RAF OASC 4th March 2018

When did you have your CBAT? Mine was the 19th October. Do you know any good information then? Like hot topics to scrub up on? What preparation are you doing?

Do you know any good information then? Like hot topics to scrub up on?

Do you not think you can work that out for yourself?

Such a helpful post. If you have anymore please don’t hesitate to tell us.

It is, actually.

Having been through the process, successfully passed OASC, IOT and served as an officer, I think I'm reasonably credible in offering advice to people... There are a great number of current or former serving personnel on this forum, some in quite interesting positions. Irking them with a poor attitude here might not bode well for your career.

Anyway...
The RAF is looking for self starters. People with a bit of impetus to get themselves going.

The reason they ask you for current affairs topics during the interview is two fold;
1- they're looking to test your memory and how you retain information,
2- they're looking for your ability to decide what stories are important and why. There's no wrong answer with this, unless it's not your opinion you're parroting.

Therefore, stealing someone else's ideas and topics - when they will have picked them out because they connected certain dots to them - is a recipe for failure.

(And also, from a boarding officer point of view, it's deathly boring to hear the same topics for 12 hours a day.)



So, next time you want to spout off, just pause to think about who might be on the other end.

Apologies, I thought you were leaving a weightless comment, how wrong I was! I don’t want to steal any ideas, but for hot topics I meant exercise names - Mil Aid has been changed to Eagles Edge etc. Good stuff like that so we can help each other out.

Knowing the name isn't as important as knowing the aim.

The name changes, the aim doesn't.

Thank you, as ever, Drewski.

I am struggling to find information about many of the exercises and as such so far I have the following;

T1

Dynamic Edge

First Step - 36 hours camping away from Cranwell, basic military skills in the field

Sharp Edge - More advanced military skills? How long does it last etc?

T2

MilAid - simulated military aid to civilians scenario - what does this entail?

Vital Edge - more advanced leads?

T3

Decisive Edge - simulated HQ air ops planning ?

Are these detailed somewhere?

I actually enjoyed the CBAT strangely enough! Tiring but enjoyable. Yeah current affairs, chosing 5 uk and 5 international like most threads state. Planning exercises worried me as they time you and that puts me under a lot of pressure! Learning IOT week by week is a big one I heard, so that’s the main focus at the moment.

I know for sure that Mil Aid has been changed to Eagles Edge. I found this out through a friend who is due to graduate next week! It is a new and updated version of itself. I do know the feeling though! So many names and exercises to remember!

Thank you for this by the way - I mentioned the name change in my interview and I think the boarding officers were impressed.

Th

T1

Dynamic Edge
- A day in the OASC hangar introducing leadership.

First Step
- Sleeping under a bivvi sheet in the tree line of north airfield
- Basic military skills lessons during the day, leopard crawling, reaction to effective enemy fire, fire control orders, patrolling etc.

Static Edge
- 2 days basic leadership task on north airfield sleep in the block each night

Sharp Edge
- Starts immediately after static, longer distances and more complicated leads. Sleep under bivvi sheet in the field.

T2

Eagles Edge
Scenario based leadership on a larger training area and longer leads

Vital Edge
Assessed leadership, physically arduous, performing under pressure while fatigued, longer leads, larger training area

T3

Decisive Edge
- Strategic exercise simulating Ops room and higher level decision making

No worries! Glad I could help. What trade did you go for? Don’t suppose you could let me know when you find out the results. Want to get a recent time scale! Cheers