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2012 Final Parade with award receipents
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2012 Annual Report and Year Book
Annual Squadron Report
2012
4 (Ardmore) Squadron
Air Training Corps
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
This Yearbook is the first of its kind. We will now produce one every year, and
will contain more about the years events and activities.
Contents Unit Commanders Report – FLTLT M. Greig ........................................................................................... 3
Ohakea air show 2012 – CPL A. Rollo...................................................................................................... 4
Junior Leaders Course – CPL C. Reid ....................................................................................................... 5
Senior leaders Course – SGT C. Hickman ................................................................................................ 5
Great barrier island trip – Under Officer A. Holmes ............................................................................... 6
A8 2012 – Under Officer Lelo .................................................................................................................. 7
Spirit of Adventure – 10 Day Youth Development Voyage ..................................................................... 8
Autograph Page....................................................................................................................................... 9
Awards - 2012 ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... 11
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
Unit Commanders Report – FLTLT M. Greig
Another year has gone, and we find ourselves again saying ‘where did the year go?’
2012 has been another packed year, and my team of officers have been busy running a variety of
activities throughout the year. Prior to beginning the year, we held a planning meeting at the
Manurewa RSA and unanimously agreed on an ambitious goal to run a selection of activities every
month. This meant for most of the year having a shoot, aviation activity, and Bushcraft once a
month. Unfortunately at times due to weather (and erupting volcanoes!) we had to cancel or
postpone some activities.
This year saw 3 particularly great events, taking cadets to RNZAF Base Ohakea to see the air show
commemorating 75th
Anniversary of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Many thanks to Tony Newth
and his company for getting us access to a very affordable transport solution. In July the Squadron
travelled to Great Barrier Island on a 1 night tramp to its highest peak, Mt Hobson. More recently,
our annual flying camp held over Labour Weekend where 32 cadets took to the air, flying both a
fixed wing 4 seat Cessna, and a helicopter, in addition to a variety of ground activities.
Activities such as these rely heavily on support from businesses and organisations from throughout
the community. I can’t thank you all enough for your continued support.
The Squadron Support Committee continues to do a fantastic job, applying for grants, purchasing
items, cooking what must be now literally thousands of steak rolls and sausages in the spirit of
making all of the activities accessible and affordable to all cadets. It is because of the Committee,
that we are able to offer 2 exciting prizes today at Prize Giving, providing 2 cadets the opportunity to
sail on the Spirit of Adventure on their 10 Day Youth Development Voyage.
To Steve and your tireless team, thank you. You really do a truly great job.
To my team of officers, thank you for the hard work you have put in through the year. You continue
to provide great opportunities for our cadets.
2013 activity planning is well underway, and includes a variety of activities, including more flying.
The squadron will also travel through the South Island in the first half of the year. CPL D. Loader has
been selected as one of 3 Cadets to represent the NZCF on the International Air Cadet Exchange in
mid-2013, taking her to Washington DC, and surrounding states.
Further on, plans are well underway for commemoration 150 years of Cadet Forces in New Zealand
in 2014.
I wish you all the best for the coming festive season and look forward to your continued support in
2013. Merry Christmas.
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
Ohakea air show 2012 – CPL A. Rollo
On Saturday 31 March the RNZAF Base Ohakea held an air show to celebrate 75 years of
RNZAF service. To be a part of this celebration, on Friday 30 March Several Cadets, Officers
and myself took an amazing bus ride from the unit in Ardmore to the Waiouru Army Base,
pausing on the way for rest stops, food and to pose in front of any aircraft we came across,
while microphone happy cadets and NCO’s provided
entertainment with interesting karaoke attempts and
stories. We arrived at the Waiouru army base Friday
evening where we had dinner and stayed for the
night.
Saturday Morning we were breakfasted and back on
the bus in what we thought would be plenty of time
to arrive at the RNZAF Base Ohakea, however we
forgot to account for all the other 60000-70000
people who would also be attending and ended out
sitting in traffic for about two hours after getting within 15 minutes of the airbase. However,
when we finally arrived we were treated to a spectacular air show, which involved a range
of civilian and vintage aircraft and the RNZAF’s full
complement of aircraft was on show to the public
for the first time since 2009. In particular I
enjoyed the red checkers flying display, however
there were so many displays both in the air and
on the ground, with plenty of aircraft open for the
public to walk through. We also got to meet the
US Marines, a stray storm trooper and stand in
line for 40 minutes for sushi!
That afternoon
at the end of the air show, after managing to find
everyone and get them back on the bus, we joined the
traffic leaving the Ohakea airbase and headed back to
Waiouru for another night, before climbing back on the
bus the next morning to drive back to the unit in Ardmore.
The trip itself was Amazing it was a pretty neat road trip
(questionable singing aside) and it was awesome to be
able to go to the air show and ogle at all the aircraft.
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
Junior Leaders Course – CPL C. Reid
The Northern Area Junior Leaders Course – A.K.A: “juniors”. I was recently been promoted
from LAC in July this year. I have been attending the New Zealand Cadet Forces for 3 years
next February. I was nominated to attend the Northern Area Junior Leaders training course
over a week, at Philomel Naval base with about 50-60 other cadets from other units and
corps from NZCF Northern Area of the north island (as far North as Kaitaia and South to
Hamilton). I got to meet heaps of new friends and gathered a lot of great potentially life
changing skills.
We covered four aspects of being a junior leader, we went over Drill instruction where we
taught a squad of people from our syndicates a specific drill movement, we covered squad
handling where we took the role of a flight commander and took the flight for drill, we each
took turns at different leadership tasks where we took our syndicates for a leader ship
exercise to take control of our groups to complete a "mission" and give a T.O.W.N.E.Y.
briefing to the members of our group to get the "mission" done in a safe secure manner, we
also performed three oral presentations, a three minute speech on ourselves and where we
are from, a five minute presentation on a hobby or interest of ours and a ten minute on
anything we decided on before the camp. The
entire course was an amazing experience for me
and I can't wait for seniors!
Senior leaders Course – SGT C.
Hickman
Senior Leaders was held at HMNZS Philomel. It is
one of the best things you will do in your cadet force life, one of the main reasons for this is
because of the friends you made on these types of course you will keep them life. A big
reason for this is because you sleep, eat and learn with most of the cadets on the course, by
the end of the course you have found yourself a second family.
For the first three days of the course you are into the classroom to learn how be a senior
NCO, you learn how to teach class, the roles of a senior NCO and where we now fit in our
units. We then moved on to drill; we learnt how to be flight commanders on parade. We
then moved on to leadership where we were given a task and a team to carry the task out
with, this was my favorite bit because we got to get outside and do fun stuff. On the last
day of the course we showed of our drill and got to see our course reports and see if all how
hard work had paid off.
Attendance on this course is a pre-requisite for my promotion to the rank of SGT.
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
Great barrier island trip – Under Officer A. Holmes
Great Barrier Island Tramping Trip – 30 JUN – 01 JUL
Early on the Saturday a group of around 17 cadets and officers
met up at the unit as dawn was breaking. After an initial gear
check we then hopped onto the back of a truck for the trip to the
other end of the airfield during which many including myself got
numb hands. With FLTLT Greig as our pilot we were soon
heading towards the sunrise to great barrier island. While over
great barrier island we flew once round Mt Hobson, the highest
peak on the island and our objective for Sunday, before landing
at Claris. After landing at Claris we received a ride to the start of
a track that led to Kaiaraara hut, our accommodation for the
night. The scenery along the trail was fantastic as we tramped through native bush, over numerous small
stream, over small hills (in comparison to Mt Hobson) and along ridgelines. We had lunch in the shadow of a
cliff next to a small stream where we were able to rest before the last stretch to Kaiaraara hut. We arrived at
Kaiaraara hut late afternoon where we had free time before dinner to look around the hut. Many of us started
by crossing the swing bridge and throwing rocks of various sizes into the river. While others crossed the stream
further down where they hung out in the
sun on the banks of the river. As it became
dark we had to cook our dinner of curry and
rice over a gas cooker by torchlight which
was obviously a new experience for a few
cadets. With a fireplace going in the
background it made the meal of barely
cooked rice an interesting experience. After
dinner we again had more free time which
resulted in multiple games of spotlight
being played before bed.
The next morning after a breakfast of “all
day breakfast” we set off for the summit of Mt Hobson. Along the way we passed some old historic kauri
dams. It wasn’t long after that that we reached the first of the many thousands of stairs that led to the top of
MT Hobson. The climb was slow as the stairs began to wear many of the group out resulting in many breaks
being called in our attempt for the summit. The view from the top of Mt Hobson was well worth the effort as
we were presented with a 360 degree panorama view giving us a marvellous view while we had our lunch as
we were able to see all of great barrier and able to see little barrier as well. We could also see the airfield at
Claris and the river which ran past Kaiaraara hut. The decent also presented a challenge as the group was
exhausted from the epic climb to the top and the changing gradient of the decent required more rest stops as
by now the group was running on empty with many having given their all just to reach the top. The drive back
to Claris was a silent one as we were finally able to sit down and rest weary limbs. The flight back was similar
with communication hard to achieve over the engines so most sat in quiet contemplation of what we had
achieved that weekend and what we were going to do for the rest of the school holidays.
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
A8 2012 – Under Officer Lelo
A8 is one of the most action packed camps that
the Squadron holds.
This year was bigger and greater than ever
before with cadets never stopping. From hands
on flying lessons and a passenger flight in
Cessna 172’s, with a hint of G-force thrown in.
To never before helicopter intro flights,
experiencing a new world of hovering and flying
backwards - just total freedom in the sky. Both
flights being talked about though out the whole weekend. We did have one day where the weather
was fairly bleak so we took a visit to the newly opened addition to MOTAT. There, we were given a
guided tour around learning about the start of aviation in New Zealand, through to all the interesting
and wacky aircraft produced. Also there was a small tank that we got to ride in around a wet course,
with mud flung in our mouths from all the laughing we were doing. We also went up the road to the
Warbirds hanger, which was stuffed full with fighters, bombers and everything in between. We even
got taught how to make models of the aircraft we saw. When we weren’t busy with all that, we were
playing sports, on the flight simulators or watching video footage from the flights. At the end of the
3 days the cadets were aviation experts and now had a taste of flying both fixed wing and rotary
wing aircraft.
The camp was highly successful
much to the efforts of Ardmore
Flying School, Ardmore Helicopters,
MOTAT, Ardmore Airport, and the
RNZAF. Also a huge thanks to the
support committee for securing
funding for the large budget
involved, meaning all cadets could
attend the camp. Thanks of course
to the officer staff for planning and
executing one of the best camps of
the year. I can’t wait for next year!
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
Spirit of Adventure – 10 Day Youth Development Voyage
Each year between 1000 and 1200 young people aged 15-18, from a wide range of ethnic and social
backgrounds throughout the country, participate in the Youth Development programme. In the past
35 years, more than sixty-thousand young people have taken part.
The 10-Day Youth Development Voyage takes on-board 40 trainees (15-18 years), with an equal mix
of females and males, all total strangers. The value of teamwork becomes very apparent, as does
resilience, teambuilding skills, co-operation, communication, confidence, tolerance, and leadership.
During their voyage trainees are presented with a number of diverse opportunities and activities
that ensure they learn a
great deal about themselves
and develop as individuals.
Activities vary according to
location, the group mix and
crucially, the weather.
Usually there will be both
land and water-based
activities for teams and
individuals. The voyage
qualifies for Young New
Zealanders Challenge (Duke
of Edinburgh Award) Gold Residential Project.
Trainees are split into four watches of ten for the duration of the voyage. All trainees have the
challenge of being leader of their watch for the day. Friendship, fun and laughter run high, as
trainees complete the many features of the programme - tramping trips ashore, learning to sail the
luggers, beach cleaning (supporting environmental education and sustainability), hoisting and setting
the very large and heavy sails, climbing the ratlines to loosen or stow sails 30 metres above the deck,
not forgetting the famous dawn swim. The horseshoe-shaped Great Cabin at the stern hosts evening
activities such as public speaking, presentations, debates, movies and games.
Skills learnt during the voyage prepare trainees for Trainee Day — the final day when they elect their
own Captain and crew and are responsible for setting the sails and navigating the ship safely to her
final anchorage within a given time frame. For all on board, this is the absolute highlight of the
voyage.
Each voyage is under the command of a permanent crew with appropriate nautical qualifications
and training in experiential learning and youth development, sailing as Master, Mates, Cook and
Engineer. Volunteer crew sail as Watch Assistants, while former trainees who belong to the
Voyagers Club are able to return as Leading Hands. Volunteers and Leading Hands’ berths are
provided ‘all found’, and any necessary travel covered, in return for the skills and energy they bring
to a voyage. SOURCE: Spirit of Adventure website
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
Autograph Page
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
Awards - 2012
Royal New Zealand Air Force Association
(South Auckland) SGT Corey Hickman
Commendation Certificate
No. 4 Squadron Charitable Trust LAC B. Coubrough
CDT K. Johnston Commendation Certificates
The D. Thomas Cup CDT B. Rota
Most Outstanding in Sport
The Support Committee Trophy LAC Sean Cardiff
Bushcraft Skills
The St Johns Trophy Not Assessed in 2012
Best in First Aid
Royal New Zealand Air Force Association Trophy U/O Tim Lelo
Shooting
The Spicer Trophy CPL Deanne Loader
Most Improved Shot
The Clifford Cup CDT L. Hewitt
Best Basic Cadet (1st Year)
The DG Jones Cup LAC C. Te Haara
Best Proficiency Cadet (2nd Year)
The F/S EC West Cup SGT H. Cronin
Best Advanced Cadet (3rd Year)
The Commanding Officers Trophy U/O Alistair Holmes
Attendance
The Paul Clark Memorial Trophy CDT Ryan Cardiff
Dedication
The Hon. George Hawkins Trophy CDT L Harford
Endeavour
The Mills Cup CDT Laura Hewitt
Most Outstanding Cadet Overall
The Warrant Officers Trophy LAC M Hastings
Most Dedicated NCO
The Chivalry Trophy (Chevalier Les Jones) CPL C Reid
High Standard of Chivalry
The Foresters Arms Shield F/S P. Naidoo
Best NCO Overall
SQNLDR J. V. Buckton Trophy Mrs Rachel Hickman
Service from an Individual/Organisation
Spirit of Adventure Award 2012
Demonstrates the best teamwork, service and discipline LAC Sean Cardiff
SGT Hannah Cronin
2012 Annual Report and Year Book
Acknowledgements
4 (Ardmore) Squadron Air Training Corps acknowledges the support of the following businesses and
organisations:
Ardmore Airport Limited www.ardmoreairport.co.nz
Ardmore Flying School www.ardmore.co.nz
Ardmore Helicopters www.chopper.co.nz
Royal New Zealand Air Force Association
Great Barrier Airlines www.greatbarrierairlines.co.nz
The Whitehouse Tavern Trust www.whitehousetaverntrust.co.nz
Manurewa RSA www.manurewarsa.co.nz
Papakura RSA www.papakurarsa.co.nz
Warbirds www.nzwarbirds.org.nz
4 Squadron Charitable Trust www.airtrainingcorps.org.nz
4 Squadron Parent Support Committee www.airtrainingcorps.org.nz
First Sovereign Trust www.firstsovereign.co.nz