By
WOFF-AF Ray Woolnough
Volume 48, No. 11, June 29, 2006
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2FTS
flight instructors perform the 26 aircraft “Thunderbird”
formation to mark the 204 Pilots’ Course graduation.
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Greetings, Airmen and Airwomen of the Air Force.
Once again I have found myself busy with travel, base visits, attending inquiries and meetings, and at the same time trying to put out fires with regards to a fact-finding e-mail I sent out to all warrant officers.
The email I am referring to is the ‘Feasibility of having only two messes’. Be assured the intention was to get a general feeling from the senior
airmen/airwomen, and there was, or is, no intention on the part of CAF or I, to cut or change the way we are currently operating messes/clubs.
It was an idea that has been bandied about and I just wanted to know what people thought.
You can be assured that I received a lot of valuable feedback, some very emotional. To those members who took the time to put some thought into the issue, thank you. Be assured that if a change of this magnitude was to occur, a full in-depth study would be done.
During the month I accompanied CAF on his visit to 1RTU, where he was the Reviewing Officer for the graduation ceremony for Recruit Courses 04/06 Alpha and 04/06 Bravo. One cannot help but think, after seeing their excitement on graduating, that we were in that same situation some years earlier. That feeling of achievement is the same now as it was years ago.
I was invited to attend a Glenbrook CPL/SGTs dining-in night as the guest speaker. Thanks to the Chairman of the Mess Committee, WOFF Peter Fraser, and the members for a tremendous evening. It is always good to pass on mess traditions to future members of the Sergeants’ Mess.
On May 15 I headed to Glenbrook for the Air Force Awards Night. What a tremendous evening. Congratulations to all the units and members who received awards that evening.
The following morning, in the wee hours, I accompanied CAF on his visit to RAAF Bases Darwin and Tindal.
The visits were well organised and it was pleasing to note that ‘manners and protocols’ are alive and well.
My thanks go to the Base Warrant Officers, the visit co-ordinators and members of those bases for a job well done.
During the visit, elements of an ECSS and AFDW were conducting pre-deployment training waiting to deploy to Timor-Leste. Through the ‘CAF-o-grams’, I am sure you have read and heard that our members are doing a fantastic job over there. Our thoughts are always with those members and those doing an equally good job in the MEAO.
Also last month I attended a dinner with WOFF Course 33 here in Canberra. It is always a pleasure to speak to the new WOFFs, also not forgetting the hard-working facilitators. It doesn’t matter how long one has been around, because with the ‘new bloods’ coming through, new ideas are always being generated. I also visited Wagga and attended the graduation days of the SGT (97 and 98), FSGT (49) and WOFF (33) courses, handing out a number of Warrants.
I attended the Air Force dining-in night at ADFA and was hosted by OFFCDT Thomas Dayman. The evening was enjoyable and enlightening at the same time.
I had the opportunity to speak to those seated with me, namely OFFCDT’s Adam Loy, Bronwyn McQuillan, Michael Saarenpaa, Rohan Jacobsen, and of course my host, Thomas Dayman. Their enthusiasm was electric and the traditions of a dining-in night were the same as one would expect to see in a Sergeants’ Mess. To those OFFCDTs – thank you for a great evening.
My congratulations, as well as that of the airmen and airwomen, are extended to WOFF Adrian Wagner, CSM, FSGT Peter Ferguson, CSM and FSGT Richard Neal, CSM on being rightly recognised in the recent Queens’ Birthday 2006 Awards – well deserved and well done.
Again, I would like to stress this final point – the ‘Feasibility of having only two messes’ concept is just an idea. Nothing is going to change the way we are currently doing business, but it never hurts to have a look from time to time.
Till next time, please keep smiling.
