RASTC National Finals
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At the early hour of 5.30am on Sunday 21 June, the RAF Section’s elite ASTC (Air Squadron Trophy Competition) team made its way to RAF Wittering, to compete in the RASTC National Finals. Having triumphed against competing teams (most notably arch nemesis Dulwich College) and pulled off one of our most emphatic victories during the Regionals in December, confidence was at its zenith – despite the (very!) last-minute preparation given that our public exams had just concluded.
After arriving at 8.30am (and catching up with some much needed beauty sleep on the coach), we were thrown into the competition with a Command Task (a discipline where the whole team is put into a situation and needs to find a solution), followed by Space tests. The team then split into 3, with the First Aid section tackling an exceedingly complex practical assessment (which required precise knowledge of the symptoms of Cyanosis), while the shooting team performed exceptionally well (with 2 members winning the prestigious Gold Shooting Badge) and the Cyber division battled a surprise decoding activity that took us all aback – a far cry from the usual aircraft recognition we had prepared for.
Finally, at the end of a sleep-deprived day, came the results. Much to our expectation, we came first in the Space discipline – with many team members scoring 100% or 96% - and overall, we finished 4th place nationally. This is an achievement the whole team can be proud of, given our lack of awareness of changes to the Cyber specification and the very little time we could dedicate to preparation amidst exams.
A very special thank you to Flt Lt Paschoud and PO Burton for taking time out to support and accompany us to RAF Wittering. Hopefully, we can bring the trophy back next year!
Article written by Vignesh (Year 12)
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