Brassards – creased or not creased?

Never ever ever creased.  They should be ironed perfectly flat – admittedly it is quite awkward as it has the elastic band on the back but persevere with it and you shall succeed. 

Trousers and tramlines

If you’re a new cadet, you may not be aware of all the bespoke terminology that is used with the cadets.  For your information, ‘tramlines’ are two distinct creases in your trousers and sometimes your shirt.  Usually they will run parallel to each other and resemble train tracks or indeed, tram lines.  You could receive trousers or shirts with tramlines already ironed into them or you could iron them in yourself inadvertently; they need to be gotten rid of!

The best way is to use plenty of water over the offending and proper creases and with the iron on max, repeatedly run the iron over the areas, being sure not to leave the iron in one place for too long!  Shirts are easier to fix as you can place the iron onto the material.  Trousers however go shiny if you iron straight onto them, so be sure to use something to act as a buffer between iron and trouser – a clean handkerchief or tea towel will do just fine.

The item of clothing will generally tell you where to put the creases – shirts have seams on the bottom of the sleeves, if you use that as a built in crease, lay the sleeve flat on your ironing board and wherever the sleeve folds at the top, that is where the crease goes. 

Trousers are obviously different.  They have seams down the outside and inside of the leg.  Use these to put the creases down the front and back.  Hold the trousers at the very bottom and align the seams.  Then lay them flat on the ironing board keeping the seams aligned and where the trouser leg folds is where the crease should be.  They should crease all the way to the belt loops on both the front and back and remember not to put the iron directly onto the trouser material as it will go shiny! 

Shirts and Jumpers

If you’re confused as to what to wear, or how to wear your uniform correctly, here’s a good place to look. 

Blues – as a cadet you will have two kinds of blue uniform; Wedgewood and Working blues.  The wedgewood shirt is the lighter blue one that you wear with a tie, and the working shirt is the darker blue one without the tie.  Wedgewood blue shirts for cadets are all long sleeved and must NOT be worn A. without a tie and B. with the sleeves rolled up.  The working blue shirts are again all long sleeved but can be rolled up.  In fact when wearing a working blue shirt without a jumper on the sleeves MUST be rolled up; undo the cuff button and fold the cuff over.  Then fold the sleeve three times, making sure to keep the height of the roll the same as the cuff, then sort out any ruffles and creases to make it look smart.  The brassard then goes on the RIGHT arm and if applicable, goes on the outside of the rolled sleeve.

Jumpers are worn when it is cold to stop cadets freezing when they are outside doing drill.  You should all be issued with a jumper, and the following needs to be done to it to make sure it looks smart and correct.

·        The epaulettes and patches at the top of the jumper need to be ironed flat.  The epaulettes also need to be Velcro-ed down correctly – there are two square pieces of Velcro that will line up.  Line them up!  There are few things that look more of a mess than an epaulette that is blatantly fastened wrongly.

·        The cuffs need to be folded up one turn – similar to how you would roll you shirt sleeves up.  They are not to be worn over the hands as makeshift gloves – it looks a mess.

Tip: As you will never wear you dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled down, my advice would be to keep them rolled up even under your jumper – because if you need to take your jumper off for whatever reason, you save time by not having to roll them up.

Greens – your CS95 shirt is to be ironed as your blue shirts, with one modification.  The collar is to be ironed flat against the body of the shirt, making a ‘V’ shape at the neck.  There is an easy way of doing this.

Who and When to Salute

Officers.  Of any and all military force, regular and reserve.  The reason for this is because they hold the Queen’s commission.  The custom of saluting commissioned officers relates wholly to the commission given by Her Majesty the Queen to that officer, not the person. Therefore, when a subordinate airman salutes an officer, he is indirectly acknowledging Her Majesty as Head of State. A salute returned by the officer is on behalf of the Queen.  Officers can be recognized by their headdress and their rank insignia.  In the RAF officers will usually wear peak caps which will have a cloth peak.  NCOs have shiny peaks, and can be seen from a distance.  If you can see a reflection, keep your hand down.  Also the badge on the peak is different – it will have an eagle (see picture to the left) as opposed to a wreath with RAF in the middle.  RAF officers have strips on their rank insignia (see here for more info) whereas NCOs have chevrons, crowns or propellers. 

If you forget to salute, or don’t see an officer, the odds are that officer or an NCO with that officer will make you aware of the fact.  In that case, apologize to both the NCO and the officer and give them a salute.  You may feel foolish for a bit but you may have learned something – so pay attention.

You must only salute when you are wearing your head dress (beret, or peak cap if in No 1 dress) – unless you are being taught drill.

There are several occasions when you will need to salute an officer –

1.       When they arrive on squadron premises, or enter a classroom to give a lecture / presentation.  Generally at this time, the highest ranking cadet, be it NCO or cadet, will call the room or cadets to attention.  This could be given in several ways – the command ‘Room, Shun!’ if indoors, ‘Squad/Flight Shun’ if on parade or, if the parade hasn’t been called yet and you’re bimbling about outside as usual, the command could simply be ‘Up!’.  In any of these cases you must stand or sit to attention – the cadet or NCO giving the command will salute, and the officer will return the salute.  If you’re on your own, simply stand to attention and salute.  Tip: bear in mind that if you are marching / walking past an officer on your own there is no need to halt to salute; look either left or right (depending on which side the officer is) and salute.  It may be worth your while to make the officer aware of your presence by saying ‘Sir / Ma’am’ as you salute so they can return the salute.  That way you can’t get shouted at for not saluting if an officer doesn’t see you salute.  Tip 2: If you are giving a lesson in a room and someone senior to yourself comes in, don’t stop your lesson by calling the room to attention.  They should respect the fact that you are teaching and either sit quietly at the back, or sneak through to carry on with their business.  If they need you they will ask for you and if necessary, get someone to take over your lesson while you are away.

2.       When entering / exiting an office with an officer inside.  In this instance, you would knock on the door and wait to be seen to.  After being acknowledged, take a step inside the office and salute the officer, if the office permits.  If it’s a small office, the salute can be given from outside the door, however wait to be seen before saluting.  Generally the officer will not have their hat on so they will not salute back, but they will acknowledge the fact that you have done so.  State your business, then when you are ready to leave said office, go to the same spot that you saluted at before, stand to attention and salute the officer.  About turn and leave the office.  Simple.  Tip: If you are going in and out of an office with the same officer in it, there is only need to salute once on the entrance, and once on the exit.  If you’re feeling brave, after you’ve saluted the first time you could ask the officer if it’s okay to remove your beret.  That way you’ll not have to salute anyone until you’re finished in the office – at which point remember to put it back on before leaving the office finally so you can salute.

To 'Shun!' or not to 'Shun!'

This can be a difficult subject among cadets, as different 'rules' seem to apply for different times and places, but it needs not to be. The one and only rule is: seniority commands attention. Explained means that, if you are talking to someone senior to you, be it cadet or staff member, you stand to attention. If someone senior to you enters the room you are in, you will stand to attention (and if applicable, call the room to attention). If a staff member walks past you in a corridor and you are stood still, you come to attention (again, if applicable call those around you to attention but with the 'Up!' command). Beginning to see a pattern? 

Now the confusion seems to lie in who is supposed to be giving these commands. Ideally, it would be the most senior rank in the room - this could be cadet or staff. However it could be anyone that sees the senior rank first. Don't be afraid to call it, as the senior cadet will probably thank you as they were not paying attention (no pun intended). 

Now to tackle some of the finer points - the first being the correct attention position. If you are stood, then it is exactly the same as in the drill manoeuvres. If you are sat down, the correct position is this: to be sitting, facing forwards, with oyur back straight and hands on your knees. The feet should be together and flat on the floor.  So no excuses now. Next is berets - as you are inside, you are not required to wear them so you shouldn't have it on. However you may be told to keep them on. If you are, keep them on until you are told to take them off. If you are the senior cadet or NCO in the room and you know an officer is coming into the room, you may wish to keep your beret on and salute after you have brought the room to attention. The choice is yours on that one.?