What's your favourite aspect of the ATC?

[atcassidy_30hobby]

Hey guys,
this is a thread to talk about your favourite aspect of the air training corps, what-ever it may be.

[atcassidy_30hobby]

here are some examples

shooting
bush-craft
drill (in general)
gliding
power flying
navigating
promotions
spening time with friends
theory (in general)
toets
final parade
meeting people
mucking around (HAHA as if)
p.t
night ex
having other cdts/officers/ncos use u as a log/bed/couch on night ex
saluting
marching
leadership
the ability to advance
being dominated (for all those creepy cdts out there)
I JUST LOVE ATC AND I DON'T KNOW WHY!!!!!
I dnt like it what are you talking about!
i was forced into it so i cant think of any good points
all the hot guys in all the units (hahahaha....)

okay that was jsut to get you guys started if you like something else about atc please feel free to share.

[yaya]

orignally forced into it and couldnt think of anything but now:
Favourite aspects in ATC are:
1: Shooting
2:The Camps-bushcraft, shooting and all the other ones
3:Flying- Power and Gliding
4:The unique experiences
5:Being mocked by arrogant teenagers shows the mentality.
6:night exs
AND
7:Being with all my close friends!!!

[Dave Homewood]

Yaya,

Do you LIKE being mocked by arrogant teenagers???

What's with that?

[atcassidy_30hobby]

No idea aye?
Woah, and I thought James. S (one of my treasured fellow cdts) was strange..(he liked it when our w/o sat on him.)

[dpdouglas]

shooting
bush-craft
drill (in general
navigating
promotions
spening time with friends
theory (in general)
toets
final parade
meeting people
p.t
night ex
saluting
marching
leadership
the ability to advance
And All round basically to be given the oppurtunity to have flying as a main point and be able to go have a little look around of the base.

And YOU GET TO WHERE DPMs and SERVICE DRESS UNIFORM.

[dpdouglas]

And Please nobody Mention Oral Communications. Cassidy knows why.

[atcassidy_30hobby]

mmm...The O.C baby incident. Please personal message me to find out i do not wish to discuss this on here.

[yaya]

What i meant by being mocked by arrogant teenagers is that when they realise what type of things we get to do, they tend to shut up and leave me alone. Such as: we know how to use weapons, we get to go flying, and we do activities that they wouldnt get the chance to do unless they knew the right people or had alot of money. (also i have friends they don't want to mess with.)

[Dave Homewood]

Ah, I see, that makes sense. I guess it must be something to be quite proud of really. I wasn't ever in the ATC, and when I was in the RNZAF they were really looked down on. But for a teenager it must be much more exciting and fulfilling than scouts or hangingout down the mall. etc. good on you guys. Go hard.

[atcassidy_30hobby]

Haha you said the "s" word, scout! Sorry Dave, but as you can tell scouts are not all that popular, I don't mind them but they're akward to hang out with (like after ANZAC day parades.) and are not to be spoken of. (or stood behind on parade.)

[Dave Homewood]

Whoops. Sorry.

You didn't see the other 's' word i mentioned in another thread then yet...

[atcassidy_30hobby]

There's another? -_-'

[dpdouglas]

Ummm Dave which thread would the other "s" word be in?

[yaya]

Yeah i know they were looked down on, and with some personal it still is. A couple of weekeneds ago i was on a camp on Whenupai Base after we left the mess and got back to our barracks and i had left my key back in the mess. So when i went back to get when i was leaving i had 2 personal started verbally attacking me,saying that we aren't worth what we get, we are just wannabies and stupid stuff like that. See im not one to take stuff like that from no one so i turned around and said: "you should be setting a example, you are the role models that some of us want to be, and your giving the RNZAF a bad name and making them look bad" they looked gob-smacked, shut up and never said anything else to me.

[Dave Homewood]

The 's' word I referred to is the RNZAF common term for ATC cadets, Snotgobblers. I'm sure you've heard it.

Yaya, good on you for sticking up for yourself. Most Airmen were not in the ATC incidentally so have no idea what you're all about. I was never in the ATC. Generally the ATC were/are looked down on by regular RNZAF members because of several things. I guess the biggest thing was after a hard day's work, airmen hate getting to the Airman's Mess and finding 200 ATC already cueing up in front of them.

Many times I struck this, and when we finally got to the servery, most of the food we'd already paid for was gone, and if lucky only the disgusting third choice would be left, if any. Plus there'd be no seats left to sit down either and the place would be noisy as a schoolyard.

On just one occasion do I recall an ATC member having the brains to say "Let the airmen through first for their dinner". Good on him. I respected that. We used to strike lots of visiting ATC groups at Wigram from all over the country so this was a regular annoyance. On several occasions we airmen would push to the front, often to be abused by cadets who were eating our food that we'd paid for. And on a couple of occasions the ATC officers, who somehow held rank over us too, would tell us off for this. It plain sucked when you've been working all day, are absolutely starving and you need your dinner which came out of your wages. That's one reason.

Another reason I guess is the fact that any RNZAF member has worked damn hard to wear the uniform they wear, it's a thing of great pride that means you've achieved a huge amount - and seeing young kids wearing the same uniform simply by going along and joining like a club annoyed many.

Often when ATC were on base everyone would moan about them, and one that came up often was stories of jumped up little fifteen years olds yelling at 13 year olds and totally embarrassing them in front of real airmen, pretending they have some rank and power. That is seen as a really bad thing by RNZAF. It's bad enough when you're doing it for real, and getting yelled at by real powerful RNZAF veterans, but seeing kids playing at it in their holidays and believing it seems really odd to RNZAF people who'd not been in the ATC.

An interesting thing is almost everyone in the RNZAF who may have been in the ATC will not admit to it either. Those who do get some rough tongue, so they keep their heads down.

That is, at least, how it was in my day. These days things are more PC so I don't know if attitudes are the same, but judging on your encounter above I'd think it is.

Since I left the RNZAF I have studied the origins of the ATC, it's wartime beginnings, and I now recognise that it's a good service that has merit. I don't feel the animosity towards you guys I used to. But then you're not nicking my dinner these days... All I can say is, if you're in the Mess queue and see regular Airmen or WAAFs come in, let them go first and they'll like you much more.

I guess if it keeps teens off the streets and helps community projects, airshows, etc, it's all good.

[dpdouglas]

Thank you Dave.
Some of those things you said sets a good example for people reading this, e.g."On just one occasion do I recall an ATC member having the brains to say "Let the airmen through first for their dinner". Good on him. I respected that." which i see as a thing most members of the CF should do for any time in the mess/ crowds stuff like that.

[atcassidy_30hobby]

I have never gotten any crap from RNZAF personelle but I have heard of many others that do, and the thing is all we want to do is be like them learn of them and possily work alongside them then they go and treat us like a bunch of worthless wannabies. Sure we do seem to be cheaper versions of them but we too work hard for our ranks, uniforms and dinner might I add. So it is understanable in a sense but it is still very, very wrong for people of such a standing in the community to treat or make other people feel like dirt, no matter what their rank is it still isn't right. When I join the RNZAF I will be proud to tell the others that I belonged to the ATC and I will hold my head up high, if they think any less of me because of it, it's their problem at least I'm not a scout. (no offence scouts)

[Dave Homewood]

Hold on, don't get this wrong. I have just described the general feeling of where any animosity might come from. You have to remember that, despite the majority of Airmen I knew and talked to about this thinking these things about ATC cadets, they were things we got on with and lived with without complaint, and very few ever said anything nasty to the cadets or belittled them face to face.

Airmen were not generally rude about this unless provoked. The case that Yaya describes of an actual altercation was very rare in my experience.

So no, we did not treat you like a bunch of worthless wannabies. If cadets showed some respect they were fine. Most did. There was certainly some ill feeling among RNZAF about the mess thing (especially squadron guys who often worked later than others and would get to the mess and find NOTHING left!), and it was commonly disliked to see the jumped up power hungry types balling out other kids. But that's about it.

There were individual cases while I was at Wigram which were unbelieveable though. I heard of several occasions where ATC sergeants or whatever tried to order RNZAF AC's about, or jump queues by tapping their rank chevrons. We all knew the majority of cadets were not like this, but the odd jumped up 15 year old little "Sergeant" thought he was God and would try it on.

I recall hering from several people who witnessed it that one such loser was physically picked up and tossed out of the canteen door by a couple of airmen for trying to pull rank he didn't have. The other airmen and cadets nearby clapped heartily I was told.

Basically, the average airman or woman will have enough respect for an ATC cadet or group so long as they show respect back. There are always the exceptions to the rule on both sides.

[atcassidy_30hobby]

Yeah, as I said I have not come across anything of the sort but a few cadets I know of have been treated like the wannabies mentioned earlier. Good on those guys, fancy that a cadet trying to pull rank on an RNZAF AC what a jerk., our ncos are spectacular in 30 sqn and even with their ranks they're kind and do not let their rank get to their heads. I guess he was so used to being worshipped in his sqn he thought he was almighty and powerful everywhere, I wouldn't like to think of what he'd be like at school. But I just had to let it out s someone needed to say something, sorry.