Riat swat

Cadets Ask the Staff
1

Hi all,

New to the site so be nice :wink:

I am going to RIAT this year and confirmed to be on the SWAT team!
Can anyone tell me what this involves and how different it is to the RIAT team?

I am 18 in a few weeks so how relaxed will it be when its stand down on the camp?
Would we be allowed off site etc.

(sorry about the username btw haha)

2

You’re basically a rapid response van of slave labour. With some perks. B)

3

hmmm ok, explain the perks? :wink:

4

The van is a perk.

5

Free t-shirt and rigger gloves.

6

the van??

7

So you don’t have to walk everywhere.

8

You don’t have to queue up with the non swat cadets for the showers… [size=1]Because you’ll be up much much earlier than them[/size]

9

as above really.

have you done RIAT before?

i guess not if you dont know what SWAT get up to.

In short you will be turning airfield into airshow.

Cone and rope, stake and rope and Haras fencing will become your mainstay of the work. 3 cone road alone is 4miles in length and that is a long of cones in anyones book.
Snow fencing may also enter into your tasking along with all the other “humping and dumping” requirements.

How will it be different? well other than the above tasking you’ll be in greens throughout, up first back to camp last and you’ll work in teams based on vehicle rather than flights based on 12 Cadets. Tasking is based on the vehicle so a flat bed will hump and dump gear from A to B, while a Minibus will be the real workers who will pick up the dumped gear at B and put it up/sort it out.
You will also be working with your peers, ie 16, 17 and 18+ year olds, who arelikely to be SNCOs, forget having a team of Cadets to look after…makes for an interesting dynamic with no Cpls or Cdts but a handful of Sgts and FSs….act your age and you’ll do well, play up the rank and you could upset others of equal rank.

In terms of how relaxed….dont bet on it.
Previous generations (like mine) were permitted into Fairford for a swift pint or two, however too many took the p1ss and with the reduced numbers of 18+ Cadets SWAT became more and more 16 and 17+ rather than strictly 18+ and so deemed unsuitable to be allowed off site.
You’ll have to same “rights” as a traditional Annual Camp, downtime and allowed to find your own space but you wont be allowed in the Staff briefing (bar) tent and don’t even think about smuggling in or purchasing alcohol if you want to stick around!
You will get chance to relax when off duty but as Wednesday and Thursday before the show comes along you could well be working late as last minute tasks need doing.

10

Sounds like people trafficking to me

  • brought there on a false promise
  • provided accommodation / gruel
  • worked all hours in terrible conditions
  • no/little pay
  • forced control exerted upon them

Where’s my phone. I’m dialling crime stoppers.

11

lol your not far off…life as Staff isnt much better for those diong all three phases, but at least we can use the bar!

12

Thanks for all the info, so it will be pretty much a dry camp?? and alot of slave labour? I would rather work and not book annual leave haha

13

I have never liked the SWAT team idea I have always viewed it as slave labour I worked at RIAT from 2001 upto 2011 when I was in the RAF and even then I felt bad for the way Cadets got treated

14

for you almost certainly.

there is one night when “Site services” (the team SWAT work for/with for tasking) hold a BBQ which is away from the Cadet Camp and where you may be permitted to drink, but i have not been involved in SWAT for some years to say if this is true.

slave labour?
depends on your definition. i did two years as SWAT and preferred those years over time as a Cadet. they say things have become “less slave labour” since those days.
“timesheets” have been brought in to ensure adequate rest and break periods are included into taskings and although first out and last in you arent working all of those hours…

you dont get paid so yes a “slave” and yes you work so “labour” is involved. depends what you want. if working in a team of like-minded SNCOs working on an airfield in and around the military’s best aircraft to build the largest airshow outside of the USA is your kind of thing then go for it…
it is a little repetitive each day as you move another 500 cones and set them up but progress moves quickly as the site is built.