As a result of high attendance and stalwart performance in excess of rank, "Gnorman night of the Domino Pizza order" hat ownership passed from Cpl K to Cpl G last Monday for outstanding NCO-ness. She got to take an NCO selfie with NCO team. 3 of these that she might get the prestigious NCO Millennium Falcon medal.

Well done to 0925 intake's Cdt B who was OC's CotM for last month. Consistently putting himself forward, he was one of few juniors to sign-up to represent Sqn for cross country, in first batch of First Class & Blue Leadership badges and already has a Aviation Blue Badge (showing importance of getting engaged, listening for the cues and signing up for stuff).

Another successful Wing first aid weekend for 1368 Sqn. 3 x Silver AFA badges for Cdt K, Cdt L and Cpl M. And Bronze YFA for Cdt P. Reports show 43 of our cadets have current St John's Youth First Aid qual with 6 now having the full 2 day St John's Activity First Aid. Well done to those who signed up, and also thanks to staff from across the Wing and our own Plt Off D for keeping 1368's First Aid qual snowball rolling.

Next intake for 1368 Sqn will be post Easter (probably a small one 5-6). Sqn operates 3 intakes a year, roughly aligned to school term starts (Sep, Jan/Feb, Apr). The intake system works to ensure that cadets join with peers in same boat which helps with nerves/building friendships. It also eases training by keeping similar trained in a group. This means they can avoid doing the same thing twice. April gives us last opportunity to get new starters into the pipe for DofE/Initial Expedition training in May and June 2026, and clear their First Class classification training before July (at a push).

Pleased that we managed to get 2 more first time flyers from 1368 Sqn up on Sunday with the Air Experience Flying School (AEF8). With the nice clear weather Cdt D and Cdt S got to take control of flying a Grob 109 (Tutor T1) for the first time, plus a trip round the museum. Clear day also gave option for a bit of aerobatics.  Cdt D passed his Leading cadet exams as well, hence two new badges are coming his way (Blue Aviation badge and Leading cadet).

3 groups running in parallel most of Wednesdays with marching band, practice pads and ensemble groups. Great NCO work spinning plates (with leadership for junior's also running) while FS R focused on drumming rudiments and Sgt H energized the rock ensemble, and others took real band. Taking on some good suggestions we've tried rotating to real instruments a lot earlier to bang the real drums sooner. Blue badge band is one of the hardest, so we will see what the gap is when Fg Off D visits. Ensemble has been eye opening.  It appears we have an usually high level of musical talent in the up and coming cadets (singers, guitar, and keyboard). It was like Bryan May turned up.

Well done to first batch of 0925/0226 intake to get their Blue badge Foundation Leadership having passed 2 success leads. Cdt B, Cdt P, Cdt P, Cdt R, Cdt S, Cdt S, and Cdt K. 4 nights done so far, more to come. Putting our new intakes through extended leadership training has two goals for us. Firstly, it gets cadets the blue badge which opens up ability to bid for Bronze leadership at sector or Wing level. Secondly, it's actually a really good and fun way of getting cadets to interact with their peers to build friendships, teamwork and mutual understanding, i.e. it bonds them together so that when we get to things like expedition training they already feel part of a team.

Cadets and staff from 1368 paraded the Sqn and Wing banners at the funeral of Frederick John Dawe today, attended by Wing Commanders and OCs of 1368 past and present. John was the first OC of 1368 (1971-1980), a Wing Staff Officer (1980-1988), and OC Wing (1988-1995). It was a very poignant ceremony with senior guests and strong RBL attendance. Very proud of Sgt G, Cpl R, Cpl K and Cdt B who stepped up to attend. They representing the Sqn and the Air Cadets with distinction, incl. banner and slow marching elements. You did a very good thing. Thanks also to Sgt B for help in training banner to those going on Wednesday.

Last Saturday, 1368 Sqn managed to react to fill 3 scratch places offered to all Sqns the night before first-come, first-served. Cdt K, Cdt F and Cdt G taking the chance. Not first timers. Nice clear day so some got to do some aerobatics in a Grob Tutor T1 (E.g. Cdt F took controls doing a loop). Many thanks also for staff stepping up to take. Make hay while the sun shining.

Well done to 2 Silvers, Cdt B and Cpl R, and 3 Bronzes, Cdt U, Cdt B-R, and Cdt G who've been part of the march harvest. Your certificates have arrived! (actually they arrived Monday). We can give them out in due course. Well done and many thanks to Wing DofE officer for flying them across to us.

Sgt H got his Master cadet badge thus reaching the expanding top-tier of 1368 classification badge holders (who also have Instructor lanyard). Cdt K, Cdt F, Cdt A, Cdt B, and Cdt C all got their Senior badges (one down from top) and Cdt S got his foot on the ladder with his First Class badge (joins those eligible for camps). Also, congrats to Cdt R who got his Blue Aviation badge wings for flying a Tutor and passing Flight Sim/ground training elements. Thumbs up from 1368 staff on great progression and getting their exams sorted.

Last Monday saw teams compete in building some STEM rubber band flying planes with unexpectedly variable success with flying them. Bonus is that they didn't fall apart, hence we can hopefully re-use. Fun night though, made a bit of a change.

We finally got 3 cadets airborne on Air Experience Flying (AEF) on Saturday. They got to take control of a Tutor T1 training aircraft. They also did their Part Task Trainer (PTT) ground school element needed for blue aviation badge and an ex-RAF Pilot showed them around some of the aircraft in the hangar and tested their ability to do on the fly time-distance-speed maths. Also saw some familiar 1368 Sqn faces along the road doing Road Marching.

Well done to Cpl R and Cdt B, who joined Cdt G in getting their DofE levels signed off before end of DofE season 2025/26 this month.  Still quite a lot of cadets (at least 10) being chased to get assessor reports done. https://help.edofe.org/hc/en-gb/articles/360021224973-Different-ways-to-submit-an-Assessor-s-Report  

New training segment well underway on Wednesdays with new marching band cohort being trained up, and the newbies doing assessed leadership command tasks.  Often one of the most engaging periods in training calendar, we also expanded out to reform rock/pop ensembled. Chilli Peppers sounded hot, and some expansion in cadets' Beatles knowledge underway. More to come, hopefully (a bass player perhaps?), while we still have classrooms before building is given back (and it gets harder).  We continue to leave things behind for the English teachers though, accruing the list of things we have to thank Aylesford School, in light of our building closure. We did have cake for Sgt B's 16th though (more to come, hopefully). Cuthbert the Caterpillar made another appearance, lit up the room for a brief moment, and was swiftly devoured. 

Monday saw Cdt R promoted to Cpl and Cpl H promoted to Sgt, to close off the last round of promotion interviews and assessments. Cpl R will help sharpen uniform/drill standards, and Sgt H will continue to bring his positive mental attitude. Promotions carried out now to have a bigger NCO pool as many will end up being in and out at various times as they are in final exam years (which is fine).  The new 0226 intake's also been receiving help from cadet, who've volunteered to mentor and help them (actually, seems to be going well but also great for DofE Volunteering coaching, teaching and leadership sign-off).

Big progress with on Monday with all of 0925 present finishing workbooks to achieve First Class badge. Another 3 cadets (B, M, E) passed 3 Leading exams to join Cdt P in getting their Leading classification. Senior/Master group add a pilot nav revision lesson.  Some catch up with issuing Blue Radio badges also, hence brassards are started to be populated. Leading/Senior/Master exams are now open for cadets to do in own time to get classif. badge.

Social trip to Red Kangaroo in Coventry went off pretty well. 21 cadets, 5 staff helping. Good fun session and nice to see lots of GCSE-ers having fun together and newbies. Great idea from Cpl H.  1368 is apparently born to bounce (and whack each other using soft play things).