860 MOSBOROUGH AIR CADETS
Useful Information
A list of some things that you think you should know the answer to, but don’t.
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The New Air Cadet Tactical
Recognition Flash (TRF) First of all, ignore the colours – yours will look
different. But if you’ve just got
yours and don’t know where to put it, here is the answer. The TRF is to be sewn centrally onto the RIGHT sleeve of either
the CS95 shirt or jacket, 7.5cm
from the shoulder seam. It is to be
level and when worn, perpendicular to the floor. Also it should be creased down the middle –
this crease should be in the same place as the crease in your sleeve. Tip: In order to make sure the
TRF stays creased and flat, use the spray function on your iron (if it has
one) and completely soak the flash.
Then run the iron over the flash until the water has evaporated. Be
sure not to leave the iron in one place! It will burn your uniform! |
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Brassards – creased or not
creased? Never ever ever creased. They should be ironed perfectly flat –
admittedly it is quite awkward as it has the elastic band on the back but
persevere with it and you shall succeed.
No central creases, no
creases down the left and right, no other creases whatsoever! No creases, no problem! |
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Trousers and tramlines If you’re a new cadet, you may not be aware of all
the bespoke terminology that is used with the cadets. For your information, ‘tramlines’ are two
distinct creases in your trousers and sometimes your shirt. Usually they will run parallel to each
other and resemble train tracks or indeed, tram lines. You could receive trousers or shirts with
tramlines already ironed into them or you could iron them in yourself
inadvertently; they need to be gotten
rid of! The best way is to use plenty of water over the
offending and proper creases and with the iron on max, repeatedly run the
iron over the areas, being sure not to
leave the iron in one place for too long!
Shirts are easier to fix as you can place the iron onto the
material. Trousers however go shiny if
you iron straight onto them, so be sure to use something to act as a buffer
between iron and trouser – a clean handkerchief or tea towel will do just
fine. The item of clothing will generally tell you where
to put the creases – shirts have seams on the bottom of the sleeves, if you
use that as a built in crease, lay the sleeve flat on your ironing board and
wherever the sleeve folds at the top, that is where the crease goes. Trousers are obviously different. They have seams down the outside and inside
of the leg. Use these to put the
creases down the front and back. Hold
the trousers at the very bottom and align the seams. Then lay them flat on the ironing board
keeping the seams aligned and where the trouser leg folds is where the crease
should be. They should crease all the
way to the belt loops on both the front and back and remember not to put the iron directly onto the
trouser material as it will go shiny!
The CS95 trousers also require creases down the
front and back of the legs – they can be achieved in exactly the same way as
described for your blue trousers.
Although there is no need to use a buffer between iron and trouser as
they are made of a different material. |
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Shirts and Jumpers If you’re confused as to what to wear, or how to
wear your uniform correctly, here’s a good place to look. Blues – as a cadet you will
have two kinds of blue uniform; Wedgewood
and Working blues. The wedgewood shirt is the lighter blue one
that you wear with a tie, and the working shirt is the darker blue one
without the tie. Wedgewood blue shirts
for cadets are all long sleeved and must
NOT be worn A. without a tie and B. with the sleeves rolled up. The working blue shirts are again all long
sleeved but can be rolled up. In fact
when wearing a working blue shirt without a jumper on the sleeves MUST be rolled up; undo the cuff
button and fold the cuff over. Then
fold the sleeve three times, making sure to keep the height of the roll the
same as the cuff, then sort out any ruffles and
creases to make it look smart. The
brassard then goes on the RIGHT
arm and if applicable, goes on the outside of the rolled sleeve. Jumpers are worn when it is cold to stop cadets
freezing when they are outside doing drill.
You should all be issued with a jumper, and the following needs to be
done to it to make sure it looks smart and correct. ·
The epaulettes and patches at the top of the jumper need to be ironed
flat. The epaulettes also need to be
Velcro-ed down correctly – there are two square pieces of Velcro that will
line up. Line them up! There are
few things that look more of a mess than an epaulette that is blatantly
fastened wrongly. ·
The cuffs need to be folded up one turn – similar to how you would
roll you shirt sleeves up. They are not to be worn over the hands as
makeshift gloves – it looks a mess. Tip: As you will never wear you dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled
down, my advice would be to keep them rolled up even under your jumper –
because if you need to take your jumper off for whatever reason, you save
time by not having to roll them up. Greens – your CS95 shirt is to
be ironed as your blue shirts, with one modification. The collar is to be ironed flat against the
body of the shirt, making a ‘V’ shape at the neck. There is an easy way of doing this. ·
Iron the shirt as normal putting creases down the sleeves. Then zip and button the shirt up as though
you are wearing it (remembering to leave the collar unfastened), then place
it front side up on the ironing board.
Open the collar and then flatten it down creating the desired shape,
then run the iron over it several times. |
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Who and When to Salute Officers. Of
any and all military force, regular and reserve. The reason for this is because they hold
the Queen’s commission. The custom of saluting commissioned officers relates wholly to the
commission given by Her Majesty the Queen to that officer, not the person.
Therefore, when a subordinate airman salutes an officer, he is indirectly
acknowledging Her Majesty as Head of State. A salute returned by the officer
is on behalf of the Queen. Officers
can be recognized by their headdress and their rank insignia. In the RAF officers will usually wear peak
caps which will have a cloth peak.
NCOs have shiny peaks, and can be seen from a distance. If you can see a reflection, keep your hand down. Also the badge on the peak is different –
it will have an eagle (see picture to the left) as opposed to a wreath with
RAF in the middle. RAF officers have
strips on their rank insignia (see here for more info)
whereas NCOs have chevrons, crowns or propellers. If you forget to salute, or
don’t see an officer, the odds are that officer or an NCO with that officer
will make you aware of the fact. In
that case, apologize to both the NCO and the officer and give them a
salute. You may feel foolish for a bit
but you may have learned something – so pay attention. You must only salute when you are wearing your head dress (beret, or peak
cap if in No 1 dress) – unless you are being taught drill. There are several occasions
when you will need to salute an officer – 1.
When they arrive on squadron premises, or enter a classroom to give a
lecture / presentation. Generally at this time, the highest ranking
cadet, be it NCO or cadet, will call the room or cadets to attention. This could be given in several ways – the command
‘Room, Shun!’ if indoors, ‘Squad/Flight Shun’ if on parade or, if the parade
hasn’t been called yet and you’re bimbling about outside as usual, the
command could simply be ‘Up!’. In any of these cases you must stand or sit
to attention – the cadet or NCO giving the command will salute, and the
officer will return the salute. If you’re
on your own, simply stand to attention and salute. Tip:
bear in mind that if you are marching /
walking past an officer on your own there is no need to halt to salute; look
either left or right (depending on which side the officer is) and
salute. It may be worth your while to
make the officer aware of your presence by saying ‘Sir / Ma’am’ as you salute
so they can return the salute. That
way you can’t get shouted at for not saluting if an officer doesn’t see you
salute. Tip 2: If you are giving a
lesson in a room and someone senior to yourself comes in, don’t stop your lesson by calling the
room to attention. They should respect
the fact that you are teaching and either sit quietly at the back, or sneak
through to carry on with their business.
If they need you they will ask for you and if necessary, get someone
to take over your lesson while you are away. 2.
When entering / exiting an office with an officer inside. In this instance, you would knock
on the door and wait to be seen to.
After being acknowledged, take a step inside the office and salute the
officer, if the office permits. If it’s
a small office, the salute can be given from outside the door, however wait
to be seen before saluting. Generally
the officer will not have their hat on so they will not salute back, but they
will acknowledge the fact that you have done so. State your business, then when you are
ready to leave said office, go to the same spot that you saluted at before,
stand to attention and salute the officer.
About turn and leave the office.
Simple. Tip: If you are going in
and out of an office with the same officer in it, there is only need to
salute once on the entrance, and once on the exit. If you’re feeling brave, after you’ve
saluted the first time you could ask the officer if it’s okay to remove your
beret. That way you’ll not have to
salute anyone until you’re finished in the office – at which point remember to put it back on before leaving
the office finally so you can salute. 3.
When marching / walking about on camp or squadron. The rule is that if there are 3
or more cadets together in uniform, you should be marching. In that case the senior cadet will lead the
marching and give salutes to the officers.
The only thing you’ll need to concern yourself with is turning your
head and eyes to either the left or right when told by the cadet in charge of
your squad / flight. If you’re on your
own, you must salute the officer yourself in the same manner as stated in
point 1 – wait until they are three paces away before throwing up your
salute. If there are two of you, the
senior cadet should be on the right, the junior cadet on the left. This way the senior cadet will look out for
the officers and salute as necessary. If
you are the junior cadet do not
salute, but give an eyes right.
This is all based on the fact that you will be walking / marching on
the left hand side of the road or path.
Which you should be. To be continued… Right now |
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The 'UP!' command First of all, what does it mean? It has two main meanings and uses - they will be described here. The first use is taken from the drill manual that you will all know as ACP19. It states that after being put into size order, the odd numbers have taken two steps forward, the ranks have taken a right and left turn and the order is given to 'form squad/flight', the 'up' command is used to turn the cadets into line at the same time. So when the two fall in behind the right marker and the second cadet has come to a halt, as they are both facing right in relation to the squad he/she says 'Up!' and the two cadets turn left into line. The same will happen with the other cadets as they fall in to ranks of three. It is a part of forming up that is often missed, but it is there, and will be put into operation at 860 Squadron (for further information, read ACP19, ask a Sqn SNCO, or ask your friendly neighbourhood Drill Instructor).
The next use is to bring cadets to attention in areas that can not be defined, such as outside or in a corridor. For example, if you are sat outside before first parade and the Boss walks past, obviously you will want to call youself and the cadets around you to attention as a mark of respect to the Boss's rank and position. Do you use 'Squad/Flight', or 'Squadron', or simply 'Shun!'? No, use the 'Up!' command. It's much simpler and will get the job done in a more smart fashion.
No excuses now, you're 'Up!' to date.
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To 'Shun!' or not to 'Shun!'
This can be a difficult subject among cadets, as different 'rules' seem to apply for different times and places, but it needs not to be. The one and only rule is: seniority commands attention. Explained means that, if you are talking to someone senior to you, be it cadet or staff member, you stand to attention. If someone senior to you enters the room you are in, you will stand to attention (and if applicable, call the room to attention). If a staff member walks past you in a corridor and you are stood still, you come to attention (again, if applicable call those around you to attention but with the 'Up!' command). Beginning to see a pattern?
Now the confusion seems to lie in who is supposed to be giving these commands. Ideally, it would be the most senior rank in the room - this could be cadet or staff. However it could be anyone that sees the senior rank first. Don't be afraid to call it, as the senior cadet will probably thank you as they were not paying attention (no pun intended). Now to tackle some of the finer points - the first being the correct attention position. If you are stood, then it is exactly the same as in the drill manoeuvres. If you are sat down, the correct position is this: to be sitting, facing forwards, with oyur back straight and hands on your knees. The feet should be together and flat on the floor. So no excuses now. Next is berets - as you are inside, you are not required to wear them so you shouldn't have it on. However you may be told to keep them on. If you are, keep them on until you are told to take them off. If you are the senior cadet or NCO in the room and you know an officer is coming into the room, you may wish to keep your beret on and salute after you have brought the room to attention. The choice is yours on that one.? Finally, as with any time you are at attention, there is to be absolutely NO TALKING. Sitting or standing, you are still at attention. |
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