Rheindahlen Camp ’09

Posted by admin on Tuesday 1 September 2009 under 2009 | Be the First to Comment

On the 22nd of July 50 cadets and staff from all over central and east region including 10 from Norfolk and Suffolk wing travelled to Heathrow International airport to fly to Düsseldorf in Germany. I was one of the 10 travelling from Norfolk and Suffolk. We travelled to the airport on a coach and from there checked in (I had to queue for ages!) for our British Airways flight at 13:00. The flight was slightly bumpy but the light lunch and coffee onboard compensated for it. Once at Düsseldorf we travelled by coach to Rheindahlen Military Complex (also known as JHQ) where the camp would be taking place for the week.

Rheindahlen Military Complex functions as the main headquarters for British forces in Germany formed shortly after the Second World War. It has been home to not just British but American, German, Dutch, Belgian, Australian and Canadian military personnel during its time. When we visited there were very few personnel on the base as it is set to close in 2013 due to the end of the cold war, this however did not mean there was little to do on the base. Many facilities exist in the complex. There were a great many shops there, such as the NAAFI superstore and the American AAFES. There is a full medical and dental centre, several primary schools, one secondary school, several pre-schools, a travel agents, computer shop, cafes, bowling alley and takeaways. A number of national UK Organisations work for the community, including Scouts, Home-Start and St. John Ambulance. There is also an 8 (Overseas) ATC squadron on base. The base is so huge it takes half an hour to walk from one side to the other; it is like a small town.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the camp commander who briefed us on the week’s events, we were then shown to our rooms where we would be staying, I shared a room with Sgt Haverhill from Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire Wing. Luckily, our room was furnished for 4 people so we made 2 beds and slept in the other 2, keeping our beds perfect for room inspections and saving a lot of hard and tedious work!

For the rest of the evening we were left to wander round the base at will in groups to look around and get used to our surroundings, I didn’t get to look around the whole base because it was so huge. Afterwards it was lights out for 22:00 and up early for breakfast at JB’s (the mess, everyone up to the rank of Sgt eats there.)

The food at the mess was excellent and most of the other cadets who had been on other camps commented it was one of the best mess’s they had ever been to. The mess had a superb core menu and plenty of non-core options at reasonable prices.

Over the week we did a mix of lots of cadet related and non cadet related activities and I can say I enjoyed all of it.

Day one involved a FAM.EX. (Familiarisation exercise) to get used to the surroundings of the camp, we were split into groups and sent on our way with a map to look around. Unfortunately the heavens opened an hour into the exercise and we had to hurry inside so while we ran to the squadron some of us had a chance to mould our beret’s.

Later that day we visited the SAT Range which was a computer simulated cadet firing range, we all had a chance to fire the L98 A1 cadet rifle in the simlulator which was something new that many had not done before.

In the evening we went go-karting. I crashed twice and came 9th.

The next day we went on a cultural visit to Cologne to look around and do some shopping. The Lego shop was amazing, especially the pick-a-brick section. We also climbed to the top of the cathedral in the city, it was a huge 513 steps! I think I had lost some weight when I finally got to the bottom again. We also went for a walk along the river bridge which rewarded us with some spectacular views.

The next day we visited “Go Wild!” in Holland which was an adventure park with rope swings and climbing walls, very much like Thetford forest. We did a treasure hunt in the dark in underground tunnels which was claustrophobic for some. In the afternoon we climbed the climbing wall and did the “leap of faith” which involved jumping from a very high hole to grab a suspended in the air a few feet in front of you. Some call it fun.

The next day was a day of reflection for all of us. Led by an ex RAF pilot who had flown the Vulcan, we visited the German and British war graves of the first and second world war’s. The immaculate graves in neat lines spread as far as the eye could see; no words could describe the sheer sight of the mass of stone crosses that seemed to go on forever. This was a day that made us think for once about what the soldiers in our country did to save our nation.

In the afternoon we visited a war museum in Holland. There was plenty to look at from spitfires to tanks, the most gruesome being a concentration camp prisoner’s piece of skin embedded in a piece as an exhibit.

The next day we spent a day doing field craft and shooting at a British army barracks down the road from the base. The intense heat of the day and the black roll mats made the shooting very difficult however I managed to pull off a good score on my target and I passed my WHT (weapon’s handling test) for the L98 A1!

The next day was our final day, the day we had been waiting for. We visited USAF Spangdalehm home to the 51st tactical fighter squadron “The Sabres”. When we arrived at the gate we had to wait half an hour to pass security checks and we weren’t allowed any mobile phone or photography, security was very, very tight. The base was amazing, it was like you had stepped in America, everything was American, the cars, shops, people, food, buildings, it was brilliant. We visited ATC (air traffic control) on the base (they had elevators to the top!) where we were shown what goes on a typical day. We then went on an American school bus to look at the A10 Thunderbolt’s and be given a tour by one of the pilots and have our questions answered. The last bit of the day was the best, I clocked up 16 minutes in an A10 flight simulator which the sim instructor approved and signed off in my 3822.

Later in the evening, we had a disco and BBQ to end the week which had tiring but good fun.

Finally on the flight home, when we landed at Heathrow, as everyone got off the plane I sneaked into the flight deck to visit Captain Burbeck and his second officer who had been the captain for our flight. He gave me some great tips about flying and some British Airways chocolate! I was happy.

With the Air Cadets you only get from it what you put in, so take every opportunity to do everything no matter how crazy, boring or expensive it might be. I had mixed expectations about what this trip was going to be like and I’m glad I took the opportunity with 50 others in the region to go on this trip. I doubt very many British civilians have ever been or ever will visit a USAF base and look behind the scenes like I did. I’m grateful for the hard work the staff put in to make this trip happen and I would do it all again.

You can find more pictures of the camp in the Photo Gallery