We arrive at the Sqn at 17:00 on Friday evening in plenty of time and our first task was to do a kit check. After we got all the equipment we needed from stores we waited around for quite some time waiting for the coach to arrive and sure enough it was late and we were the first pick up!
3 hours later we arrived at Longmoor only to find that the luggage hold on the coach was broken. After more waiting around we finally got checked in and had a small team brief with Flt Lt Hutchinson who showed us the areas that were out of bounds. Eventually we got to our rooms which luckily were dedicated just to our team and after a quick unpack an early night was had by all.
We had an early start the next morning so after a large breakfast we headed off to the FOB where FS Strong was given a team leaders brief. Our first exercise was the dreaded log run which Berry and I sat out of but we cheered the team on and took lots of pictures. With a time of 5 mins 35 secs te team felt quite pleased with themselves.
The second task was the first aid exercise, Sgt Grover and I did the written test while the rest of the team got stuck into the practical exercise. Although we didn’t do as well as we had hoped we still felt good about it.
The rest of the command tasks we did quite well in and just before the day was finished Air Commodore Moulds came over and spoke to our team for about 10 minutes.
When we headed back to the block out team morale was at a high as we had inside information that we were in second place. So feeling very pleased with ourselves we had another early night as we know Sunday was going to be a tough day.
Another early start for everyone and our first task was the Nav Ex, we got a brilliant time of 13 minutes and with most teams taking approx 18 minutes we really were pleased.
Next came the speed march. With a time of about 25 minutes when we finised we were 4th although there were a lot of other teams to go through.
The shooting competition didn’t go to well for us and we didn’t do as well as we should have, but that didn’t put a dampen our mood when FS Strong got news that we were in 3rd place, 40 pts ahead of the team in 4th. We knew we had to work very hard on the confidence course on Monday to keep 3rd place.
On the Monday it seemed to take forever for our team number to be called to go to the confidence course but eventually it was. The whole team headed over despite of the really bad rain and with 8 of the team taking part myself and Cdt Wilson sat out. We cheered the team on from the side and took plenty of pictures and with a time of 5 mins 58 secs we were quite sure we had secured 3rd place.
On final parade when it was announced that we were 3rd the whole team marched onto the stage to be presented with our medals and certificate from Sqn Ldr Atkinson.
We were all very pleased with ourselves but it was mainly due to our great team morale and good leadership from FS Strong and Sgt Grover that we did so well.
248 Squadron are always looking to recruit new cadets and staff members.
