1 & 4 Med LAD REME Birthday Celebrations

1 & 4 Med LAD REME Corps Birthday Celebrations

Scribe: Cfn R Doyle

On the week of the REME Corps turning 80, the combined LADs of 1 & 4 Medical Regiments came together to mark the forming of the Corps. This was an idea put together as a celebration, but also to create a team building experience; giving people in both LADs the chance to get to know each other better. As both LADs work in the same building, faces are always seen but names aren’t always learnt; so this made for a perfect opportunity for both workplaces to get involved. The day was split down into three main activities, namely, Crane Operating, Blindfolded Driving and Cap Badge Crafting; with different teams all fighting for the number one spot at the end of it all. The winning team of course getting first choice of the burgers and sausages at the end when the BBQ was cracked out!

Blindfolded Crane Operating Blindfolded Driving

Crane Operating

The event started off with a basic workshop skill, crane operating. This was a great way of showcasing the feather touch that some people have when operating a weighted item through a slalom, while also showing that some people haven’t touched the controls since Phase 2 training… The activity was a race which made for a tense, yet enjoyable time. Teams were given faults for every cone or object they hit, all counting for a different number of points. The timed element resulted in hot heads and slippery fingers as near enough every team ended up hitting cones and quickly racking up the penalty points. The award for best operator was given out at the end of the event, which was awarded to WO2 (AQMS) Evangelista.

After the obligatory name calling and one upping of each other it was time for the second event of the day, blindfolded driving; which did pass Health and Safety checks. Each team assigned a blindfolded person to drive, who then used a Personal Role Radio (PRR) headset to communicate with a 2nd person acting as a Commander, standing away guiding the Driver. A 3rd person acted as safety from the passenger seat. The task was simple, if you weren’t blind and being shouted at through a clunky, battered headset. The teams were to navigate down a straight, through a slalom of cones and then back into the parking bay. The event was decided by the greatest number of completed laps within 20 mins. The teams had very mixed outcomes with some looking like they don’t know what an accelerator pedal was and some forgetting that they’re supposed to be listening to words of command. They were given penalty points for hitting cones. The winner, was the team of Tech Elecs.

Cap Badge Crafting

The final activity of the day was to create a REME cap badge out of items found lying around the LAD. Teams started off franticly running around shop floors and barging down doors into offices to find anything they could, which would be of use to them. When the building started, teams did work well together by planning where things would go and agreeing quickly on how to build the cap badges. The teams created their masterpieces within an hour with the varying results seen on the right. Once the time was up, they were scored by a panel of independent adjudicators. Points were awarded for appearance, durability and originality. The best cap badge was decided to be the extreme right one, created by Team Tech.

Overall, the day was a complete success. The winners and undisputed best team from the LADs were Team Tech! This had nothing to do with the two Tech Elec AQMS’.

BBQ

The end of the birthday celebrations was finished off with a BBQ to look back and relax after a hard day’s work. It was also a perfect time for stories to be shared with each other, shortly after finishing being told “cheers dits” by anyone and everyone who was in that vicinity.

‘Crafty Badge Making’ in progress

Cfn Atkinson showing off the ‘guns’ Enjoying the BBQ and admiring the finished cap badges

The finished products!