“ THE BEST PART OF BEING IN THE RAF FOR ME IS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO MANY DIFFERENT SPORTS ”
ON THE JOB 49 BATTERY ROYAL ARTILLERY
SOPHIE
Sophie is an ASOS ( AS ) currently working on 49 ( Inkerman ) Battery , 16 Regiment , Royal Artillery – a joint Army and RAF unit – part of the team responsible for providing air situational awareness to Land forces , including Ground Based Air Defence units . “ 49 Battery is a deployable unit held at very high readiness to support Land forces whether on exercise or operations . We carry this out by providing a Recognised Air Picture ( RAP ), where everything airborne within our area of operations is identified , be that friend or foe . This allows the Land Headquarters ( HQ ) to decide how to respond to any potential threats to friendly forces . My job is extremely exciting and varied . One week we can be in barracks training and preparing to deploy at very short notice to anywhere in the world , the next we can find ourselves on exercise in support of land forces providing a RAP to the HQ who can then decide on how they carry out their current mission . Working alongside the Army is also really good fun too .
Before I was posted here I worked at RAF Scampton on No . 1 Air Control Centre ( 1ACC ), where we ran the Control and Reporting Centre . My role there was very similar to the one I do now , in that we monitored the airspace over the UK searching for threats and monitored aircraft that were of interest to us . When I was on 1ACC I deployed to Cyprus monitoring the airspace over Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean in support of the ongoing Operation in that region . On one night shift an aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean and we were immediately tasked to trace its flight path and assist with the search for the wreckage . The best part of being in the RAF for me is the opportunity to do so many different sports . I ’ ve represented the RAF in Biathlon and Nordic Skiing where I got to compete across Europe for 3-months and became the British Novice Champion . I ’ ve also had the opportunity to take part in many other adventurous training activities such as Kayaking and Mountain Biking ”
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