BrizeCast is a behind the wire view of Royal Air Force Brize Norton, its people, technology and operations.
In this episode, we're proud to celebrate the dedication, determination and adventures of cadets past and present. Flight Lieutenant Suzy Emery, Officer Commanding 2267 (Brize Norton) Squadron Air Training Corps, gives us an insight into Cadets.
The future looks bright. ☀️✈️
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BRIZECAST EPISODE 34: TRANSCRIPT
Please note that this transcript is automatically generated, and may have some errors. The original audio is the authoritative wording.
Flight Lieutenant Suzy Emery (speaking throughout): Hi, I am Flight Lieutenant Suzy Emery and Officer Commanding 2267 Squadron, one of the biggest, um, in our Wing. The OC of the Squadron is the person that oversees everything, the person who makes sure it keeps running, supports staff, supports cadets, and just I suppose the face of the Squadron, but actually, it's the kids that are the people that shine there.
So, the Cadet Forces are a youth organisation that gives young people the opportunity to experience things that they simply wouldn't get in everyday life. It gives them those amazing opportunities that you see on TV that you don't think is possible. So, our cadets could experience things like flying, gliding, shooting, field craft, but it's so much more than that, they get to do adventure training, sports, STEM, music, and leadership, as well as some of these amazing camps that they go off and do across the country. But the biggest opportunity, the cadets may go from sitting in a classroom learning something to them being out on the ground and putting it into action from either camping in the mountains, visiting RAF stations, or it's, some of them are even lucky enough to go and fly in a Chinook around the countryside. But the cadets also get to develop their confidence, their resilience, teamwork, and they make friendships that last for a lifetime. Some of my closest friends, architects, from when I was cadet a long, long time ago. So, for me, National Cadet Week is an important opportunity to stop and celebrate what the Cadet forces actually do achieve, both for young people and for the adults who support and volunteer for them.
We spend all of our time planning on the next activity, or the next camp, or the next opportunity for the cadets, and we don't actually ever stop and just recognise who we really are. The cadets are outstanding; they challenge themselves daily. They develop confidence, take on leadership roles, and they do things that they never believe they're capable of doing, but none of them, none of this happens about our adult volunteers, they're mostly unsung heroes for what we do. They give up their evenings, their weekends, they have to give up their leave, and they genuinely want to make a massive difference to the youth of today, but they also bring up that, those skills on the front to a Squadron night or a camp.
So, for me, National Cadet Week is for saying thank you and recognising both the cadets and the staff that volunteer; it celebrates what we achieve, but also what as a whole, the collaboration between adults and cadets brings together. I think what makes the cadet experience unique is the opportunity to challenge and belong to something.
At 2267, it is one huge family, we stick together and we look after each other, through everything. The young people can do things that they could never do normally, they can, as I've mentioned before, they can go flying in a glider, they can go on adventure training expeditions up to the lake, (Windermere) and go kayaking and climbing, and they can all come.
When we're looking on an RAF station, so we get to go around the aircraft and visit the squadrons and see a working day but it's more about being part of a team for me, and then being challenged and thinking outside the box, being allowed to make mistakes, but then learn from those mistakes and they become more and more confident.
We get cadets through the door that wouldn't talk to anyone, but guarantee within six months of being with us, they're chatting and talking to everyone, um, but what makes the cadet experience different is that opportunity to discover what they're capable of doing.
This is something that's really important to me, um, I'm more for giving those cadets, that chance to think outside the box and step out of that comfort zone. I truly believe that that's the only time they come into their elements is when they, they stretch themselves and challenge themselves, and it might be something as simple as standing up in front of the Squadron and giving a presentation or something like leading a team or on an exercise.
Things do go wrong, but actually they learn from that and you see them wobble a little bit, but actually they learn from that and they, they take that as a learning opportunity, as the cadets do lack confidence initially. We do get some that are very confident at the beginning, um, but watching that transformation into this all-round person who goes off at 18, 19, 20 to the big wide world, it's so rewarding.
The cadets, the activities get the cadet's practical way of developing those qualities rather than being simply told to do them. So, activities such as aviation, it stretches them. It's something they're probably not confident at doing. The thought of going in an aircraft terrifies some of these cadets.
But actually, I think, one of my favourite things I do is going gliding up at Little Rissington with them, and seeing that really scared cadet get into that glider, I thinking I'm gonna be catapulted into the air in like seconds. And then when they come in and that massive smile, it's, it actually gives me goosebumps thinking of it. It's incredible watching those kids do that sort of thing. Lucky they went up to Windermere, we had five cadets and they were mountain biking down hills and [00:05:00] like it's putting 'em out of those comfort zones and it, it develops them into meeting new people. 'cause otherwise you're within that Squadron circle, but actually they go off and meet new people, make friendships for life. They, they build up that confidence. They take part in teamwork. It's again, taking the classroom to the outside world and learning from that. It also teaches them things like communication, responsibility, um, both, and also it teach them how to build resilience both physically and mentally. Um, but the important thing is that they are constantly challenged and they absolutely thrive on it. They, they enjoy it so much. So, at 2267, we take pride in helping our local community. One of the biggest things we do is support, um, RAFA, which is a massive charity, um, that supports our cadet wellbeing um, but also the local, the local service community, so they have taken part in the last three years doing RAFA Rides where the cadets stand at the end with their pompoms cheering the old cyclists in and out. They, they basically are the cogs behind making sure it ticks over with the team. It's a long, long day, but the cadets every year cannot wait to go out and help them there.
They've also helped with our RAFA Wings Appeal as well; we've just been doing that over the September, where they've raised a huge amount. I think RAFA-wise alone was something like 30,000 pounds, and the cadets takes great pride in that they help with that. But we also support the RAF community at Brize as well by supporting events on Station, and the cadets love being part of the, the Annual Formal Reception and meeting the VIPs. You know, they come away with those conversations that they value for life, that they've spoken to a pilot or they've spoken to a local dignitary and the kids, they, they come away doing things that again, other kids would never do.
So, RAF Brize Norton is a huge part of 2267, and we are 2267 (Brize Norton) Squadron, and I think the support that the Station gives to the units across our region is incredible, not only is it the, the uniform, but actually the ACLO team themselves support us in an activities on Station. The Station have recently heavily supported the Squadron, which I've got no words for the support that we got from Brize Norton.
But the relationships are bigger than that, we have a number of service instructors at the Squadron, whose incredible wealth and knowledge to the cadets, they spend so much time talking about their careers, but, and what they've done outside, how they've got where they've wanna be. But they turn up, twice a week, and there's no complaints, and they are a huge part of what is a unique Squadron being on an RAF Station, they, and they're still so young themselves, they are probably closer to the cadets age than most of my staff. That ability to, to use the Station knowledge brings such a bigger opportunity to the cadets.
I think to ensure cadets remains relevant is weeks like today, this week, National Cadet Week, celebrates what we are so amazing at doing. We, we need to shout it from the rooftops, how amazing the cadets organisations, albeit Army, Sea, Air Cadets, any of the many cadet unit organisations that we have, and we need to ensure that anyone can join us, anyone, it doesn't matter what your background is it doesn't matter what your learning skills are, it's about being one big family, and given all those children those incredible opportunities that they would never normally get, I'd like to tell everyone, let's celebrate the cadets, not just this week. Let's celebrate it constantly. The opportunities that we give to our young people and also our, our volunteers is inspirational.
During my time as a cadet, it's made me the person that I am today. That needs to be celebrated constantly, but and also just keep doing what we do. We deliver such an amazing experience to all those cadets. Let's just keep doing what we're doing. And if you're not part of the organisation, go and join. I would encourage them to reach out to their friends 'cause I can guarantee one of their friends is already part of the organisation. And if they're not, Google us, we're everywhere. And then just go and do it. Just go and join the Squadron. You'll be terrified that first night. I can guarantee it. However, within a couple of hours of meeting your next group of friends, you'll never look back.
It's the best organisation there ever!
