In September, 2620 RAuxAF Regiment Squadron based at RAF Marham undertook their Annual Continuous Training (ACT) in Cyprus at RAF Akrotiri. ACT is the highlight of any RAF Reserve Squadron’s annual training commitment, and is the key opportunity for a squadron to train together in order to prepare individual personnel for operational deployments for the forthcoming year.

The role of 2620 is to augment 2 RAF Regiment Squadron - its sister squadron within the regulars - when they deploy on operations. ACT is 2620’s prime training tool to achieve this objective, and this year Cyprus was selected as the ideal location to practice and train for what, as always, was going to be a very busy year ahead for the squadron.

In addition to preparing their sqn personnel for the typical Regiment-types of duties they will be expected to discharge whilst in Afghanistan - airfield defence, patrolling, local populous relationship building - they were keen to add something a little different to their training program which is why they approached 7644 Sqn.

Joining them for the first week of their 14 day stint in Cyprus which covered familiarisation, acclimatisation, extensive field skills refreshers and a five-day exercise across Lima training area, 7644 Sqn were asked to supply expertise in three specific areas.

Firstly, it was anticipated that their personnel may, on deployed operations, encounter journalists looking for stories. Far from viewing this kind of situation as some kind of threat or danger and encouraging their personnel to mutter an embarrassed “no comment”, before quickly shuffling away, 2620 Sqn view these situations as a fantastic opportunity to tell their stories, talk about their backgrounds and represent themselves, the squadron and help represent the wider contribution that the RAF is making to the effort to operations in Afghanistan.

7644 Sqn helped by delivering several media training sessions where squadron personnel were encouraged to exchange their opinions on the journalists, the publications they work for, and their motivations which drive them to seek stories in operational military environments. Afterwards, 2620 personnel then received a brief on the theoretical tactics and techniques that they could use to help make any interaction with journalists productive an effective - for both sides. During the field training exercise, 7644 Sqn were then tasked to play the role of a journalist; probing 2620 personnel about their role, asking questions - many of them inappropriate - and providing plenty of opportunity to implement the media training techniques (handling questions, but also communicating their sqn’s key media messages) that they’d just learned in the classroom.

Secondly, 2620 Sqn had scheduled in a visit from from SaBRE, the body responsible for ensuring effective liaison between the Armed Forces and reservists’ civilian employers. They had brought along a photographer with a brief from the Bury Free Press, a key media channel for 2620’s regional recruiting effort. It was 7644’s responsibility to liaise with the photographer, ensure he got all the shots he needed to get, and generally remove any obstacles in his way.

Finally, 7644 spent a significant amount of time meeting and talking to many of 2620’s personnel - who come from a wide range of civilian occupations across East Anglia, writing several home-town stories which are now available for OC 2620 to use when looking to ramp up the sqn’s publicity and recruitment drive in the future.

Accompanying 2620 Sqn on their exercise has been a fine example of the services that 7644 Sqn can provide; media training, media escorting and the provision of real-time press and publicity. It wasn’t all one way, though, 7644 benefitted from some useful Regiment training including night-time navigation, extensive weapon handling, and learning how to operate in some extreme temperatures!