Adult Staff Courses

Adult Staff Staff Development
1

Hi all,

I have recently been promoted to Adult Sgt and am interested too know what courses are available to me.

Until I complete my NCO course at Cranwell I am not entirely sure which ones I can and cannot attend.

Looking on Sharepoint/Barda there doesn’t seem to be many courses publicised & the Sqn I am assigned too for the next 6 months don’t seem to know either.

Any knowledge would be welcome.

2

[quote=“Harvie” post=15371]Hi all,

I have recently been promoted to Adult Sgt and am interested too know what courses are available to me.

Until I complete my NCO course at Cranwell I am not entirely sure which ones I can and cannot attend.

Looking on Sharepoint/Barda there doesn’t seem to be many courses publicised & the Sqn I am assigned too for the next 6 months don’t seem to know either.

Any knowledge would be welcome.[/quote]

Couple of things for you…

  1. Welcome to the site (edit - sorry, you’ve been around a bit just noticed) and congratulations on your appointment.
  2. You are a Sergeant (ATC). There’s no such thing as an Adult Sgt. Make sure you get this right in future as it will confuse people.
  3. You can attend pretty much any course. Anything residential in a Sgts’ mess may cause problems as you haven’t been on your SSIC
  4. It’s Bader (as in Douglas - look him up, it may be helpful to understand who he was)
  5. What courses would you like to do? - important question this one
  6. Does your wing have a staff development officer? - ask them for some insight
  7. Does your wing have a Wing Warrant Officer? - ask them for some insight
3
  1. Thank you. Three months in.
  2. Correction noted.
  3. Excuse my ignorance, but what is the SSIC?
  4. You may have to enlighten me
  5. The courses I am interested in are DI course, Shooting, Sports, DofE & Sports
  6. Yes I believe we do - thanks i’ll contact him accordingly
  7. Yes - as above
4

SSIC - The Cranwell NCO course
Bader - A group captain in WWII, notable for being a Spitfire ace after having both legs amputated, after whom the ATC software was named

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

5

Congrats on your appointment.

It’s my understanding that you are recommended for the DI course based on your performance at SSIC.

As for shooting, I made a guide a while ago that explains the courses available, which you can access here in the ACC library.

I’m not sure about the sports courses.

[strike]To assess D of E expeditions, you have to do the appropriate leader qualification (eg. BEL, WOGL or ML) and then complete some D of E specific training. Somebody else will probably be able to provide more information.[/strike]
Correction: See romeo bravo’s post below.

6

[quote=“Harvie” post=15371]Hi all,

I have recently been promoted to Adult Sgt and am interested too know what courses are available to me.[/quote]

interesting use of “promoted” the correct term is appointed…else it implies a “higher” position above CI

as for courses, the same you could as a CI with the only exception as DI (as mentioned via recommendation from SSIC or (post SSIC) via your WWO, on the assumption they too are a DI) which upon completion you can then add Rifle DI

Adventure Training

  • for walking/trekking anything from BELA, to ML(W) although most would limit themselves at ML(S)
  • DofE Supervisor/assessor
  • for paddle sports…the world is your oyster! BCU instructor Levels 1 and 2 permit you to take groups out, further quals make more “exciting” (read “risky”) water accessable
  • for Climbing CWA, CWLA, SPA
  • Mountaing Biking - courses available although I know little on the levels required

Comms
there is a radio course held at Blandford and Cranwell which covers everything you’d want for ATC use and then some!

First Class

  • HeartStart instruction
    -FAAW + Expedition First Aid (which will be required for your AT quals)

Fieldcraft

  • ACP16 (or equivalent) instructor

H&S

  • erm…someone else may come along, although there are local (Wing) courses available for me

Shooting

  • anything from EBC, ARD, Safety Supervisor, SAAI and RCO plus anything you want to achieve via SATT

Sports

  • erm…pass someone able to fill the gaps? (Can staff attend a Sports Leaders award?)

Flying

  • via your local VGS, gliding instructor…various levels leading to CFI

Driving

  • F/MT600 course (minimum to drive MT vehicles)
  • D1 category

plus any local/Wing courses such a training officers, Adjutants/executive officers course, instructor courses (for teaching classification lessons)

but as I say all of those courses are available to you as a CI (except SSIC and DI) so shouldn’t be news to you…

7

How did you pass not knowing what SSIC was?!?!?

8

I am also confused how someone in the ACO didnt know who Sir Douglas Bader CBE DSO DFC is…

9

To be fair, I didn’t know it was called SSIC when I became an NCO. I always just knew it as “The SNCO course at Cranwell”

10

[quote=“jacques” post=15377]
To assess D of E expeditions, you have to do the appropriate leader qualification (eg. BEL, WOGL or ML) and then complete some D of E specific training. Somebody else will probably be able to provide more information.[/quote]

Wrong. You do not have to have a leader qual (eg BEL, WOGL or ML) to assess DofE expeditions at any level. All you need to do is attend IDofE Course then do the EAAS.

11

Is that guide still available? Link seems to be broken.

Going from cadet to staff soon and I want to look into what courses/qualifications would be open to me.

Is it common for a Sgt (ATC) to be staff on a VGS, from what I remember (obviously that memory is fairly dated now!) I only ever saw VRT or CGIs at my local VGS.

12

Not entirely true… the ACO seem to want you to be an ML at Gold so you can operate safely on your own in wild country terrain. Not a hard and fast rule, as demonstrable competence can be used outside of a formal qualification, but just a minor point!

13

Is that made up rule ATC wide or is it a regional thing?

14

I think it is the rule of the person in charge of DofE in the corps

15

If the plan is to do any of the AT courses you will need to commit to the courses and do a lot of work yourself and or gain experience. You can do this with ATC activities, if there is some qualified to assess / sign you off. If you wanted to do climbing and ‘paddlesports’ there is a lot of personal cost. All of those that I know who are qualified for these are already doing it as a personal interest and have spent and have at least several hundred £s worth of kit, memberships of bodies and for paddlesports licences to use waterways.
Also depending where you live in the UK a lot of travelling.
I’ve known a number of staff look at ML, climbing and paddlesports and because they weren’t doing it already found the personal time/cost element a bit too much.
If the climbing is something that interests you there are a number of indoor walls to see if it is something that you take to. We take the cadets to a local one 4 times a year on parade nights and those staff so inclined, pay their fees and join in. The advantage is it doesn’t rain indoors, normally.

16

From a walking perspective look at either Lowland Leader or Hill and Moorland Leader, both of these are run inside the organisation and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. (Particularly Lowland Leader).

Unless you are already a Mountain Goat I would ignore ML in the Short to Medium term as the amount of time it takes isn’t really worth the effort. BEL is pretty much a dead course these days as Lowlnad Leader is a much better award.

If AT is your thing than look at what Windermere have on offer and speak to your wing AT Officer. (Our Wing does a staff training week subsidised by Wing which this year led to 33 people getting training courses or assessments).