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

Getting just a little bit more coverage.....

The Independent on Sunday has recently featured just a little piece of 606 (Chiltern) Sqn.

Through our links with local commercial Radio station Jack FM, we managed to get the Jeep Wrangler we use for recruiting activities featured. The vehicle provided in association with Jeep Oxford has been used throughout the region this summer attracting attention and showing what the RAF Reserves do.

Full story is at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/gooood-morning-afghanistan-and-abingdon-and-bicester-2133460.html

Good luck guys and girls enjoy the trip and make loads of great radio!!

RAF Benson Reservist receives award in the City of London

Acting Sergeant Malcolm 'Reg' Goodall from 606 (Chiltern) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force has recently been awarded the Mrs Patricia Brain/ Lightmongers Merit award. The trophy is awarded annually to a person that has contributed over and above to unit activities.

Acting Sergeant 'Reg' Goodall is one of those sorts of people that every commander needs, he never fails to deliver, and always does so with a smile on his face. A member of 606 since its formation in 1996 he has deployed overseas to Iraq, and is always at the forefront of squadron activities. As a Motor Transport Driver he is responsible for moving the key elements of the helicopter force during training, exercises or on operations. His recent move into the management team has seen him oversea the transport requirements for numerous squadron deployments, all that have run without a hitch. Finally not only happy with his own output, he is key to the training of newer squadron drivers, he is able to pass on his great knowledge and experience to all around him.







Acting Sergeant Goodall was presented with his award by Baroness Betty Bothroyd at the Annual Company Installation dinner held at the Haberdashers Hall, Smithfield.


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Per Ardua - 10 new members of the RAF Regiment

Ten RAF Regiment Gunners of 606 (Chiltern) Squadron have returned to RAF Benson having passed a gruelling exercise, and graduated earning the much sought after RAF Regiment ‘mudguards’ to be worn on their uniform.

They have spent two weeks at RAF Honnington in Suffolk where they joined other RAF Reservists on a course run by 2623 Sqn.


10 members plus instructors on return to RAF Benson

Exercise OMEGA brings together training taught at squadron level before attending the two week period, and also some new skills. Trainee Gunners are expected to use their weapon training, battle preparation and patrol skills in order to defend RAF assets worldwide. Throughout final exercise lasting five days personnel are really tested both physically and mentally. Both become harder due to a lack of sleep as time goes on. Leading Aircraftsman Martin Ocock, aged 30 from Feltham found the best bits of the course to be ’ all of our time on the ranges and the river crossing exercise’. Leading Aircraftsman Robbie Leishman, aged 20 from Didcot added ‘it was great to be part of the final attack at the end of the exercise, and earning the mudguards was a very proud moment’.


Members of the section whilst on the end of course exercise


Leading Aircraftsman Kevin Mason aged 39 from Tamworth was selected as best student out of the 26 members on the course. This is a great honour both for him and 606 Squadron. 'For a member of our flight to do so well on the sort of exercise is great news for 606’ said Officer Commanding Squadron Leader Gary Lane. ‘All that took part put in great amounts of effort and to have this title given to one of our team is very pleasing’. Mason is a production Assistant at Jaguar Cars and felt that ‘the teamwork that RAF Reserve service requires is useful in his day job’.


LAC Mason on exercise


Fortunately the course members were lucky enough to receive air support in the form of Merlin, Puma and Chinook helicopters from RAF Benson and Odiham. It adds great realism to their training which prepares them for service overseas if that is required.

All participants will now return to their civilian jobs before returning to Benson for their next training weekend in November where they can use some of their new learnt skills.

Back to Halton one week after the last trip

But todays trip to the home of RAF training was for a very different reason, today it was to mark the end of another Basic Recruit Training Course, and the graduation of the newest members of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. A total of 26 completed the course, 8 of which are members of 606 Sqn.

New recruits into the RAuxAF are first given training at their home units for between 2 and 3 weekends. Once they have completed the pre study required they attend a 2 weeks residential phase at RAF Halton in Bucks. During this period they under take an exam to confirm the information they have previously learnt and then move onto a number of new subjects. These include the field skills required to operate alongside their regular colleagues should that be required. The key areas are weapon handling using the Individual Weapon, First Aid and working within a Chemical, Nuclear and Biological environment. At the end of the course these skills are tested in a deployed field exercise run by the regular RAF instructors.



AC Bryer from Hythe in Kent has joined 606 to become a Flight Ops specialist she commented 'I have learned a lot about myself and come away with fresh enthusiasm for my career in teaching'.

AC West-Letford from Bracknell is a chef in his civilian career, but on 606 he will be trained to become an RAF Regiment Gunner. He found the best bit of the course to be the end of course exercise 'putting everything we learnt together, plus it was great fun at the same time'. When asked what parts of the course may be useful at work he thought the first aid, primarily 'for when young chefs start chopping their fingers'.

The next training for all those that graduated today will be at their home units, normally for one weekend a month until they are fully qualified in their chosen trades.


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