Hello Earthlings,
On 5th October 2016 it will be 4 years since I decided to join the Air Cadets and on 30th September 2016 I made the decision to leave, well actually that's a lie as it was my Mum (CI Mumma G) who made the decision as I am currently working two jobs and in my second year of A-Levels so in reality I don't have the time to be a good cadet nowadays but it was still a really difficult thing to do. I never really imagined it being difficult to leave cadets, as like many things you get older and gain different responsibilities and things have to change, so I had always accepted that really that's all it would ever be. In reality, it was so much more than that, as I started to put all my uniform into a bag I realised all that cadets has done for me and everything I have learnt from it and me being me, I cried. Which is a common theme as I appeared to do a lot of welling up and crying as Friday night progressed.
I'm now going to throw it back fully to 2012 when I was a terrified 13 year old absolutely dreading going into the gates of 331 Chesterfield Squadron, to tell you the truth I had never heard of the Air Training Corps until I had an assembly in school advertising cadets and I could picture myself there so I thought "what is there to lose?". I didn't remain with this incredibly chill attitude as I was a shy little 13 year old who wouldn't say boo to a goose so by Friday night I had to talk myself into it about a dozen times. I have to say, I am so glad that I went that night because I really couldn't imagine the last four years of my life not being a cadet.
As I continued going I started feeling more and more like I had found a place that I belonged to, which is a big deal for any 13 year old (let's be honest, we all thought the world hated us and that we were doomed for failure as we approached teenage years). At the end of the training programme I had to be involved in a "pass out parade" and when I first heard of that I have to admit I was slightly terrified as what it entailed but I made a mountain out of a mole hill and even though I was incredibly nervous and had been worried about it for the weeks leading up to it, it was an incredibly proud moment to march up and collect my certificate in front of the entire squadron and my family. After the initial "oh my gosh I actually did that and didn't mess up in front of all those people" thoughts had happened I was excited to find out which flight I was going to be in - either blue, green, red or yellow. I hadn't given much thought of which one I would like to be in, but looking back now I really couldn't imagine myself in any other flight than blue.
If you're familiar with the ATC then you'll know about the various competitions that are held each year and I remember going to the Trent Wing Athletics competition in 2013, I was completely dreading it (I was the child who used to trip up on purpose in P.E. to get out of doing it) but I was also looking forward to being able to represent my squadron. I didn't do particularly well in either of my events but overall we came 1st and when the result was read out everyone started whispering "we're going to do it, we're going to do it" and I was really confused as to what was happening but then one of the senior cadets shouted "Zigga Zagga, Zigga Zagga" and we all exploded with "CHESTERFIELD" and even though we had a long bus journey home and many people were falling asleep, it just felt reassuring to be involved with something that made me so happy.
One of the activities that baffled me the most was the fact that I could go flying, in an actual plane, as a teenager. I don't mean just sitting in a plane and letting the pilot take you places, I mean being in control of the plane and actually performing aerobatics yourself. I first went flying in August 2014 and I was terrified because I hated heights - an air cadet who hated heights, how ironic? After I carefully watched the safety video at Cranwell and got all suited and booted, I was ready and I loved every minute of it. To this day it still baffles me that I had flown a plane before I could learn how to drive a car.
Out of all the events that I experienced in my 4 years I am going to choose my last one as an event that I always felt immensely proud to be part of and that is the Remembrance Day parade, it was the one parade where I spent that little extra time making my shoes shinier and my uniform crisper because I know how important Remembrance Day is and I wanted to make sure that I turned out looking the very best I could. I always felt honoured to represent my squadron, but to collect for the Poppy Appeal and march in the Remembrance Day parade made me feel even more honoured. I loved hearing the public tell us memories of their time in the RAF and complimenting us on our uniform - I felt proud that I had managed to impress ex-servicemen with my uniform. I was one of the cadets who represented Chesterfield squadron in the 2014 Festival of Remembrance and I remember joining in with the elderly people as they all sang along to the old music and looking at how happy it made them to reminisce on the music of their era and after the festival my Nan told me how she loved singing along to them and told me several stories of when she used to sing them when she was younger and it made me happy to have been a part of something that made my Nan happy and proud of me as well.
Being a part of the Air Training Corps has enabled me to do so many things that I would not have been able to do in just normal day-to-day life but one of the most important things that I will take away with me is the friendships that I have made. That definitely made it harder to leave because even though I will still class them as my friends I won't be able to see them on parade nights and join in on the activities. I have made an incredible amount of memories whilst I have been in the Air Training Corps and met some of the best people that I could ever wish to meet. I feel so incredibly lucky to have something to look back on with the fondest of memories.
To finish this post, I want to say thank you to the Air Training Corps for gifting me with an incredible four years. But I also want to say thank you to 331 Chesterfield Squadron for always being somewhere that made me happy, for being a comfort blanket when I wanted to escape from the rest of the world, and for showing me that all kinds of people can unite to be a part of something so special.
I truly hope that for many more years people can go into cadets as shy people and then leave years later knowing that they've developed as a person, learnt so many new things and take so many memories with them.
Until next week,
Lia x
On 5th October 2016 it will be 4 years since I decided to join the Air Cadets and on 30th September 2016 I made the decision to leave, well actually that's a lie as it was my Mum (CI Mumma G) who made the decision as I am currently working two jobs and in my second year of A-Levels so in reality I don't have the time to be a good cadet nowadays but it was still a really difficult thing to do. I never really imagined it being difficult to leave cadets, as like many things you get older and gain different responsibilities and things have to change, so I had always accepted that really that's all it would ever be. In reality, it was so much more than that, as I started to put all my uniform into a bag I realised all that cadets has done for me and everything I have learnt from it and me being me, I cried. Which is a common theme as I appeared to do a lot of welling up and crying as Friday night progressed.
I'm now going to throw it back fully to 2012 when I was a terrified 13 year old absolutely dreading going into the gates of 331 Chesterfield Squadron, to tell you the truth I had never heard of the Air Training Corps until I had an assembly in school advertising cadets and I could picture myself there so I thought "what is there to lose?". I didn't remain with this incredibly chill attitude as I was a shy little 13 year old who wouldn't say boo to a goose so by Friday night I had to talk myself into it about a dozen times. I have to say, I am so glad that I went that night because I really couldn't imagine the last four years of my life not being a cadet.
As I continued going I started feeling more and more like I had found a place that I belonged to, which is a big deal for any 13 year old (let's be honest, we all thought the world hated us and that we were doomed for failure as we approached teenage years). At the end of the training programme I had to be involved in a "pass out parade" and when I first heard of that I have to admit I was slightly terrified as what it entailed but I made a mountain out of a mole hill and even though I was incredibly nervous and had been worried about it for the weeks leading up to it, it was an incredibly proud moment to march up and collect my certificate in front of the entire squadron and my family. After the initial "oh my gosh I actually did that and didn't mess up in front of all those people" thoughts had happened I was excited to find out which flight I was going to be in - either blue, green, red or yellow. I hadn't given much thought of which one I would like to be in, but looking back now I really couldn't imagine myself in any other flight than blue.
If you're familiar with the ATC then you'll know about the various competitions that are held each year and I remember going to the Trent Wing Athletics competition in 2013, I was completely dreading it (I was the child who used to trip up on purpose in P.E. to get out of doing it) but I was also looking forward to being able to represent my squadron. I didn't do particularly well in either of my events but overall we came 1st and when the result was read out everyone started whispering "we're going to do it, we're going to do it" and I was really confused as to what was happening but then one of the senior cadets shouted "Zigga Zagga, Zigga Zagga" and we all exploded with "CHESTERFIELD" and even though we had a long bus journey home and many people were falling asleep, it just felt reassuring to be involved with something that made me so happy.
One of the activities that baffled me the most was the fact that I could go flying, in an actual plane, as a teenager. I don't mean just sitting in a plane and letting the pilot take you places, I mean being in control of the plane and actually performing aerobatics yourself. I first went flying in August 2014 and I was terrified because I hated heights - an air cadet who hated heights, how ironic? After I carefully watched the safety video at Cranwell and got all suited and booted, I was ready and I loved every minute of it. To this day it still baffles me that I had flown a plane before I could learn how to drive a car.
Out of all the events that I experienced in my 4 years I am going to choose my last one as an event that I always felt immensely proud to be part of and that is the Remembrance Day parade, it was the one parade where I spent that little extra time making my shoes shinier and my uniform crisper because I know how important Remembrance Day is and I wanted to make sure that I turned out looking the very best I could. I always felt honoured to represent my squadron, but to collect for the Poppy Appeal and march in the Remembrance Day parade made me feel even more honoured. I loved hearing the public tell us memories of their time in the RAF and complimenting us on our uniform - I felt proud that I had managed to impress ex-servicemen with my uniform. I was one of the cadets who represented Chesterfield squadron in the 2014 Festival of Remembrance and I remember joining in with the elderly people as they all sang along to the old music and looking at how happy it made them to reminisce on the music of their era and after the festival my Nan told me how she loved singing along to them and told me several stories of when she used to sing them when she was younger and it made me happy to have been a part of something that made my Nan happy and proud of me as well.
Being a part of the Air Training Corps has enabled me to do so many things that I would not have been able to do in just normal day-to-day life but one of the most important things that I will take away with me is the friendships that I have made. That definitely made it harder to leave because even though I will still class them as my friends I won't be able to see them on parade nights and join in on the activities. I have made an incredible amount of memories whilst I have been in the Air Training Corps and met some of the best people that I could ever wish to meet. I feel so incredibly lucky to have something to look back on with the fondest of memories.
To finish this post, I want to say thank you to the Air Training Corps for gifting me with an incredible four years. But I also want to say thank you to 331 Chesterfield Squadron for always being somewhere that made me happy, for being a comfort blanket when I wanted to escape from the rest of the world, and for showing me that all kinds of people can unite to be a part of something so special.
I truly hope that for many more years people can go into cadets as shy people and then leave years later knowing that they've developed as a person, learnt so many new things and take so many memories with them.
Until next week,
Lia x
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