You know what really grinds my gears? The Gears Strike Back

We do have other, more practical bits of uniform that do that though.

^^^^ is that not shown by the colour of our Beret, the beret badge, our TRF or the AIR CADET/ROYAL AIR FORCE flash?

i can understand it in the Army where 90% of the uniform is identical between regiments, batallions etc and the likes of a trade badge, cap badge or belt distinguishes the true origins of the soilder, but that isnt the case for the RAF there is no distinction (other than RAF Regt) that is as clear cut like there for the Army.

two soliders stood in front of you could have identical uniform on other than a stable belt, which indentifies them as being from different groups.
two airmen stood in front of you could also have identical uniformā€¦but the RAF has only one stable belt so what does it show, or distingish between one airman and another that isnt already shown by other RAF identifiers like the colour and badge of the beretā€¦

I said ā€œprominentlyā€ and having a prettily-coloured belt is more eyecatching and so stands out a bit better.

Obviously there are other things which distinguish the RAF-types from the pongoes but the stable belt helps, looks good and is, well, nice. Furthermore, it had been encouraged by HQAC (though maybe not in hardcopy) for precisely that reason.

Iā€™d say that - in DPMs - the things that distinguish us from other services are roughly the same as the bits that show the Army as being from different regiments.

Soldiers from two different regiments will have different TRFs, different rank slides, different cap-badges and often different coloured berets as well, so donā€™t really ā€˜needā€™ a stable belt. But it just adds a bit of colour and allows the individual to show a bit of unit pride.

Muppets on pushbikes who donā€™t think that the basics of road safety/highway code applies to them, basic things like stopping at junctions, red traffic lights, using lights at night and riding alongside vehicles like they are made of something more than flesh and bone. I had one go across in front of me today as I pulled away at a junction. They had gone across an obvious red light and took umbrage at the choice words I used. Thankfully I didnā€™t have anyone behind me.
I reckon many cyclists who get killed not abiding by the basics should be nominated for Darwin Awards.

[quote=ā€œMattBā€ post=14191]Iā€™d say that - in DPMs - the things that distinguish us from other services are roughly the same as the bits that show the Army as being from different regiments.

Soldiers from two different regiments will have different TRFs, different rank slides, different cap-badges and often different coloured berets as well, so donā€™t really ā€˜needā€™ a stable belt. But it just adds a bit of colour and allows the individual to show a bit of unit pride.[/quote]

That is not strictly true. There are five different regiments of foot guards all of whom wear the same TRF, identical colour beret, beret badge backing flash and three similar cap badges. In barrack dress this is not a problem per se as the shoulder crescents show the name but in MTP has even caused problems for the LonDist GSM. The same could be said for the entire Household Division and certain Battalions within the reformed Regiments of the Line.
As I mentioned elsewhere, often the best way to distinguish soldiers between regiments is through the tradition of what they wear as their uniform is somewhat different between Corps, Regiments and even Battalions.

what grinds my gears?

having a Sector Commander visit Sqnā€¦not a problem you say
i continueā€¦
for the second time in three visits find myself ā€œactingā€ OCā€¦ not a problem you say, that is why we have 2ICs
i continueā€¦
i am forth"in line" (5IC) for OC, i know nothing of the answers that i was asked
i continueā€¦
Said Sector Commander then drops a ā€œvery seriousā€ issue on my lap which i have to react to immediately

what grinds my gearsā€¦feeling out of my depth

Thatā€™s crap. My sympathies. Obviously every other I/C above you made themselves scarce! I donā€™t reckon you would have been out of your depth, but clearly those above you realised they were.
Well done for at least standing tall.

[quote=ā€œsteve679ā€ post=14242]what grinds my gears?

having a Sector Commander visit Sqnā€¦not a problem you say
i continueā€¦
for the second time in three visits find myself ā€œactingā€ OCā€¦ not a problem you say, that is why we have 2ICs
i continueā€¦
i am forth"in line" (5IC) for OC, i know nothing of the answers that i was asked
i continueā€¦
Said Sector Commander then drops a ā€œvery seriousā€ issue on my lap which i have to react to immediately

what grinds my gearsā€¦feeling out of my depth[/quote]

Knowing your situation steve, I sympathise.

Being told in less than 12hours before weā€™re due to start that our 12hour bag pack at the local Tesco on the busiest shopping weekend of the year is cancelled due to a double booking. :mad:

We were heavily relying on that money to help subsidise our trip next October!

Without this cash, itā€™s highly unlikely that weā€™re going to be able to go.

A let down for sure. BUT use the opportunity to ask for two bag packs on lesser weekends. Our experience has shown really busy Easter and Christmas weekends are not the best days for bag packing. Pick lesser weekends near other retail busy times such as valentines or the breakup or return to school.

One of huge issues with Xmas is you get huge shopping trolleys through taking hours to pack and most people pay by card meaning if your lucky you get a quid for 5-10 minutes of packing. Less busy times most people have 20-30 items, are less frustrated and less stressed meaning you can get a lot faster throughput, more numbers, better tips for helping.

Use the disappointment to get your supermarket on a guilt trip and book a couple extra.

Have fun on your trip.

having a WSO use a recommendation (which describes an ideal case) as the ā€œfinal wordā€ of policy which has denied a Cadet an opportunity they are entitled to and eligible for

Landmarc letting us go all the way through the process of booking a facility, adjusting dates to find one where its free, only for us to find out that you canā€™t actually use on the day we want it.

WTF? What a waste of time and effort!

Losing my temper with a group of ATC staff over something Cadet welfare-y and rather than calmly and confidentially explaining my concern and why I was upset, blowing up like a lunatic and ensuring that not only will they not pay any attention to my point of view, theyā€™ll probably now be more entrenched in their own and never be convinced otherwise by anyone else.

It happens. Donā€™t beat yourself up about it. If they are so entrenched that they wonā€™t budge or pay any attention to you then thatā€™s their look out.

GMG 1. Ofsted inspection in school today.

GMG 2. Having to work through the very full squadron account deleting emails from Bodger telling me HQAC have converted all their .docs into .pdfs. Tell me again why I subscribed to instant changes???

GMG - non cadet related.

Really Really miffing me at the moment, is how wet people are today. People donā€™t get what they want and all of a suddent come down with ā€œstressā€.

Stress! You spent half the day peeing about on the internet, have virtually no responsibilities and get paid a decent salary for it.

Iā€™ll give you bloody stress!!!

[quote=ā€œPerry Masonā€ post=16234]GMG - non cadet related.

Really Really miffing me at the moment, is how wet people are today. People donā€™t get what they want and all of a suddent come down with ā€œstressā€.

Stress! You spent half the day peeing about on the internet, have virtually no responsibilities and get paid a decent salary for it.

Iā€™ll give you bloody stress!!![/quote]

Absolutely 100% correct. Iā€™m often accused at work of not being very sympathetic, indeed of being emotionally retarded. However, some people have got no backbone and nowadays there seems to be a ā€œnameā€ for every little problem. The worst being ā€œstressā€.
They want to know what stress is, try taking a six month holiday in Kajaki or in your case PM, juggling an office full of case files.
GMG big time!!

what GMG??

Folders that are set up but have NOTHING them?? what is the point??? great the folder structure makes sense but not if it has no substance

todays culprit? the 2FTS folders seen on the ACO Controlled Document pageā€¦three folders and only one document between them allā€¦!!

ā€œooh 2FTS folders! i wonder what they want us to knowā€¦*clicks 2FTSā€ ā€¦oh empty
*hovers over 2FTS flying" - hang on i thought 2FTS were only looking after glidingā€¦hmmmā€¦*clicks 2FTS flying"ā€¦oh empty
*clicks 2FTS Gliding"ā€¦oh empty!!! :mad:
*clicks 2FTS Orders"ā€¦oh would you look at that! a fileā€¦which looks to be primarily information/orders for VGSs and throughout refers to 3FTS Flyingā€¦

and iā€™d forgive them if this was being editted as i look but this was done over a week ago!

Four folders, for one file and its pointless!

Feel free to raise a service request for this error. :evil: