606 Squadron member starts in a new role.

Warrant Officer Andrew Bailey joined the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1973 and retired after a little under 23 years in 1996. During this period he served in Germany, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Kenya, Canada, Norway the UK. Following a short period out of uniform he enlisted in the RAuxAF in 1997, joining the newly formed Helicopter Support Sqn (now 606 sqn) at RAF Benson as a Sgt Supplier.
Following a recruit course and trade training he was promoted to Flight Sergeant and was appointed Sqn WO in 1999. During his time as Sqn WO he also held the appointment as Station WO RAF Benson for 4 months in 2001. On return to the Sqn he was immediately mobilised for 4 months as the first Deployed Operating Base WO at Seeb in Oman for OP VERITAS.
Returning to 606 Sqn he was once again mobilised to Joint Helicopter Force (IRAQ) as Force WO and J4 WO for Op Telic 2. Following a short period back with 606 Sqn, during which time he trained as a Mobile Air Operations Team Leader (MAOT), he deployed to Belize with 230 Sqn in support of an Infantry Battle Group on pre deployment training. Shortly after his return from this deployment he was mobilised once again to serve as the MAOT on OP Herrick 6 and 7 in Helmand for 8 months.
On returning to UK he left 606 Sqn in 2008 and took up a post as MAOT on FTRS terms of service. During his 3 year tour as a full time MAOT he has deployed to Morocco, Iraq, The Falklands, USA, Afghanistan, Jordan and Germany as well as conducting numerous exercises with Infantry Battle Groups on their pre-deployment training.
WO Bailey was awarded the Queens Volunteer Reserve Medal in the 2009 New Year’s Honours List. On completion of his FTRS MAOT contract WO Bailey assumed the appointment of Command WO (Res) on 1st June 2011.



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Down Amongst The Brambles, Ewelme Brook

On Saturday 12 March 2011 personnel from 606 (Chiltern) Squadron, RAuxAF based at RAF Benson cleared overhanging vegetation from the stretch of the brook opposite the cedars. For some time now that section of the brook has been overgrown and views of this village feature have been severely restricted.




Tom Stevenson, Parish Councilor asked Sergeant Winstanley from 606 (Chiltern) Squadron Operations Flight, who supports local community projects, if he could help. This resulted in almost the entire Operations Flight from the Squadron donning wellies to help with the project. The work was completed with vigour and gusto by the Operations Flight with help from Dave Rushton of the Parish Council and other villagers. It opens up this part of the brook, improves the view and, hopefully will enable much easier maintenance as well as reducing the possibility of flooding.




606 (Chiltern) Squadron based at RAF Benson main role is to provide a pool of trained personnel to augment and reinforce the RAF Support Helicopter Force, which is part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command, however, they do undertake voluntary work when possible, especially to benefit the local community.

Three Amigos together at Camp Bastion

Three of the five members of 606 (Chiltern) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force, currently deployed on Operation HERRICK, recently met up whilst serving with the Joint Helicopter Force (Afghanistan) (JHF(A). All three are part-time reservist personnel mobilised to serve alongside their regular counterparts. All will return to their civilian careers when they have completed their tour of duty.

Senior Aircraftsman Les Parren BEM and Senior Aircraftsman Tom Baxendale are serving as Passenger Handlers, ensuring that troops, equipment and other vital supplies are correctly loaded onto the Merlin, Chinook and Sea King aircraft of the Joint Helicopter Force for transport throughout Helmand province. They are joined by Senior Aircraftswoman Sarah Burgess.

Senior Aircraftsman Jim Izzard is nearing the end of his tour with the Tactical Supply Wing, where he has been employed carrying out the essential task of refuelling all of the aircraft of the JHF(A) and those of other coalition partners.

A GREAT START TO THE YEAR

January 2011

events

12/13 Feb Trg weekend 19/20 Feb FOA training 12/13 Mar Trg weekend

A new basic recruit course - Transferees from 3 other squadrons - A clean sweep on the RAF Regiment Operational Fitness Assessment - CCS passes for Logistics Flight

A great start to the New Year with one of the busiest weekends I can remember. With over 100 people in for the weekend from all flights this really shows the diversity of what you can all deliver. Hats off to the training team for planning such a good programme, even against the challenges of last minute additions! This is the first of what may well be a monthly newsletter, depends on how its received. You know that I am constantly looking at how we communicate with you and where we can improve, so please feedback on your thoughts. Do you prefer an email, posted letter or perhaps just a text message from your trade trainer? Let us know.

Our latest Basic Recruit Course began on Friday afternoon, starting in the gym for the RAFFT, prior to signing on and commencing their training. So there are 11 new faces to 606 and the RAuxAF, I know you will all look out for them and assist if they look lost or worried.

Most of you will also have met the ladies and gents that have transferred across to 606 from their posts on other role support

squadrons. Again a warm welcome to them all. I hope you will all enjoy your time on 606 (Chiltern) Sqn.

OC 606

Well done Sgt Hobbs

POTFULS OF CASH RAISED FOR RAF CHARITY

Pot Noeldle announces £25,000 has been raised at exclusive comedy event

Booming sales of Pot Noeldle, the charity Christmas Dinner flavour from Pot Noodle, has helped raise thousands of pounds for British troops. At Pot Noeldle's 'Stand Up for the RAF' charity gig in Manchester on 8th December, host Keith Lemon and Pot Noodle's Tom Denyard presented the RAF's Sgt Ian Hobbs, currently serving on 606 (Chiltern) Squadron, with a donation of £25,000 for the RAF Association's Wings Appeal. Sgt Hobbs came up with the idea when serving in Afghanistan, and through a radio interview the project came to life. The money will help to improve life for RAF personnel serving in Afghanistan, including giving them more telephone talk-time to call home.








2p from every Pot Noeldle sold in the UK and funds raised at the exclusive comedy event starring Keith Lemon, Rufus Hound and Pot Noodle favourite, Jarred Christmas will be donated to the RAF charity. If you missed out on the cracking night of Christmas comedy, head to facebook.com/potnoodle for video clips and gossip from the night.

Pot Noodle's Tom Denyard says, 'Sales of the Pot Noeldle have been a fantastic success and we couldn't be more chuffed with the amount we have managed to raise, what a brilliant Christmas present for our troops!'

VIP guests on the night included over 40 members of the RAF who enjoyed the charity comedy gig along with lucky competition winners and celebs such as Sam Branson, Charlie Boorman, Hollyoakers, Corrie cast and 90's pop sensation Kavana. One lucky winner with the best one liner was chosen by Keith Lemon and had their face printed onto a limited edition Pot Noeldle as part of the 'Bunch of Jokers' competition.








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Did'nt think the idea would take off, good luck all

JACK fm Oxfordshire Press Release 'Buttock Clenching Radio' as Oxfordshire's 106 JACKfm deploys to Afghanistan After over 12 months of planning, this weekend Oxfordshire's 106 JACKfm's entire breakfast team of 4, 'JACK's Morning Glory' deploys to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan for a UK local radio first. The team will spend a whole week living amongst our military personnel whilst presenting their daily live breakfast show to those back in the UK. The project has been officially endorsed by The Prime Minister David Cameron who personally phoned 106 Jack FM's breakfast show to wish the team good luck and asked JACK's Morning Glory to pass on a message of how proud he was of our servicemen and women. Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson has also lent his support, calling with a message of encouragement for everyone at Bastion.Unfortunately as he tried to allay the team's fears about the flight, he ended up telling them about the 'buttock clenching landing' and the time a 'heat seeking missile' was fired at him. 106 JACKfm presenters Trevor Marshall, Sue Carter and Greg Burke will experience life in Camp Bastion whilst their roving reporter Rosie Tratt will visit another Main Operating Base at Lashkar Gah. The show will broadcast live to Oxfordshire from the BFBS studios within the camp between 6am and 9am each morning. The team has been granted access not only to serving personnel, but also the little known areas of the camp in order to show what life is really like 'inside and outside the wire'. They'll be doing this not just on air, but also online via the custom-built website http://afghanistan.jackfm.co.uk. The site, which is now live, will feature video, audio, Twitter and Facebook updates uploaded daily from camp, focusing on daily life and the great work our British forces are doing to rebuild Afghanistan. Programme Director Sue Carter said: "Between us in the team going out, we've got over 50 years of radio experience, and it's definitely the biggest thing any of us have ever been involved with. We just hope we can bring our audience throughout Oxfordshire a taste of what life in Afghanistan is really like for the thousands of our guys and girls who are serving out there." The broadcast would not be possible without the support of our major partner The Royal British Legion as well as The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS).

Backroom boys and girls make a difference.

The true value of 606 Squadron is often seen only in staff deployed overseas, but behind the scenes another layer of support exists to assist the RAF in maintaining its vital presence. The training weekend on Saturday saw Logistics hard at work in the Technical Stores preparing a very large consignment for the MOD. This work was pure muscle (and of course the usual Logistics` brains and common sense!) as the fork lifts were unavailable. By 1700 on Saturday afternoon the centre aisle of Tech Stores was a mountain of carefully `picked` items all correctly attached to the right paperwork. This will have released the Regulars on Monday to do other vital work as they would simply have to load the goods onto the transport. On Sunday the 606 Logistics` lads and lasses were back in the Clothing Stores undertaking a stocktake. This went extremely well and threw up a number of discrepancies, both over and under, for the regular Suppliers to address on Monday. In each of the above jobs there are multiple positives.

1) 606 gets vital hands on experience

2) 606 gets a great sense of `participation` in being part of the RAF Family

3) The Regulars gain time to perform additonal work

4) The Regulars understand that 606 are not `weekend warriors` but a cohesive unit well trained and able to give them vital support.

There was a great sense of satisfaction in the Logistics team on Sunday evening and we all went away with a spring in our step.

Corporal Fisher