Special mention to Sgt F 'effort/preparation does really count' who heads off to Uni in Sept. That's the treble in one year (Gold DofE, 1368 Athletics Championship win, oh, and passing A Levels). Not many achieve that. One of our "recover from COVID" cadets, the Sqn has really appreciated his energy, fun spirit, sportsmanship and cadet leadership over the last 5 years. He'll be missed. Hopefully, we will see him report back in over the coming years. Best of luck for the future.

Cdt A and Cdt Y got badges for completing First Class (great as new training starts in Sept), Intermediate swimming certs for Cpl K and Cdts W, R, R and B-R, Advanced Swimming cert for Cdt C, Cdt G gets 2 Wing blues for successive Wing representation in Region sports (Wing came 2nd in Region Athletics, a month ago with his category winning), staff take selfies, classif workbooks arrive ready for 0926 intake, strange vegetables appear, and on Mon we did uniform bulling (no photos) and ensemble. Wed 26 Aug, despite 5 staff and 6 cadets/NCOs on Rose Dragon we did some new Leadership challenges, integrated across age categories. Some CIs from other Sqns came in and it was nice that SNCOs running got them involved (the shelving bits did make quite a good new ex for Cdt H's lead).

Well done to Cdt H, the latest 1368 cadet to achieve Bronze DofE success (thanks to host of Expedition, Volunteering, Skills and Physical things he's done since joining in Feb). Finally, Bronze sign-off in Aug for Cdt K also, who's been overlapping Silver with Bronze. Cdt D's Silver came in with Cdt P's submitted. So far (since April) we have 7 Bronze, 4 Silvers and 1 Gold approved.  Quite a few more in the pipe. Lots of cadets who did the last Bronze and Silver 1368 expeditions we ran, will be able to get the awards, hence just a case of getting the assessor reports in and approved.

Last Wed was an action packed night with archery. Idea was to excite interest, progress 1368's own competency through experience, and advise on logistics ahead of Sqn's own purchase (we have an Archery grant from King Henry Viii Endowment Trust, and are close to purchasing but is currently delayed due to problems with building).  The vision is to be self-sufficient. It could be a great summer evening activity for parade nights or activity days with potential to keep older cadets/other staff entertained, esp. if we open up instructor qual pathways with older cadets. To deal with the heat, we arranged for a giant rock to be placed in front of the sun. 

The Air Cadet Charity approved 1368 Sqns bid to supplement existing Flight Sims with something different, a laptop plus Virtual Reality (VR) headset. This would complement rather than replace our existing, enabling us to run Lockheed Prepar3D flight sim as well (once we get the building back that is). Many thanks for Civ Comm for navigating the ACC process and volunteers for assisting. The ACC is a new entity designed to distribute funds independently to the RAF. The grant represents our first attempt at funding and the lessons learnt/info collection done should make future grants easier (e.g. we probably need new tents in 2027-2028). 

Four of our review cadets (aspiring for NCO ranks) achieved their instructor cadet lanyards over the last 3-4 weeks. They developed lesson plans, dry runs, and progressed to delivery of a assessed lesson over many months, having done Wing Methods of Instruction training. Also thanks to the array of assessor's for making time and the classroom participants for being attentive. It looks great on their record, and shoulders, and helps unlock doors, esp. if they continue to higher ranks and older cadet opportunities at Wing/Region/Corps level. We have been more successful at getting Yr 10's to achieve it than Yr 11's hence good to get it them bagged. They can feel proud at their achievement.

As well as a First Aid night (sorry, no pictures) Sqn tried to remember how to do drill (half the Sqn actually looks pretty good, the other half, umm). Meanwhile the Sqn ensemble (aka next gen band) has been knocking out The Cure songs, Sqn watched the Eclipse ahead of Archery night last Wed (partly a STEM exercise), Cdt A finally got her Blue Aviation badge, and rock-paper-scissors decided who got the one Road Marching badge in the badge box.

Band equipment grant arrived awarded to 1368 Sqn to supplement band equipment with boxes for transporting drums plus cymbals so we can do some "crash," "ding," "zing," "shhh" sounds. The Wing band competition is likely to be around Nov to align with when bands that might prepare for Remembrance Day parade with Sea Cadets (some musical or already Master-cadet A Team-ers who're interested), a desire if cadet building issues do not prevent us from participating in remembrance parade this year. Many thanks for Leamington Town Council for helping to keep young people engaged and enriched with music.

Last weekend saw a misty start to this minimum duration remote wild camp, Gold practice expedition for 2 groups of senior cadets from 1368 Sqn. Focus was to give 9 cadets from 1368 Sqn more nav training in wild country plus the more rarer experience of the joys of wild camping. This mountain range is known for its quieter hillwalking and industrial slate heritage. Some stunning scenery with practically no-one else there. Watching sunset going down over panorama of the Yr Wyddfa massif was a highlight, plus the electricity when the whole group came together.  If improving mountain nav was the goal then Sunday didn't disappoint with an early start in clag and teams navigating themselves back from the wild camp via a route through remnants of industrial slate heritage. Hill fog kept temperatures/sun exposure down, hence we were pretty lucky with weather. Seems odd given the heat wave to see cadets in waterproofs with waterfalls. Wales doesn't disappoint. They successfully navigate...

In line with the Air Training Corp's Venture Adventure moto, cadets from 1368 Sqn climbed this iconic Welsh Mtn last week, in build up ready for Gold practice exped. The mountain offers classic glacial scenery, a majestic 893-metre (2,930-foot) mountain in southern Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park, Wales, near Dolgellau. Translating to "Idris's Chair,". As Google tells us it is famed for dramatic glacial cwms like Llyn Cau, rich giant mythology, strenuous hiking trails taking 5 to 6 hour. What google doesn't tell us is that it has interesting sheep, F-15 fly-pasts, and Mexican wave performances in the shelter. 

Cdt P received his Instructor cadet lanyard, 4 cadets get their blue aviation badges, 4 cadets/NCOs get basic swimming certificates, 6 cadets/NCOs get their intermediate swimming proficiency certificates, and 5 get their advanced swimming certificates. Also Cdt H passed his First Class classification (still a bit of catch up to do, as we want to get 0226/0426 to complete their First Class workbooks before Sept).

1368 cadets have been doing very well on AEF slots recently, helped by the good weather. Most newbies have had flying chances hence the chance that mids and seniors get future slots is relatively high. A last minute increase in allocation (they had more pilots) meant 6 got to fly at Air Experience Flying (RAF) No. 8 on Tuesday. Most got to reinforce their flying skills with those who wanted to flying some aerobatics. Here's some photos. Note the super-cool new helmets. many thanks to AEF8 pilots and support staff and 1289 for helping with transportation.

1368 Sqn now has a new Vango Scafell 200 tent thanks to speedy tent pitching skills of staff at a recent DofE Trek Together fundraising event they undertook. Vango Scafell 200 2-man tent features two identical poles with exceptional space to weight ratio. They managed to pitch it in 1m 30 something. To honest, our trusty Vango DofE tents are starting to show their usage, hence handy to have more options. Cadets had a go at putting it up on Wed. Obviously, winning the Vango side-competition is the main thing, but I suppose there is also the "raising money for disadvantaged young people to access DofE scheme" to be commended (ask us for help in funding DofE if on low income, as kit funding schemes are out there!). Cadets had a go at pitching it on Wed. Well done to our intrepid amigos! Might come in handy as a back-up on our upcoming Gold expedition.