Five months of intensive training paid off as 10 members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force initial officer training course graduated at Base Woodbourne, in Marlborough, yesterday afternoon. The course was the second of the year, with graduates trained on the skills and knowledge expected of junior officers.

Flying Officer Beer Singh Bains, of Auckland, was one of the 10 graduates. “This is where I want to be,” he said. “The training was good, but I’m dying to get there and getting right amongst it.”