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5th September 2005

Action Station

Over the August bank holiday weekend of 2005 Cadets and Staff deployed to Dibgate campsite for the squadron’s annual summer training weekend. As Sergeant Butler explains, with good weather in hand and all manner of activities on the agenda there was plenty to get involved with.

Retrieving the  'Nuclear Bomb'

Hi Ho Hi Ho it’s off to Folkestone we go….
Over the bank holiday weekend 20 cadets and 6 staff made their way to Folkestone, more specifically to Dibgate army base. 134 are no strangers to Dibgate, we have already been down this year to participate in the Spitfire Cadet March (see article ‘Best Foot Forward’). This particular weekend was a training weekend however and this was made perfectly clear to us as soon as the bus stopped and Mr. Taylor shouted us to ‘GET OUT OF THE BUS NOW!!!!!’ as one of the advance party resting in a tent commented-‘The weekend has now begun’ 

So after the initial admin, which involved ‘bunny hopping’ around the campsite we all got into bed around midnight. Our rest was to be short lived however, with PT at 0600, led by our one and only WO Croft. Then came the tent inspections, and after that leadership training with myself. 

The main exercise of the day was ‘RAF Dibgate’ where the cadets have to generate and run an RAF Station, with all the necessary sections that involves. The fire section practiced with real fire equipment and the caterers had their hands full with 20 odd mouths to feed. A crack team had to be sent off to retrieve a ‘nuclear bomb’ (code name-THE CAKE) which then formed part of the night exercise. 

After a slap up meal served by Mr Dipper and Chirani we progressed to the night exercise. This involved meeting a secret agent (code name Geoff) and recapturing RAF Dibgate from the hands of terrorists. This completed we had some soup and went to bed.

As Sunday dawned with another PT session we jogged off into the mist with the view on another packed day (I don’t think anyone knew how wet we would end up getting!) After the usual morning admin we set off for the Romney and Hithe-Dimchurch Railway. The train trip was enjoyed by all, especially the two Gibson’s! Afterwards the staff drove us to the beach and we set up a volley ball net. 

Following lunch and a couple of games we formed up for drill…and marched into the sea! Unique experience- we drew a fair amount of attention to ourselves during our inspection, however our boots were found to be unsatisfactory! After some more drill in the sea, the timings slightly adjusted so as to not clash with the waves we returned to shore. More volleyball and rounders followed. 

Later on we returned to camp where we got a chance to relax and enjoy the sun. The weekend was finished off with a DVD showing of the ‘Italian Job’. This was also the point for Butlers (my) final send-off with a cake, birthday card? and glittery ruler! 

On Monday, all that remained to do was strike camp and return to HQ, thank the staff and wash our smelly kit!