What is the best thing the ATC does? Flying, gliding or shooting surely? Well, if you posed the question to the Wing President, Air Commodore Moulds, or 9 cadets from 2204 (Chesham & Amersham) Squadron, you would get a very different answer. In their minds there is only one candidate for this honour, a long weekend in the Hampshire countryside.
The annual wing exercise, held at Longmoor Camp in Hampshire, is undoubtedly the highlight of the wing’s programme of ‘green’ activities. For the 2011 edition, we were very much looking to put past disappointments behind us and achieve a top ten finish. CWO Yates selected a team built around experience, augmented by some fresh blood in Cadets Kretschmer and Cullen. Our team was one of the most experienced at the event and boasted 6 NCOs and 20 previous wing exercises between the 9 of us. In full, the team was: CWO Yates, Flt Sgt Yates, Flt Sgt Sergeant, Sgt Fowler, Cpl Smart, Cpl Shamshudin and Cadets Muchhala, Cullen and Kretschmer.
This year’s event was organised differently to usual and, after arriving and settling in on Friday night, Saturday started bright and early as we breakfasted at the shocking , for those of us grown accustomed to the more relaxed timetable of study leave, hour of 7am. During the course of the day we completed exercises including a log run, ropes exercise, puzzle, and mine clearing task among others. All of these were well-planned, enjoyable and developed our leadership skills. That evening we settled down to watch the Champions League Final in the comfort of the tri-bar, before enjoying a night of welcome sleep. Sunday followed a similar programme as we continued our hunt for a top ten finish, a position we had occupied the previous night. That evening, those of us yet to complete a heart-start course were able to do one, learning some valuable, and possibly life-saving, skills.
Monday was the final day of the exercise and had just two exercises scheduled. Easy, you might think, but you would be wrong for these two exercises were the speed march and assault course. As usual, we were early pace-setters on the assault course and our time was bettered by few other teams. On the other hand, we traditionally struggle on the speed march, and this year followed the same pattern as we were hindered by one team member’s lack of fitness. Soon after completing this we headed home, tired but full of satisfaction at completing what Air Commodore Moulds labelled “the toughest event in the Corps.” We had had an interesting discussion with the Wing President on the Saturday, when he assured us he would visit the Squadron soon and tell us all of his single-handed repellence of a 30 man Taliban attack, armed only with a knife and a water bottle. Ultimately, it was an excellent weekend, and our efforts were justly rewarded with a 9th place finish- testament mainly to all the hard work of CWO Yates, completing his 5th and last wing exercise, who pushed the team to new heights this year.
Sgt. Fowler
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