Annual Camp: Swynnerton
On one cold day in October, 1582 (Stanford Le Hope) Sqn ATC, 106 (Grays) Sqn and 2243 (Basildon) Sqn met at Trafalgar House in Basildon to go to Swynnerton military training camp for a week away. We arrived at the camp and were suddenly assigned to our billets and a free lunch! After this we settled into our billets and got prepared for the next day while meeting our flights.
Our first day started with a laser quest detail. That was basically a big game of quasar, outdoors. Then in the afternoon we went on to do orienteering. Then we returned to the main area to have our dinner.
The second day we had the joy of the initiative exercise. In the morning we had a competition between "G" (my flight) and "H" (the other flight). The games included blindfolded assault course, and pass the loop round the human circle. In the afternoon we made a raft to cross the lake which we had been told all morning was infested, but then we were told that someone from the water board had come down and it was clear so we went in. As we raced to get the rafts to the lake one of our barrels fell off - we weren’t going to make it but we ran for it. The raft hit the water and hardly anyone was on it, as it got further out from land we had two of us on the raft, then someone else tried to get on and it all fell apart.
The third day was set with what we thought was shooting and P.T. – we were so wrong. We transported the guns down to the shooting range in a big hurry and we had to put the guns in the car and march down to the playing field where people were already gathering. The camp commandant told us to get down on one knee and a great thudding sound was heard. We had no idea what it was. Then over the tree line appeared a Chinook - you know the double bladed one. Then it did a 360 degree spin over us and landed right in front of us! After a quick safety briefing we were ready to go up. As we ran to the loading bay doors the heat hit us and it was hot on the lowest setting. We lifted off and everyone's faces lit up as we flew over the M4. The pilot swung it round and surprisingly the crewman stayed in the same position – quite cool actually!
On the fourth day we did field and military skills in which I was entered into the advanced group. We first went around the camp undetected to our “secret” location and were taught how to put camouflage on, cook and how to do room clearances. The best bit about that is 1 in 10 army detachments learn it so we knew we were in a specialised area. We finished off the day with a game of trying to get the bombs (glow sticks) into the main enemy building.
On the fifth day we did hill walking - no blisters this time surprisingly!
And on the sixth and final day we went home, first of all clearing the rooms we occupied and getting some breakfast. I tell you a Maccy D’s never looked so appealing.
Cdt Parish