Whats the criteria to becoming OC Squadron who decides
I would say based on your question; itâs the individual who decides if they want to take up the offer if an OCship
But if youâre talking about the process of appointment/promotion then thatâs a different beast.
I believe it is OC Wing, they then decide on the followingâŚ
- Do they have a pulse? (not optional)
- Does OC Wing have something on them to blackmail them into doing it even though they are not willing.
- Do they look like they have some morale, an excellent opportunity to crush it if they do.
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- Do they have a penchant for sticking hot needles in their eyes?
Do you have a happy marriage?
Have you seen your children in the last month?
When you go to work are you bright eyed and bushy tailed, free from endless personal phone calls and emails, and considered by your boss to be a damn good employee who gives 100% every day?
Are you happy, and looking forward to waking up tomorrow?
Call your Wing HQ today and ask about being an OC - we can change your life by the end of the week!
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Do they dribble uncontrollably and not completely in charge of their faculties?
Are they meglalomanics with egos the size of a blue whale who think theyâre Godâs gift to the ATC?
Do they have a job which means they canât drop everything and have to plead to be able to take hours out of work or are willing to use up annual leave to fit in with the needs etc of various bodgers with RFCA contracts, who then either cancel, turn up early and sod off as no oneâs there or turn up late and canât do what they were supposed to.
Preferably you should be single ideally confirmed bachelor/spinster privately wealthy with no need to work, with no sibings or parents or social life (excluding the ATC) and infertile so that kids wonât get in the way, or, as alluded to by angus, you are married but have a wife (and maybe children) who are happy to be disregarded as you find yourself doing something most weekends and have to be at the beck and call of the ATCâs master race.
Some of these are reasons why I resigned my commission and OCship, ie I found myself not ignoring exactly but putting to one side the things and people that are important and nearest to my heart. Being the OC regardless of the people you have around was a thankless task and from what Iâve observed even more so. Donât kid yourself you command the sqn you donât the ATC command the sqn all you are there to do is keep the seat warm and be the whipping boy or girl. Like so much in life itâs not what you do or have done but what you arenât or havenât, but no one actually acknowledges, accepts and respects the part-time âhobbyâ status of the role.
Rather than finding out how or why people become OCs find out why people stop, as that will give you a much better measure of the role.
Some of the points made may be regarded as humerous, but all joking aside you need to go into it with all your senses on highest alert. You may have a good set of staff, but think about the ramifications IF one or more leave or have to cut back on what they do as the real lives take a precedence. You will invariably find yourself filling in if you can.
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one of my former OCâs died in his early 50âs while still an OC - he had a heart attack, and he was the most brilliant, dedicated, compassionate, driven leader and Officer iâve ever met in 25 years as a cadet, TA soldier, Army Officer and CI.
his children, then and to this day, 13 years on, feel incredibly bitter towards him as they still feel he cared more about his Sqn than he did about them. we saw more of him than they did.
as you can see, what may be framed in humour isnât remotely funny at allâŚ
I didnât feel like I was getting ill, but due to my personal circumstance I wasnât focussing on the right things. I feel much happier now I donât get emails, phone calls or texts and have been able to get my lifeâs priorities correct. Coming out of uniform as well removed the expectation that you would do things.
I do hope some of what is written doesnât put you off if being a sqn cdr is what you want. As mentioned some of what is written is in jest, but itâs not a glamorous or easy job and it is a job it will consume time with voracity. But the ATC needs people willing and prepared to do it.
If you do decide itâs what you want to do, under no circumstance put any cadet related email on your phone (our CO has this week removed their Bader acct from their phone), donât put your mobile number out there for all and sundry, any number on your mobile put ATC somewhere in the name, make sure you put âme and or family timeâ during the week and at weekends and be brutal and consistent with this. If you donât want to do something donât do it and if it means the cadets miss out so be it, as you donât get the time back later. One of the biggest issues facing people who become sqn cdrs is the affect on their mental health as they feel under pressure to do things. As a result ATC will as OC take you in, chew you up and spit you out without a care or concern about you as a person, as far as they are concerned you are just bum on seat a number. If your employer acted like HQAC etc does, theyâd be in court and youâd be a few grand better off, as HQAC doesnât give two monkeyâs about the people volunteering as long as they just follow orders. I think the armed forces now take better care of and look out for their people more than they did previously as litigation costs them.
Absolutely. Be disciplined with your time. I used to allow emails through and it was a nightmare. Now I check for them when I want to.
Sorry, one other thing, I get really annoyed when Wg/Region put out something on a Tuesday expecting a return by Thursday. These guys need to wake up and realise that most of us have jobs and, even if we didnât, it is impossible to turn round something that involves cadets in anything less than three parade nights.
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Whilst you may not see them as helpful, I do. And a fairly accurate picture of what is the current state of play. Your experiences of what WSOs may or may not do are simply your experiences; these are far removed from mine, which, in turn, are more aligned the âwittyâ tragedies outlined above!!!
People should only go into this role with their eyes open. Speak to current OCs in your Wing - but also your sector, as local variations of support, expectations and standards can be dramatic depending more on personalities in your chain of command, than we could ever go into on here.
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Iâm afraid that, to my eyes, the job - and letâs not mess around, because thatâs what it is - of being an OC of the standard âtwo men and a dogâ sqn is one that I just could not advise anyone I had any regard for to take.
The admin burden, the pressure, the requirement to be at the beck and call of the ACO, the feeling of drowning in treacle while trying to achieve absolutely anything - its a job that needs doing, but I think that youâd have to be off your trolley to take on.
My view is this: a squadron where the OC is the only person who could be the OC (whether through ability, availability, or commitment) is one where the OC is going to struggle, and thatâs probably the biggest issue with staffing in the ATC at the moment.
If you have two or three perfectly good OCâs on a unit - only one of whom gets to sit in the chair - then (other than the odd too-many-chiefs situation) then you should do just fine.
But they are no doubt based upon experience and observation which I recognise from my own observations over several decades.
The attitude I experienced from WSO was youâre in command you sort it.
One of the attitudes maybe expectations was the OC had to gap fill whatever roles were not being done, which still exists.
This puts even more pressure onto the OC and eventually something has to give and invariably itâs the OC saying thatâs enough.
Getting things done requires staff and probably the biggest problem in the Corps is recruiting staff and once you have got them getting them up to speed as quickly as possible and this includes ex-cadets. People take a role on and because there is little or no âspecialistâ training they never feel happy doing it. I advocated at my last CO conference that no one should be a sqn cdr unless they have done two stints as staff and that all staff should be able to attend all training days regardless of whether they are in uniform or not, which went down like lead balloon.
As has been said and will be continued to say being the OC is a job and a job where you donât get paid and the infrastructure and support from above is non existent to middling as many WSOs (in my experience) see being a WSO as a way to get away from squadron life as they couldnât handle it. Iâve heard several WSOs say thank god they donât have to do 2 nights a week and the umpteen weekends anymore.
When a squadron goes into interregnum then the WSOs should take over as OC until such time as good replacement can be found and not the first one they can twist their arm to take it. You see these ⌠they do it for a little while and then stand down. This would be a way to keep WSOs grounded and keep them in touch with what goes on day to day within a sqn. You might then find WSOs work harder on the behalf of squadrons and not just look for a Wing role that they can sit in pontificate about people not doing things, with little or no expectation they have to do anything. If a sqn is struggling then WSOs should be held to account via some sort of PM for WSOs and if they arenât up to have to go back as a sqn officer, which might burst a few bubbles. My WSO when I resigned my commission couldnât have been less helpful or understanding of my reasons if theyâd tried. They never said it but the undertone was that I was being selfish.
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