Weve put together this post to explain what you can expect on your graduation day. Reception: After the ceremony, graduates and their guests can attend a reception or party, usually held on campus or at a nearby venue. This week saw the Combined Parade of Officers and Aviators who have graduated from RAF Halton and RAF Cranwell over the last two years but couldn't take part in a parade due to the pandemic. Your nose will stream as will your eyes and youll be told to walk around a big bush/tree until the effects wear off. But you will need the patience of a Saint with some of the kids in here. Those 20 minutes hung over us for the duration of the course, and we had to complete various tasks to lose or gain minutes, depending on how we did. Just make sure you are as fit as you can be as that will help you the most during training. We were greeted at the top of the steps by a few SATTs (Servicemen/women Awaiting Trade Training). The inspection marks the end of your coverall phase. Thanks for the comment, Kevin. A bit like how you have progress exams, you have progress inspections. All the graduates must stand while they walk on. However, things get a bit more complicated when you include a rifle and have to learn new drill moves with it. Theyll do the same for you when you need it. Notice the parade ground and the mini Tornado! These can help if you do miss any notes as most of it is in the book any way. 1.1 Step 1 Visit raf.mod.uk/rafreserves to find out about squadrons and roles and to apply. Get top tips & guidance from our in-house study abroad experts, You are currently browsing our site with content tailored to students in your country. Below are some . 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. Blue Warrior is where most of the re-flights come from at Halton, but before you read on with dread and worry, there was only one re-flight from Blue Warrior on our course. Hope all is going well with your son. Is it just the sit-ups, press-ups and Beep test? what happens on raf graduation day Out of everything at Basic Training, its the one date that will stick in your head the most. Graduation Times. Your guests will sit in a different area of the room. "We had a little private time away together with some friends, and I just decided it was the right time, really," William . Your experiences will hopefully not be as horrendous as mine! At the beginning its due to inexperience and at the end its due to nerves. Overall though, a really fun week. My nephew is currently in week 7 I think, he has Blue Warrior next week anyway and messages and phone calls are few and far between so its nice to have a way of knowing approximately what hes up to. Most people say the Regiment exercise (Ex Blue Warrior) is the best and yes, its fun, but I didnt join up to do that kind of stuff although obviously I knew it would play a big part. raf halton graduation parade raf halton graduation parade. Its a weapon/rifle. You can always narrow your search results later. Check out the list of universities. It was a bit tough but being brought up in the 1940s not so bad ! It is phenomenal, and you will not regret going. 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. Also are recruits able to use the gym in their free time ? We played a few games with various rules which if broken meant youd have water projected into your face via everyone elses paddles. Youll be packing (or attempting to) all your stuff into your bergen (big rucksack) and webbing (where you keep your mess tins, water bottle etc). Trust me itll all be worth the toil (if you havent finished already!! I was one of last National Service intake at RAF Wilmslow 1958 but l signed on for 3 years . Im not too sure how COVID has affected this either, so Id probably expect a delay between courses and anything else is a bonus. Ive applied for the Police Officer role . This isnt like a conventional inspection where everything is ironed to within an inch of its existence but ts basically to inspect all your CPT kit (greens, webbing, bags, boots etc) to make sure they are clean. Before the exam, you have a visit to RAF Museum Hendon, London. You will likely only do long runs a few times over the 10 weeks. You will be fine. Exactly two years since I started basic training, Im now writing up my experience. 15.00-16.15. Out of everything at Basic Training, it's the one date that will stick in your head the most. Training wise. You then have a bunch of theory lessons with a wide range of information to note down. However, with each progress inspection, standards are expected to increase quite rapidly. You arrive at Bramley training area (Or at least thats where we did it in January 2015). 08.30-09.45. Depending on your beliefs, you can either take the Oath of Allegiance (to God) or the Oath of Affirmation (to the Queen). If interested, my book can be found at: https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FATTEN-TION-Serviceman-translated-Adversity%2Fdp%2FB09B2FVZYB%2Fref%3Dmp_s_a_1_1%3Fdchild%3D1%26keywords%3Dkevin%2520dalkin%26qid%3D1627552674%26rnid%3D1642204031%26s%3Dbooks%26sr%3D1-1%26fbclid%3DIwAR3bIsv6k9l4s_BO268MY_b_fWfX3aHx3rlSKMMkhKXtvl0nyh5hLU_RIZQ&h=AT0MWpH8sN6kQCidFhwbbtiGg-ygMJTo_ipzOGH1RJtDmDFbleWCUk2A5olx2ZsNltckRJj4WXybsCwusSgvFP8XMIpuA-nJya0Fwziur9Tb_u0d7_b8MyAE8up7DWlLYk0. Of course the clothing will need to be cleaned and ironed just as well as any other inspection. Then youll walk back to your seat and enjoy the remainder of the ceremony. You usually have some free time most evenings. IFPT starts with about 3 days First Aid. Its also a good idea because tomorrow is your day 00 fitness test. There will also be celebrationpartiesafter the ceremony,and so youmayneed to book tickets for thosetoo. I think kayaking was probably my favourite. If you would like bespoke help to secure a graduate-level job contact us, here at Graduate Coach. Ive lost over 5 of that now, can do the entry test requirements (I know I need to work on form but still have 11 months to practice) I was just wondering how far they expect you to run when your in, I can do 5 k in about 25 mins and go running 2/3 times a week but just concerned that they might be throwing 10k at you and that I need to start training longer. If you realise that youve hired the wrong size robe or hat, dont worry as the gown hire company will often have spares in different sizes. A hearty congratulation on your graduation and wishing you good luck for the new beginning in life. However, heres what you can expect: Generally, youll start the day by getting dressed up in your graduation gown and hat. The two things that stick in my mind from basic in the 80s are Prep and sleep. I have wanted to throw in the towel many times over the last 4 weeks. Im guessing the PT classes are are generally just like an hour or so at the gym just lead by an instructor and not so much music to listen to haha. 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? We went around the room and did the usual stand up, say your name, why you joined the RAF and an interesting fact about yourself. The number of guests you can bring will depend on your universitys policy and the size of the venue. Once youre all kitted up, weighed down, and generally as uncomfortable as youll ever be, the orders start flying in. I almost threw up in the bush but somehow managed to fend off the urge. Inspirational graduation quotes. An hours sleep is considered a luxury before those ones! Id recommend starting about 3 or 4 days before. This is a rolled-up piece of paper and your certificate will be given to you either before or after the event. Heres a video showing what happens at a graduation ceremony. This will be your favourite day of the course so far. The graduates will stand whilst the academic staff on stage leave the ceremony. I bless you with all that you need to earn many more achievements and feats in life ahead. Posted at 20:01h . I remember we had to do a cross country style race at one point, which may have been around 5km. General view of RAF Cranwell on the day of Prince William's RAF graduation ceremony on April 11, 2008 in Cranwell, England. Its the day of your initial kitting at clothing stores. I was wondering how far you are expected to be able to run during basic training? This was quite a good idea (top tip number 1). For UAS, you dont really have a rigid training course prior to joining. Just ask. It was probably to dismantle the other teams boat as well as our own or something like that. Youve been working long days and nights every day since you arrived at Halton and this is your first opportunity to not worry and to be back in the real world for a bit. So for the easiest clothes to get into, you get about 6 minutes. Meal times are honestly the most enjoyable part of every day. Another notable event of the last week is the final fitness test. I dont think it was too much of a big deal if you passed or failed, it just meant that you couldnt do any of the water-based activities during adventurous training. At this point I knew I was dragging the suitcase I literally couldnt lift off the ground up at least one flight of stairs. I took advantage of the education opportunities and on demob l was able to train as a T V engineer . The graduate ceremony planners will have devised a plan to get everyone into the ceremony room quickly and efficiently. FLORAL GARDEN. 16.00. . All university graduation ceremonies will be different. Each time you look at your watch, your only thought will be how many hours or minutes it is to the next meal. Its just a very physically demanding exercise and depending on the weather, it can be unimaginably wet and muddy. Also any information on the swimming test or whats involved would be brilliant. Im a little older so will be 32 by the time I can join (was told to come back in the year for medical reasons) As a child I was never fit at all in-fact in 2018 I was 18 stone. Ill do my best to get back to you. You will be told what opportunities are available to you when it comes to it. Theres always one or two people who are, what can only be described as a lost cause when it comes to drill but nobody on my intake got re-flighted because they couldnt march. I cant remember why, or what for, but someone must have said or done the wrong thing and before we knew it, we were sprinting to a small building and back in the middle of a field in ankle deep snow. The biggest hurdle between you and graduating is the final inspection, but well get onto that later. The shoot went well for my course with all but one passing. Youll be so good at drill by now that youll be laughing hysterically at new courses attempting to march in time. Not only to relax, but also to prepare for Exercise Blue Warrior. Youll have a progress exam or two before then to see what topics youre struggling on. If I make it to phase 1 training, am I likely to be the old git of the new recruits? He will be well looked after, dont worry! You have to hit a certain amount of targets to pass and I dont think anyone had too much trouble with this. The activities we did included kayaking, indoor climbing and navigation exercises. This got a few laughs. 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. There may be morespeeches,and when they have finished, the academic staff will leave the stage. 13.00. Your bed space has to be spotless. I felt like a prisoner on day release at the museum. I believe, due to COVID and possibly other factors, its now done on the airfield at RAF Halton (count yourself lucky if thats the case!). I thoroughly enjoyed this. Your first few nights are some of the most stressful and busiest. Happy Graduation. If you have recently finished university you may have thought about applying to graduate schemes as a next step. The rehearsal gets watched by some senior officers and also the Station Commander. Hi Ryan Hi Ryan, during basic training how many days did you actually get free for yourself? It wasnt intentional by this point but it made a couple of them stay in there longer. This inspection marks the end of your greens phase.