Long Eaton Cadet rocks over to Gibraltar
For the last week Cadet Warrant Officer Rebeca Parr along with 7 other cadets from South and East Midlands Wing have joined Cadets from around the Region overseas in Gibraltar.
The Camp started with an early bus ride to Heathrow Airport where the Cadets caught a plane to Gibraltar. Once there the Cadets were welcomed by the immense heat and the Air Cadets from the previous camp, who were waiting on the balcony of the airport terminal, it was then a short bus ride to the base itself. The Cadets were then assigned their rooms and went for dinner. It was then meet your flights, Cadet Warrant Officer Parr was assigned as the IC of A Flight, and off to bed ready for tomorrow’s adventures.
Day one started off with the Camp photo in best blues (No.2A) and then to a station brief from the Station Warrant Officer, RAF Police and the station fire section. It was then off to lunch before the real activities began.
A Flight were marched off to St Michaels Cave, which was somewhere up the rock, where they got to view the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites light up in a rainbow of colours. After viewing the cave the flight head outside to view Barbary macaques where the flight saw them nicking both a child’s ice-cream and a man’s pair of sunglasses, bad monkeys!
It was then a gradual walk down the rock to town where the cadets were allowed some free time to explore. After town and dinner the Camp decided they were going to check out the local beach, so slipped into their swimming costumes picked up their towels and walked down. All the Cadets immediately ran into the sea and most then ran back out after realising the sea is just as cold in Gibraltar as it is in England. After having a splash at the beach the cadets headed back and went to bed.
Day two and a visit, for A Flight, to the Gibraltar Regiment here the Cadets did leadership exercises and had a very interesting talk from the Gibraltar Bomb Disposal Unit, where we got to see the equipment they use.
After lunch A flight visited the WWII tunnels, where they were told many stories about the activities of the tunnels including some ghost stories right before he told them to turn all the lights out.
In the evening the Camp were joined by the local Air Cadet Squadron, who also happen to be part of Central and East Region, to play a game of rounders. A Flight obviously won as the better Flight, even if B Flight did their best to take out of team. Once they had finished some of the Cadets including Cadet Warrant Officer Parr decided to play a game of football, despite the heat it was an intense game with many goals from both teams.
On the third day A Flight started with some potted sports, an exercise ran by a Navy PT, which involved lots of little exercises such as jumping on a trampoline and shooting a ball into a netball net, hitting shuttlecocks into cones on people head and a bit of team skipping.
After a nice little warm up the cadets cleaned up and went off to the Dog section. Here they were told about the different roles the dogs have, what equipment they use and also how they do their training. They then got a demonstration of two of the dogs in action, which the Cadets were amazed by.
It was then off to King Bastion where Cadet Warrant Officer Parr along with another Cadet took on bowling, they both bowled flawlessly getting strikes and spares most of the time, unfortunately Cadet Warrant Officer Parr was beat at the last skittle with the other Cadet getting a strike and then a spare on the last go.
Dolphin Tours were next on the list, and all the Cadets were excited in anticipation for the boat trip. Once out their many Dolphins were sighted and photographed. It was then back to base swimming gear on and off to the beach.
Day four and off to Spain! It was waterpark day and naturally the coldest day, reaching the cool temperature 26 degrees. Despite this the Cadets enjoyed the numerous waterslides and wave pool, before returning back to Gibraltar.
Day five and back to Spain, only this time for the high ropes course. The Cadets all set off on different height courses, and with Cadet Warrant Officer Parr being scared of heights she decided to start out on the middle one. After returning again to Gibraltar Cadet Warrant Officer Parr went out for a meal in the evening, which she very much enjoyed.
For the sixth day there was another visit to more tunnels, the siege tunnels, these were very different to all the other tunne
ls small in size and full of little ‘rooms’. The tunnels were full with old fashion cannons with excellent views of Gibraltar and Spain.
In the afternoon we went for a dip in the outdoor swimming pool before having a BBQ back at base and presenting the well renowned paper plate awards.
It was then the last and final day and A Flight spent the morning visiting the fire section on the base, where they got to look around the vehicle and learn how it is used, before all getting a ride including using the front hosepipe aiming at the other vehicles.
It was then pack up, and fly back home. Cadet Warrant Officer Parr said “It was definitely one of the best camps I have been on in my cadet career and I would recommend anyone to do it. You get to do many different types of fun activities throughout the week, it’s like a holiday but with a military vibe.”