflect on your time at university and your achievements. The DCCT helps massively but there are slight differences. I used to go down, jot the layout down on a pad and stick it to the inside of my locker door. We were briefed once inside that we were to take our respirators off one by one standing in front on the Cpl and we were to shout out our name, rank, number and favourite sports team. The graduation practice week comes to an end. Other than that, just iron and polish well and you should be fine. Youre a graduate now. This should be set up precisely how they expect your own bed space to be set up for inspections. . If its more than an arms length away at any one point during the exercise, expect shouting. Since I graduated Halton, Ive spent 6 months on Aircraft Maintenance Mechanic training at Cosford, 14 months at Coningsby as an AMM on Typhoons where Ive done QRA duties and was awarded a flying scholarship on the side which had me flying solo in less than 10 hours of flight instruction. We are experts at turning degrees into careers. Congratulations and well done. Not so much in the first couple of weeks as youll have a lot to do in the evenings and then youll be up fairly early the next day. Hi Ryan Youll be given information about how tobook tickets for any guests you want to invite,and therewill also be information about how to hire*a graduation gown andhat (these are sometimes called caps or mortarboards). Day one fitness test I failed. Im not sure what the state of the vacuum cleaners at Halton are like now, but they used to put more dirt on the floor than they removed for me so I used to do it very briefly with a hoover and then pick up all the individual pieces of fluff and dust/dirt with my hands. I just wondered if PTI is everyday or a couple times a week? Its taken me almost 2 years to complete this blog entry. (No Ratings Yet) Prince William and Kate Middleton get engaged in Kenya. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Thank you for the blog post! Once youve done the theory and practical tests, you can start shooting. An honorary degree may be awarded to an individual who has made a significant contribution to society. There are loads of adventurous training and expeditions you can go on, educational courses you can take advantage of and hopefully some good detachments too. You have a good choice of food and can have as much as you wish, so if you over eat you will put on weight , having said that you will burn lots during basic so little chance of gaining weight. I met some other people in the car park who I recognised from PRTC. However, heres what you can expect: Generally, youll start the day by getting dressed up in your graduation gown and hat. Hell be back in the accommodation block in the evenings but will have a lot of kit preparation to do and general cleaning/duties. Well my son has his final inspection on Tuesday, and will finish Friday (all been well) unfortunately due to covid 19 there will be no passing out parade or any other celebration. Mind you, you will only see them for about 15-20 minutes at the end of the ceremony which seems a bit rushed. Thats fascinating to hear how it was back then. Once everyone has put on their graduation attire, youll usually walk to the graduation ceremony location with your peers and guests. Good luck! After the awards have been handed out, there may be some further speeches. Graduation Day is an enthralling, complex, and puzzling novel. Its pretty cool. Personnel develop a great deal of trust and confidence in each other because of how much they come to rely upon one another during their time at the force. Youll be glad to hear thats the first and last time you get exposed to CS at Halton. In theUSandCanada,there is also a Valedictorian speech given by thetop graduatefrom the year. Its usually regarding friendly trade vs trade rivalries etc. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The RAF is no nine-to-five job. I understand you have said that you dont too often get weekend leave but on occasions where you do not have leave would you still have the weekend to rest and recover at RAF Halton? You may hear about something called the Sqaure of love, Sqaure of Death, or if the rumour-starter is a little more brutal, The killer Square of Death. Dust is always a big one too. Believe it or not, people do fail it. Sounds like your in a similar position to me. RAF Basic training 2023 consists of six phases. Hopefully that clears up the differences! I could scrutinize every detail about IFPT but its mostly as youd expect. Firstly, the GSK exam is nowhere near as intimidating as people make it sound. No matter who you are, how old you are, how big you are This is a nervous time. After long days of classes, longer hours of studying, countless sleepless nights, challenges, obstacles, successes, failures, blood, sweat, and tears, the feeling of graduating from college is truly surreal. I almost threw up in the bush but somehow managed to fend off the urge. BTW welcome to unique club of those that have done this!!!!!!! Unless you went to Oxbridge or art school your graduation is going to be a room full of strangers. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. how much do military advisory board members get paid / river bourne wiltshire fishing / what happens on raf graduation day. You do get text books to work from, the same as you did for GSK. Also any information on the swimming test or whats involved would be brilliant. Asking an AFCO to put you in touch with a PTI is also an avenue you may wish to explore. I am going through the application process and was just doing some research in preparation for my interview with such a detailed account of 10 weeks at Halton, I am sure I have everything I need for that section! Follow instructions, and if you miss an instruction, put up your hand and ask. Once wed finished messing about (and falling into the water), we broke up into two teams and went head to head in a scrapheap challenge style race. But I did get withing 10% of what I needed so I have just redone my test today. And we had proper matresses for the first time. It typically involves a ceremony during which students are presented with their diplomas or degrees in front of their family, friends, and faculty members. But everything burns. Refine your search and find the right one for you. Doesnt make much difference. Its worth it when youre running late and you can remind them that they owe you a favour. Im not too sure how COVID has affected this either, so Id probably expect a delay between courses and anything else is a bonus. Hi Shaun. I have to stress that at the time, my intake had the strictest and harshest flight staff at Halton and our intake instructors were feared by everyone else on other intakes. Generally, universities will try to make it fair so that every student can bring roughly the same number of guests. Despite what you may hear, nobody has ever died or come close to dying while taking part in the Sqaure of whatever-you-want-to-call-it. It feels horrible. But you wont do live shooting straight away. Winner. Attestation is also an event your family can attend. Well my son has his final inspection on Tuesday, and will finish Friday (all been well) unfortunately due to covid 19 there will be no passing out parade or any other celebration. Im nervous about my graduation ceremony walk. When your name is called, you . Over the week at Fairbourne we did many team building challenges which meant enhancing our followership skills and a little bit of leadership too. Whilst most people hire their gown and graduation cap, some people opt to buy their graduation attire to keep for memories. KA-01085. Ive recently just sent off my initial application to join after i graduate from university next year, but was wondering if this basic training is for all roles or if it differs dependant on the role? Yeah,you cant use it in a lesson or anything, but most of the homework is done online so is a good idea to bring a laptop. How has it been for you so far? camden, alabama mayor wisconsin whitetail records. You learn how to treat bleeds, fractures, shock, how to deal with patients and now more than ever health and safety. Its just not my thing. However, I am literally taking every day as it comes and putting in 100%. Im just wondering about how best to prepare, you mentioned that you would take a handheld vacuum if you had to do it again, is there anything else that isnt on the kit list that you would consider taking? Exactly two years since I started basic training, Im now writing up my experience. Graduation Times. This is the point in which you can finally see the realistic prospect of graduation. Hi Ryan, great blog. Before the exam, you have a visit to RAF Museum Hendon, London. In Sep 19, I celebrated 40 yrs since I joined and while VERY different to todays (Basic Training it was called then) schedule, I decided to write my memoire, mainly covering my application and RAF Swinderby. He was a previous reflight too, so hed failed it twice which is extremely rare. On a typical graduation day, a College is buzzing with excitement. Your nose will stream as will your eyes and youll be told to walk around a big bush/tree until the effects wear off. The biggest hurdle between you and graduating is the final inspection, but well get onto that later. Its made up of 3 modules and the first one is basically the training you see described on this blog. Amazing Blog, loads of information The only exceptions are the nights before your big inspections which I believe are around day 21 and day 63. This isarolled-uppiece of paperandyour certificatewill be given to you either before or after the event. 13.00. You used to be able to do a lot of force development/adventurous training and potentially even a work-experience type placement in the trade youve applied for. Chat to a professional education counsellor for guidance, insight and advice. what happens on raf graduation day. Without a doubt, you will have bruises all over your arms by the end of this week and your muscles will ache like youve gone crazy in the gym. Anything else you want to know. However, that is not all you will be doing this week. We ended up owing a stupid amount of time, something like 140 minutes but we never had it used against us in the end. I was one of last National Service intake at RAF Wilmslow 1958 but l signed on for 3 years . You may hear some rumours before blue warrior. You usually have some free time most evenings. Discover more about institutions in your ideal destination to find your perfect match. You do shooting in the prone, kneeling and standing positions. And a beasting. Your experiences will hopefully not be as horrendous as mine! Thank you so much for the blog. Its just a very physically demanding exercise and depending on the weather, it can be unimaginably wet and muddy. It takes a while to get into the groove of marching with a rifle but the best was I learn to do it was to actually listen, rather than watch everyone else. Just make sure you are as fit as you can be as that will help you the most during training. Thanks for putting this up, its quite a comforting read for concerned relatives! SATTs are the people who have graduated from basic training but are now holding at Halton while they wait for their phase 2 training course start date. You can walk in that building all suited up with your respirator on and feel nothing, but you know its working because when you take it off you feel everything. A speech presenting the honorary graduand is given by the public orator. Auxiliary refrigeration. Hi Kelly, during basic training, you are in 16-person rooms with others of all ages. The activities we did included kayaking, indoor climbing and navigation exercises. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. If you laughed at someone, youd be staying in there for longer. While you will be on the older side, you will be absolutely fine. Here at Halton we train approx 3 times per week. Its where you formally become a member of the RAF. There may be some other speeches and notable mentions. More details can be found HERE. I too was always a big lad. I think the decision comes down to him or someone of equal importance whether the standard of your dress rehearsal is good enough for you to graduate the following day. During the shoot, I think you fire approximate 60 rounds in the different positions you practised in the DCCT. Doors open. Either way, everyone is going to make themselves look stupid at least once. Hi, I join on December 9th. Some will serve food and drinks, others will have activities to help graduates to celebrate their academic success. If I did Halton again, Id absolutely invest in a small handheld vacuum to make your life easier, although everyone will want to use it Im sure! As youve probably found out, you can contact them as often as you like. Hi Ryan, during basic training how many days did you actually get free for yourself? I really struggled shooting while standing up but my method wasnt working. Id like to think they thought we didnt deserve 140 minutes of hell but its likely they just forgot. We waited for a good 20-30 minutes for them to walk straight in front of us at which point we unleashed a relentless assault in which they tried to defend themselves but the element of surprise had them looking like a deer in the headlights which was pretty funny. Many thanks in advance . If you are not at the graduation ceremony to accept your diploma on stage, the school will save your diploma. what happens on raf graduation day Graduation Parade is almost always on a Thursday*, so if a trainee progresses through training normally (i.e., no delays), their graduation date would be the 7 th Thursday after their arrival. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). The weekend prior to your graduation on Tuesday is usually free (unless your drill is horrendous which it usually isnt by this stage), and the dress rehearsal is on the Monday. If you have recently finished university you may have thought about applying to graduate schemes as a next step. Youll find and develop methods for cleaning that nobody knew existed before and everyday objects will become cleaning tools. Forgive me if Ive already made a similar comment (thought I had but I dont think it posted!). Prince William shows Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall aircraft at RAF Cranwell on the day of his RAF graduation. Once youre all kitted up, weighed down, and generally as uncomfortable as youll ever be, the orders start flying in. My only concern is losing weight because Im a powerlifter but your reply has made me feel a lot better about it, thank you! We had a pretty rough time of it there tbh a couple of seargeants and a corporal who really had power go to their heads. Im currently training every day physically for it pretty hard so hopefully will be ok. Any more advice would be welcome though please! Theres a theory test along with this as well which goes for most things. Thanks. Great blog Ryan scary but good. Its horrible for everyone, so you kind of automatically gel with people a lot better than you usually would because youre all going through a bad time together. Friendships have already been formed and youre used to helping each other out when its needed. On my intake, one of the biggest things peopled failed on was loose threads on PCS top/trousers. October 2010. Wrong. If its normal leave then youll be able to gome home if you wish. I have Halton next month and tbh Im dreading it. What happens on the day. Haha. Bir baka sitesi. Weve had a record amount of graduates interested in consulting recently. If you say Coningsby then I know youre lying. Once the nightmare of initial kitting is done, youll struggle to put everything in a big bin bag and then youll get on the coach to take it all back to your block. One of the less glamorous parts about returning to Halton after blue warrior is the post-CPT inspection. As long as you go in with a good mentality and are willing to help out, youll be absolutely fine. Student Services Online. You have obviously shown incredible determination with your weight loss, and as long as you have that attitude in training, you will be absolutely fine. More on that below. Honestly, the whole getting changed as fast as you can thing doesnt appeal to me in the slightest. Honestly, everyone who comes out of the room looks like a possessed zombie. It wasnt intentional by this point but it made a couple of them stay in there longer. hornitos tequila vs patron. You will always be told what to do when handling weapons, and while you might be scared to ask questions at other times during basic training, live firing is NOT the time to do something youre not sure of. Yaym tarihi 10 Haziran 2022 (). Its pretty much exactly the same but obviously theres no room for errors. Failure is on everyones mind. I had about 4 or 5 Not the most comfortable thing in the world. After your stuff gets scrutinised and you pass (hopefully if not, the re-inspection is the next day), you can finally solely concentrate on your arms drill and graduation preparation. Make sure you have some water to hand! Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Good luck! how to chair a board meeting script. Not only to relax, but also to prepare for Exercise Blue Warrior. my 15 year old son is in the process of joining the RAF and has his AST next month, is there and other advice you could give regarding the AST, he is a great lad but sometimes panics when it comes to test. Out of everything at Basic Training, it's the one date that will stick in your head the most. Your bed space has to be spotless. Not a great time to decide you dont like heights. Training wise. Always thought Id stand out a mile! The amount of prep needed for the final inspection is monumental. Added pressure means youll likely not be as calm and still, meaning your shooting may not be as accurate as in the DCCT.