74 My time in the Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC) first began in Year 9 when, like all other Brentwood students, I was encouraged to choose between the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) or the Voluntary Service Activity (VSA). In choosing CCF, I saw the opportunity to pursue my interest in military organisation and drill and, of course, was drawn to the possibility of flying an actual plane, although the CCF gave me so much more than that. In the first year, we were known as ‘Basic’ and it’s here that we were taught all of the basics that we needed to know to start out in the CCF. Skills such as maintaining good uniform, learning drill timings and building teamwork foundations with our fellow cadets was a core part of that primary year. Beyond this year, our cohort progressed to ‘A Flight’ where we were taught various topics such as Airmanship, Navigation and Aircraft Recognition. This knowledge was then used to introduce us to the concept of teaching others what we had learnt in a clear and approachable way – a key concept of every cadet’s CCF experience. After A Flight, we transitioned to ‘Cadre’, which was possibly my favourite of all three phases. During Cadre we were taught about leadership and, as equally important, followership, through concepts such as the Functional Approach to Leadership Analysis (FALA). This was done by using a briefing sequence, evaluating the Situation, Mission, Execution, Any Questions and Checking Understanding (SMEAC) and carefully considering how to Plan, Initiate, Control, Support, Inform and Evaluate (PICSIE) the task while keeping in mind my time in theRAF
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