Hiya I’m due to go to Cramwell soon, just put my dates in. I’ve got about 2/3 months to prepare. Can anyone that has been give me a few hints and tips on what and how to prepare and various other tips that may help me along the way. I would love to be invited back on a DI course so I understand drill has to be tip top. I have been spending some time with my WWO. Still struggling with the changes from old cadet drill to current but it will come with time.
Thanks
Hi Katie, I’m afraid I can’t give you any advice but I am in the same boat as you, I’m off to Cranwell early next year. Decided to give myself time due to an injury making it impossible for me to do drill at the moment.
I have found this on SharePoint though, it’s from NE Scotland Wing:
And also have a look at the ATF section of SharePoint (if you haven’t already). It gives you the timetable for the course. Although all the documents will be sent to you before the course starts.
From what I have been told so far, polish & press uniform to within an inch of it’s life and make sure you’re confident at drill. But would be good to hear from anybody who has attended recently.
Hi, I’m just back from SSIC a few weeks ago.
As long as you can learn the new drill timings (and make sure you know the left,right pause!) and the bent knee position then you’ll be good with the drill. Your uniform needs to be good aswell, no creases in the sleeves of your shirts down at the cuffs, no old cadet uniform and make sure you bring plenty of shirts.
The only things that are fairly intense are the drill theory (flight + Sqn drill) and the Method of Instruction. but they trialed a new method of teaching the drill with us, we found it much more useful than the 160 ppt slides :dry:
There’s a paragraph in the JIs that state that you need to know a subject before you go, but don’t dwell on this too much as they’re not looking for content - it’s how you present it - there’s quite a lot of subjects that you can pick from - but just as it states on the JIs there’s no way that you can bring your own material. They have set folders with pictures that you pick your subjects from. There’s a wide variety - First Aid, Principles of Flight, Propulsion, Photography, Pensions (?!), Sports, IT, Nijmegen etc etc… you’ll find something that you know for sure.
As for everything else - don’t fret - you’ll be taught it all. (HSEQ, Child Protection, Drugs Policy etc etc)
Go down with a good attitude, make friends with those you’re there with - it’s a tough week without them. Go to the bar for at least 1 drink to wind down after your busy day - but expect to be up around 0615 and be up until 2300 doing uniform or at the bar.
All in all, the staff there are excellent, and the facilities are good, any problems or queries then let the staff know - they’re more than happy to help you out.
So are they doing the little drill test in a square and if so, how?
I think a mixture of shouting out words and moving around in a military like manner.
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I was hoping for a [strike]little[/strike] lot more detail…
I would focus on your drill. FS Moss and WO Mannion are very hot on the quality of drill and don’t accept anything else apart from high quality correct drill. Going with poor standards on both uniform and drill will put you on the back foot. Also prepare the content for your lesson so you don’t have to spend all your free time focusing on that during the week. There Is a lot to take in that week so anything you can get prepared before hand will set you in good stead for a good result. Use it as a week to share knowledge and network. You will learn as much from your colleagues as you would from the formal lessons. Also enjoy it!
We spent roughly 30mins (as I said we were a smaller than usual group) on the 5x5.
One student did the commands and called out the timings.
One student called out the full command
The 3rd student stood next to the commander as a check that they did each line and assisted if they got lost on the sheet.
It was quite difficult as there are 3 squares within 17 paces and up to 6 students all calling out the timings at the same time.
We were only assessed on this at the time it was being done - it wasn’t filmed - and it was only FS Moss wandering around the room observing, no (written) notes were taken.
We were filmed on the sqn dril and the magic circle.