F e a t u r e s
of my attendance – the long suffering and dedicated staff take it in their stride.
So the big day finally arrives – a fantastically mild and sunny day. I arrive with my husband, William, (this is after all as much about families today as the recruits and it was a really nice touch for my ‘family’ to be invited along too) in time to receive a briefing about RAF Halton. We learn what the graduating recruits have been up to and, most importantly for me, to ‘walk the ground’ of the parade square and make sure I know what I’m supposed to be doing. I don’t mind making a small confession here – it’s the first time I’ve ever carried a sword and the Station Commander points out the potential of tripping over it as I step onto the dais, but adds reassuringly that anything I do, he will copy so it will look as if it was supposed to happen. I’m not reassured.
A quick bite of lunch and we’re off. I have to reach the dais in time for the fly-past. Jenny Ainsworth, in the Station Commander’s residence is expert at attaching our sword belts to us and ensuring we are out of the front door and into the car at the appointed moment. We drive to the parade square, I get out and step onto the dais (sword and dignity intact) just in time to receive the general salute, which
coincides with the flypast of an RAF Dominie. I suspect there is a trainee navigator in the Dominie working extremely hard to ensure that his aircraft flies over the parade at exactly the right time. It looked good to me.
I am then invited to inspect the recruits – as I look down the rows, the look of pride and utter concentration on each face is evident. “What did you enjoy most on your course?”, I ask a few individuals. Each enthusiastically replies the same: “Everything!” They could not be making it up. Back onto the dais I give a short address and highlight the importance of families and friends. My top tip for them? Believe in themselves – they had already achieved a great deal in the last 9 weeks, but much more would be asked of them in the future, as they go on to carry out their professional training and eventually to put that training into practice on operations. If we didn’t think they were up to it, they wouldn’t be graduating today. Just looking at them at that moment, I know they are hugely willing and enthusiastic about their forthcoming time in the Royal Air Force.
Prize giving follows, before the final march past. At the order of ‘eyes right!’, I see that every graduating recruit is firmly trying to look
me in the eye and I try hard to return contact with as many as I can manage. Then it is all over; I leave and the families, who have watched the parade from behind me, eagerly rush forward to greet their loved ones. For some, it is the first time they will have seen each other since the start of the course – the change in some will have been immense! Finally, William and I have the pleasure of meeting the graduating recruits with their families. Mums and Dads, Aunts and Uncles are so proud; there is a little healthy sibling rivalry as one brother proudly wears his Royal Marine uniform – but you can tell that beneath his banter, he is really chuffed with his younger Royal Air Force sibling. “He stands up straight and looks you in the eye” said one proud Dad.
Indeed they all stand up straight and look you in the eye. They answered all of my questions with honesty and a degree of maturity that sometimes belied their youth. At a time when the media is full of the challenges this country faces with ‘the youth of today’, I am wholly reassured that there are many, many more good youngsters than bad in the UK, and that we in the Royal Air Force are fortunate in attracting top quality young men and women. Long may it remain so; best I get back to my strategy job, to ensure it does!
Summer 2008
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