At 1368 Squadron we pride ourselves on building the best young leaders by undertaking a wide range of activities and also developing their coaching and leadership skills. Well done to Cdt F and Cdt W who both stepped up achieved their Presentation Skills (PS) course passes last night, 28 Feb 2024. Both deliveries were excellent.  There are many other things, of course, but PS is a good indication of future NCO potential as it shows confidence to stand-up and present in front of others. Also provides good evidence for non-NCOs using Coaching, Teaching and Leadership in the Air Training Corps as a 3 month DofE Volunteering section. New intake did night #2 of blue leadership command tasks, as our newbies learn how to step up and lead a team when the pressure is on.

Well done to FS C on his promotion to Cadet Warrant Officer (CWO) on 26/02 following a successful boarding interview with the Officer Commanding and Deputy Officer Commanding Warwickshire & Birmingham Wing. Also congratulations to his fellow Junior Leader Sgt M would was promoted to Flight Sergeant on 28/02 for his inspiration leadership and commitment to training delivery.

With Feb half-term, it's a good time to reflect on cadet's successes with classification finish-offs. Well done to Sgt R who joined Sgt W to achieve his Master cadet classif. Also, Cpl J was latest to join Cdt C, Cpl F, Cpl H, Cdt M, and Cpl R to achieve Senior. Most of 0923 intake have completed First Class books, and hence 9 badges likely in next couple of weeks once workbooks checked/finished.  Other news, 7 cadets have enrolled on DofE for first time or upgraded. Cdt H achieved her Silver. We started plans for IET/DofE exped season. A rare Blue Aviation badge arrived for Cdt G W. Remaining cadets were fly in January did a sim night to make eligible and aviation badge request is in. NCO fieldcraft instructors did 2 nights of fieldcraft. Wed we did team building eve and DofE planners. New band equipment was unpacked, and some MTP issued. Also, 2 newbies to bolster 0124 intake. Ready for next training period now, as we switch away from classification focus to other stuff.

Having made its first inroads into drumming last year, 1368 Sqn now has some drums to snare the interest of its musical cadets... This is ready for Phase 2 of the marching band project after half term. We're in the early stages of our journey but there is a lot of enthusiasm from cadets, especially those that play musical instruments anyway but also from those who would like to. It's also great to have new targets for our cadets who've already got badges in Leadership, Radio and Shooting. Musician badges are covered in ACP 123. Cadets may be awarded musician badges according to the instrument they play.  The four types of badge which are available in blue, bronze, silver or gold:  a. Trumpeter (crossed trumpets) b. Drummer (drum) c. Piper (bagpipe) d. Instrumentalist (lyre)

8 Leading cadets got a certificate to add to their badges last night. Another well done to our mainly 0922 intake stars who made it up to the core level after First Class.  Leading is like the GCSE level for Air Cadets. Senior > Master are like A Levels. This is just the first batch as certificates take a while to come though. Another batch is on the way. Leading cadets involves training in 3 subjects: Principles of Flight, Airmanship (Aircraft Knowledge) and Basic Navigation using Map & Compass. Cadets undertake mainly classroom training and then have to pass online tests in all 3 subjects using a test assessment system called RAFAC Learn that they can access through their Cadet Portal app. It's all very modern.

5 senior cadets and NCOs who got a certificate to add to their badges last night. Well done to the first batch of cadets to go up to Senior this year. More to follow. The aim of the Squadron is to progress cadets through a classification level each year: First Class > Leading > Senior > Master. The syllabus includes multiple subjects and is normally taught over the winter months hence we're now starting to see the fruits of their labour.

Last Wed saw 7 of our new cadets get their Blue Basic Radio operator badges after successfully finishing off some classroom elements and video watching to add to their practical radio training day course. We aim for all cadets to get this badge in their first year. At 1368 Squadron we like to do more than classroom learning hence we spend a day where cadets use radios in practical exercises. Of course, they need to know the  NATO phonetic alphabet - Wikipedia  including the 26 code words: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. They also learn how to do radio checks, how to do authentication of a network and code words for giving things like grid coordinates and how to give times. Well done to the cadets, mainly from the 0124 and 0923 intakes, who achieved their badge.

Wing Commander visit cancelled last minute but we did hand out some awards while they were dressed in their parade pukka. Congratulations to the 4 that were given their Bronze DofE certificates/badges. Squadron is on course to be best of the 19 Squadrons in the Wing for DofE. Our cadets think you can't beat walking in muddy fields and sleeping under canvas when it's raining.  Doing the Award with the cadets is a great way of strengthening friendships (usually) and also much cheaper than with the school, as we don't have to buy in an external service. It's part of our core curriculum hence many of the activities we do can be counted. The next expedition season begins soon.

Many thanks to Warwick's King Henry VIII Endowed Trust, for their support for refreshing the Squadron's DofE kit for young people from the Old Borough of Warwick. We like to get our juniors out doing expeditions early in their cadet career and the grant will help us get much better fitting rucksacks for smaller cadets and more rollmats so they don't have to buy them themselves. This makes DofE more accessible and comfortable for those on lower-income, and better for the environment as the bags get heavy use over a large number of years. The King Henry VIII Endowed Trust, Warwick is one of the oldest charities in the country. Its formation in 1545 came from the negotiations with King Henry VIII’s commissioners, when he effectively took the wealth of the local churches. This legacy lives on today, with the 50% of its distribution benefiting the 5 Anglican churches in Warwick. 30% of the distribution goes to the Warwick Independent Schools Foundation (which is used for means t...

The great thing about the air cadet organisation is the amount of different things cadets can learn about. In January we introduced some aspects fieldcraft as a result of recently acquiring the necessary instructor quals. There's a lot of enthusiasm so we'll be making more plans for this throughout this year.