The first 48 hours

[Tin basher]

So you've signed on the dotted line and left home for the big world of the RAF in whenever that was. Yesterday your own bed now plonked in a barrack block with other likeminded souls. Hair cuts, shouting, kit issue etc etc. So whether it was at Swinditz, Sleaford tech, Halton or even Hereford that you first experienced the RAF how was the first 48 hours?

 

[Downsizer]

Do you know what, I don't even remember! So it can't have been that bad.

 

[fourteen2two]

Met at Grantham Station by grumpy rock cpl. Told to get on RAF boneshaker bus! In a big room filling in forms and given service numbers. Allocated to your flight.Then haircuts, short ( bad)and paid for!
I think we got issued some kit, denims boots and shoes,shirts and ties, beret and a webbing belt. PT kit.
Attempts at marching with lots of shouting. Allocated block Got bedding etc.
I don't really remember exact sequence But I didn't mind it. I am from a service family and had been in cadets so it wasn't too much of a shock.

 

[busby1971]

blur, blur, cold, blur, blur, cleaning, blur, blur, form filling, more blur.

I think there was a PT session in there too, followed by a very boring weekend.

 

[4mastacker]

Arrived at Hereford in the afternoon, taken to allocated block, dumped bags in bed space, then "marched " to the appo's mess and served soggy chips, burnt sausage, runny egg and tinned tomatoes. Attestation was in the evening, then back to the block, unpack bags, bed check and then 'lights out' only to woken a 04FS in readiness for the fun to begin. Made first bed-pack, haircut, issued with ill-fitting denims . Upto SSQ for jabs and a warning about the local ladies from the SMO, more form filling, clothing stores for initial kitting, ate more stuff that was supposed to be food. Wrote first letter home which included the message "Send food". First bull night.

 

[muttywhitedog]

A train to Newark, a bus ride to Swinderby, a haircut, lots of form filling.

First 48 hours wasnt that bad - the following 6 weeks was really shit. Cleaning the black bits between the tiles in the bogs was my task and I pretty much spent every evening applying polish with a toothbrush and it was never good enough.

 

[kawoloki]

I can remember the sleeper train down from Inverness more clearly than the first couple of days at Halton...

Wendover station, haircuts, jabs... all a bit of a blur..

 

[gray]

I can remember the sleeper train down from Inverness more clearly than the first couple of days at Halton...

Wendover station, haircuts, jabs... all a bit of a blur..

My train from Inverness was delayed in York so 2 of us arrived late, and got a personal MT Minibus to take us to Swinderby... followed by lots of frantic activity for 8 weeks - we were sent home for 2 weeks in the middle for summer leave, and a couple never came back.
Rockape Corporals were god... or thought they were

 

[GOV1]

Gets off the train at Newark and I popped in to the boozer next to the station for a quick one, I spotted this RAF type and said hello “I’ll be like you soon” he just told me to politely go away, I thought strange.

Half hour later he was screaming at me to get on the bus! A few fun days of abuse from the DIs followed.

 

[Junter]

I arrived at Newark station with the two other chaps I attested with. There didn’t seem to be any RAF personnel about so we went in the pub opposite to find a load of people also waiting for the RAF to turn up. Shortly after arriving an NCO came into the pub and started shouting at us and called us a shower of sh!t for not waiting outside the station. On the RAF bus to Swinderby, as the base came in sight a chap behind me said, “I'm not going to like it here”. Sure enough, that night he did a runner.

That first 48 hours wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The haircut was probably the worst experience. As for uniform we were only issued with a beret, shoes and a woolly pully that first day and told to wear them. Because at that time everyone wore flairs and platform shoes we had to tuck our civilian trousers into our socks so we didn’t trip up.

 

[mild mannered janitor]

Got off the sleeper train from Aberdeen hungover from the night before, and kinda carried on from there. loved every minute from then. Met some amazing people who I'm still proud to call friends 26 years later.

I shaved my head before I went but still got a haircut

I was prepared as I had family who had done it already so was lucky.

Even managed a fair few pints, despite being only 17 at the time

Would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[UlsterExile]

Turned up on a Train at Hereford (YTS) with a load of other wide eyed kids. Met by a Sgt who looked the spitting image of Windsor Davies, told to get on a bus which by the looks of it was a prop in a WWII movie. . Haircut day one with jabs up the ying yang at the med centre, then a welcomed by Stn Cdr, OC A, OC YTS and then OC A flt (my flt). Rabbit head lights springs to mind.

 

[Oldstacker]

It's 47 years since I arrived at Swinderby and I have patchy memories.
I can remember being met, along with around 20 others, at Newark Station by a DI and an old Bedford SB bus and then debussing at Swinderby to be sent for a haircut before anything else. The next point is entering our room in the block (I can't remember the name of it but it was close to the NAAFI) and finding a uniformed airman already there in the bunk space next to me having been back-flighted for medical reasons. After that, very little stands out as being the first few hours.

Like MMJ, I have never had any real regrets about joining.

 

[Tin basher]

A 22 year old TB in his pre RAF life had a motor bike along with the obligatory long hair and beard. Before traveling to Swinderby I shaved the beard, how times have changed, and had my hair cut very, very short (Or so I thought). Arrived at Newark station and was met by an RAF Type who politely asked us all to get on the bus, all very nice and civilised. As the engine started and the doors of the bus closed the polite guy turned into a profanity spouting, shouty, aggressive git or as I learned a DI Cpl. Bit blurry from there, but some kit was issued, pit spaces were allocated top floor Gibson block, first night in a 19-man room was a bit of a culture shock for some of the younger bods. The haircuts happened I thought I would be exempt have had it cut very short before travelling sadly it was not short enough for the system. DI Cpl was a short Scottish chap who professed to hate English people, more particularly Northern English people and had a special place in his dark heart for folk from Wigan. The DI Sgt was according to rumour on his first recruit tour having recently been a screw at MCTC Colchester, not a nice person. 6 weeks later it was all over and the rest as they say is history.

Like others have said, I have never had any real regrets about joining.

 

[AirForce]

1964 the RAAF was undergoing rapid expansion due to the introduction of new aircraft, the French Mirage being one of them.

15 of us travelled overnight from Sydney to Adelaide, was met at the Adelaide railway station by the duty driver in a bus, taken to RAAF Base Edinburgh which among other units contained No 1 Recruit Training Unit, time of arrival was around 6 pm, taken to the Airmen's Mess and given a three course meal and afterwards taken to our 4 man rooms, the females were taken to the WRAAF Quarters.

The next day we were taken to the Clothing Store and issued with our uniforms and those who needed haircuts were taken to the barber's shop, just normal haircuts, no head shaving as we were told that the RAAF was not the US Marine Corps.

Introduced to the Corporal Drill Instructor and twelve weeks later completed our recruit training with the exalted rank of AC and then on to the various training establishments to be techos, cooks, clerks, suppliers, security guards, service police, drivers, plant operators, general hands, drill instructors and so on.

In our recruit squad there was a number of ex RAF who had been recruited directly from the UK and had signed on in Australia House in London, most adjusted quite well although there were a few whinging poms who much to the annoyance of the Aussies kept saying that "We didn't do like this in the RAF"

I enjoyed my service in the Australian Defence Force and it made me what and where I am today.

 

[dctyke]

The old timers who had done a whole six weeks at Swinderby singing songs at you…

 

[Vushtrri]

It was like going back to boarding school after a very long summer holiday, the only difference was that I was now being paid to sit in a classroom and sleep in a dormitory…

 

[vim_fuego]

A mate of mine had joined six months earlier than me so whilst on leave he gave me all the ‘gen’ I needed to reduce the shock to the system (including how to make yourself a ‘over 18’ version of your name badge so you could served in the NAAFI). I remember the train journey to Newark but not the bus journey. Getting given an index card with my service number stamped on it, haircut (I went for a buzz cut, only time in my life that happened) then assigned a bed in one of the newer looking blocks. I think most stress in basic training comes from the physicality of it, so if you’re not fit you’ll dread the beastings. I was fit, in fact very fit (county rugby, cricket, cross country and badminton) so the PT was, some times, even fun.

Regrets, I’ve had a few, but joining up isn’t one of them.

 

[bigjd]

So you've signed on the dotted line and left home for the big world of the RAF in whenever that was. Yesterday your own bed now plonked in a barrack block with other likeminded souls. Hair cuts, shouting, kit issue etc etc. So whether it was at Swinditz, Sleaford tech, Halton or even Hereford that you first experienced the RAF how was the first 48 hours?

Absolutely hated the first week. A job I had worked my arse off to get and within 24 hours was ready to wrap my tits in and leave. That was January 2022 and I'm happy I stuck at it to be honest.