RNZAF Recruit Training

This means our RNZAF team now has 56 new members. Significantly, these 56 graduates have been the first to undergo a programme of training which has incorporated some new and progressive aspects. So what are these aspects?

Image right: Air, Woodbourne, GTW, CRTS, Graduation Parade, Reviewing Officer WGCDR I J MacPherson CO 3 SQN. 07-3 Recruit. March Past. WB-07-0257-12-tn.jpg.

RNZAF Values and Followership

The current course includes a comprehensive values package. Its aim is to take the RNZAF values directly from the mission statement poster and relate them to the recruit in such a way that ensures ‘buy-in’ and understanding. This is achieved by tasking groups to select their own codes of conduct, which they choose to live by. The reader may be surprised to learn that today’s recruits frequently choose RNZAF values as their own, before being introduced to them. Recruits produce several documents which remains ‘live’ throughout the course and these are revisited during sessions for adjustment. The documents are also useful for instructors as a revision aid when needed. Team building exercises are also used to accelerate the natural gelling of team members. Recruits are introduced to listening skills, team dynamics, personal boundaries, the identification of personal strengths and weaknesses in themselves and others and gender issues. It is our contention that today’s recruit course graduate will have a better understanding than ever before of air force values and the benefits of living by them. The notion of followership is also explored. The idea of being a useful and productive subordinate, together with an appreciation of a superior’s responsibilities and the commander’s intent are all discussed to give the recruit an appreciation of the ‘bigger picture’ that we all find ourselves a part of.

Weapon Training

Weapon training is conducted with a view to operations and not solely for the range. We need to have airmen who are comfortable when handling weapons in all situations and all weapon states, so ‘hands on’, safe handling and the marksmanship principles are our focus. We do aspire to return to firing on a long range and will return when a range practicable for our use becomes available.

Alcohol Policy

Image left: Drill display during the Graduation Parade. WB-07-0257-36-tn.jpg.

All recruits who arrive at CRTS will have previously experienced differing levels of exposure to alcohol. Our initial aim is to halt any harmful trends that the recruit may have developed in civilian life by banning alcohol for the first four weeks of the course. During this phase the recruits undergo a period of education regarding sensible drinking and NZDF policy, which is all aligned to the RNZAF values. Optional alcohol availability is then re-introduced in the form of ‘happy hours’ which RTF staff members also attend. The notion of sensible drinking is then practiced and recruits experience how they can use alcohol, if they so choose, to enhance their social experience, rather than destroy it. These happy hours continue throughout the course in the aim of establishing a new, healthier trend. The Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC) will shortly be providing visiting lecturers to give expert guidance to our recruits in this subject.

Mediocrity

The pass mark is not the aim. Each recruit will now be challenged to fulfil their own potential. That may well be meeting the requirements of an exam for some, but for others it will mean pushing beyond any targets set by the system and striving for 100% or ‘excellence’. So merely passing an exam will no longer be a point of motivation for us.

Leading by Example

Anyone thinking of applying for a post at RTF should be aware that the policy of leading by example is well and truly ensconced in the training team’s psyche. We will never ask students to do what we are not prepared to do ourselves and this is demonstrated in our actions as well as our appearance. Active role modelling is at the forefront of our minds at every level.

The Air Power Team

We focus on the Air Power Team: the notion that our primary purpose in service is to support, enable and execute air operations. Every Service person, regardless of trade, has a crucial role to play in achieving this.

Field Exercise

Our visit to Dip Flat is now dominated by practical and realistic scenarios which relate to today’s likely tasks. Practice in the four Cs is a prime example. The rapid establishment of a Forward Operating Base, operating in the field and the importance of self discipline in routine are all practised along with the traditional bangs and smoke.

Leadership

Leadership, even at this early stage, is encouraged in all. We have no NCO factory on another Base. The people that graduate from CRTS are tomorrows NCOs and W/Os and indeed a number of recruits find themselves on ‘Cpl’s Prom’ immediately after graduation. So we have no time to waste in this regard. Every opportunity is used to give recruits a taste of command. Encouraging leadership also helps some weaker recruits with self management – in other words, leading themselves.

Discipline

Discipline is a cornerstone of our training. There are two types of discipline, self and imposed. We need graduates who are prepared to display the former. Recruits are instructed in exactly what self discipline means to the Air Force and how it manifests itself. Recruits are encouraged to demonstrate self discipline at all times. Some of the more traditional readers will be relieved to learn that the ‘one way motivational chat’ is still in use when appropriate.

Transition

We see our role, not only as a recruit training and Air Force induction team but also as preparation for trade training. Study skills and attitude to training are important aspects of the course.

An Adult Course

A professional establishment will welcome its new personnel and seek to develop them for the betterment of the force. An unprofessional, dysfunctional and insecure force will seek to belittle new arrivals, feeling threatened by new and capable members of the team. At RTF we seek to impress upon, not impress. So recruits are given respect. They, like us, have taken the decision to ‘Step Up’. Many of their peers at home have not displayed the same courage. We seek to build on this, not destroy it.

Finally, unless recruits enter a workplace where the RNZAF values are upheld and demonstrated, much of the work done at RTF will, in time, be eroded.

This is where you come in…