This has been a successful year for the Communications Specialisation.
This year we have conducted an Area Adult Instructors Course over 2
week-ends resulting in 8 new qualified Instructors with a ninth being
assessed and qualified during the SY&H District Easter Camp on
HMS BRISTOL.

From a cadet perspective there have been 13 courses conducted within the Area:

10 x Class 3 Courses resulting in over 50 cadets qualifying
1 x Class 2(G) course with 9 cadets qualifying
1 x Class 2(T) National course with 2 cadets from Eastern Area qualifying
1 x Class 1(G) course with 6 cadets qualifying.

With over 67 cadets qualified in the Specialisation, gaining points, attending courses away from their Units and mixing with other cadets, it is an excellent improvement on previous years and I thank all the Instructors/Examiners who provided the courses and the CO/OiCs of Units for making the Units
available.

I would remind all Instructors/Examiners that only the HQSO (Comms) exam papers are to be used for courses, these are available from myself either by mail or email and that copies of the completed SCC T7 (RO) are forwarded to myself after the course.

Plans for next year include, with the Area Officer's permission, hopefully
running another Area Adult Comms Instructors course over 2 consecutive week-ends, watch EATMs for details. As we only have one Instructor
qualified to instruct the Tactical Sub-Specialisation in the Area I intend to
extend my qualifications to include Tactical, thereby expanding the choice of courses available to the cadets.

I would encourage all Instructors/Examiners to consider making their
proposed courses that are being held over a week-end available to their
Districts if possible. This will not only potentially expand the size of the class thereby increasing the income for the course possibly making it more
financially viable, but will increase the chances cadets have of mixing with
cadets from other Units.

The Area Combined Regatta communications is normally done by Comms trained cadets using handheld radios however, we need cadets to volunteer to be part of the team. Please could CO/OiCs ensure they pass on the
request for volunteers to the cadets when it is received prior to the Regatta. I appreciate that your priority is your boating crews but once they have been selected there is still enough time left for the unsuccessful cadets to
volunteer for the Comms Team. Transport for the event will be with their
District teams so the CO/OIC will need to liase as soon as possible with their DO/District Transport Co-ordinator to ensure their cadets are included in the numbers.

I look forward to another year of fun and growth within the Communications Specialisation.

S GREENFIELD
LT (SCC) RNR
ASO (COMMS)