Hoping maybe someone else can shed some light/experiences on this matter.
I went through the processes of gaining SGT(ATC) in Dec 2011. I finally received all paperwork and letter of appointment in March 12. I have been in cadets throughout all of my teen years and made it to CWO not that that is important. I was advised by my Wing staff officer of my squadron that because I had been a cadet on that squadron that to complete my staff appointment I would need to transfer to another local unit for a short spell. I agreed to this although I didn’t entirely agree with the necessity of it. I transferred to another squadron some 20 miles away in July 12. I was advised that the short spell would last around 6mths but was given no exact date.
It is now past this 6 mth period and I find my self stuck. At my previous squadron I was settled, I had a role that I was fulfilling well and enjoyed being a member of staff. There are few staff at my old squadron and they rarely have more than 1 or 2 staff members to support 30+ cadets. At the new squadron there are 2 regular uniform staff and a surplus of CIs and Service Helpers and parade around 8-15 cadets. I find my self bored and tired of the journey straight after work. Its some what of a nightmare making it in time after beating the traffic where I work and going home for dinner and getting ready.
I have been kept in the dark about my situation and was told that it was not up to anyone but my WSO and they would say when. But I do not have an idea of when this is. I do not understand the need to be here but feel I am powerless to influence the decision even though we are all volunteers working to a good cause.
My argument is that the ACO has to fund my fuel bill of approx £400 a year compared to nil at my old squadron. My old CO wants me back and struggles to do the required jobs. Ive been told that until there is a replacement NCO to fill my space then I am going no where. Yet there isn’t one at my old squadron that attends - yes they have a AWO on the books but attendance is less than 50% due to work. The advice I have been given is to go straight from work and that it has worked for 6 months so far so longer won’t hurt :pinch: !? I don’t grasp how I cannot attend where it makes sense for me to and where I would prefer to. Yes I am an SGT in the ATC not at that specific squadron but other than that someone has a bee in their bonnet and is enjoying me not enjoy cadets I do not see any reason for me being here.
Sorry if this sounds like a rant but I would appreciate any advice or heads up on any possible outcomes.
Write to your WSO asking for an update on the matter. Politely request a response by xxx date. If no response, write to your Wing Commander citing the lack of updates and highlighting the financial impact it is having on you along with the reduction in personal time because of the extra travelling. It would help if your current OC and your previous OC support the return.
Don’t think there’s much other advice than this. Other than when you get told things are only for 6 months, run! My boss was told that some two and a half years ago and he does 40 odd miles each way!
Email your current OC, cc your WSO and request a move to your old squadron or put in an NEP request. That should get some response.
Many years ago I agreed to a move like this (it helped a mate out and relieved the boredom of the old sqn) and a similar distance and when the time was up, I informed the OC and started parading at my old sqn. Wing didn’t like it, did I care, no.
[quote=“5432golf” post=3541][quote=“glass half empty 2” post=3539] or put in an NEP request…
[/quote]
Yes because that’s the grown up thing to do. Let me do what I want or I’m picking up my football and going home.[/quote]
admirable sentiment, but that is the position - the OP is at some stage going to decide that however much he might want to help the ATC, doing it on the ATC’s terms(at an Sqn 10 miles away, where he’s bored, not needed and not ‘in’ while theres a Sqn 0 miles away where he is needed, and will fit right in) is causing him too much hassle and he’ll walk away.
so either the ATC makes his life better by doing something painless - and according to the OP, good for the ATC - or it finds someone else to drive the minibus.
if he was being paid i’d say suck it up princess, but he’s not, he’s doing it out of goodwill. different rules apply…
Situations like this happen regularly. It happened to me when I was 20. It takes advantage of young staff eager to please and not yet aware of how the ACO really works.
It highlights a lack of integrity from the WSO that put you in this situation. Six months should mean six months. Do you have any proof that it was just a six month move? If so, do as Leeroy has advised, I’d add put a copy of your proof in with your paperwork.
My experiences with staff transfers is that Wing Staff are happy to ignore the situations if they are happy with the status quo. So it’s important to get the ball rolling yourself.
Yes, we are. We are however volunteers that sign up to obey a set of rules and regulations.
Ok so it’s been longer than 6 months and CFAV isn’t happy. How do we solve this:
A.) Like an adult by discussing.
B.) By dummy spitting / throwing (delete as applicable after full spitting/throwing risk assessment), going non-effective and then NO CADET benefits from the time and experience of said volunteer.
Unfortunately there are some persons in this organisation with whom discussion produces little in the way of results.
Once that route has been tried and found ineffective then, as has been said, perhaphs putting in for NEP might wake some small minds up.
The alternative could end up being that the volunteer decides “■■■■■■ this. I don’t need to volunteer my time and effort in return for being treated like a bloody commodity. I don’t enjoy it; nobody at wing gives a toss… I’m off” in which case NO CADET benefits either.
[quote=“5432golf” post=3565]Yes, we are. We are however volunteers that sign up to obey a set of rules and regulations.
Ok so it’s been longer than 6 months and CFAV isn’t happy. How do we solve this:
A.) Like an adult by discussing.
B.) By dummy spitting / throwing (delete as applicable after full spitting/throwing risk assessment), going non-effective and then NO CADET benefits from the time and experience of said volunteer.[/quote]
My take from the OP is that discussion has been tried with the current OC and been told it’s down to the WSO, which to me seems like the current OC fence sitting and happy to accumulate staff doing sod all. If I was the OC here I’d have been on the phone to the WSO when the discussion was had and then the potential recieving OC.
Leeroy’s suggestion is the next step and then the NEP request is the last.
If the NEP request is seen as dummy spitting carry on, I’ve known a lot of people unhappy in whatever their role is and sent an email suggesting they want to go NEP and because of the reason in bold, something happens, invariably a solution in everyone’s best interest. With a youngster are the Wing going to want to see someone with a potentially a long time ahead of them take 3/6/9 months off, with every possibility they might not return, I doubt it.
What is being missed by some respondents is that, where we parade is essentially down to us and if that doesn’t suit us, then it’s our call. As Angus said get paid, get on with, but we don’t so different rules apply.
perhaps the OP’s WSO/Wing set-up ought to have thought a bit harder about that before they decided to ■■■■■■ the OP about then?
as GHE2 suggests, this is not the first time the subject has been brought up, and the OP has tried to play nice - its got him absolutely nowhere. so now he’s going to play not so nice - his transfer request will have an ‘or else’ at the bottom. his WSO/WC can play the big man and chin him off if they want, but he’ll just walk away, rediscover his life, not be any worse off, and not have to deal with the kind of cat-‘litter’-for-brains villge Napoleon that believes that buggering people about makes them better in bed, and that sadly the ATC is all too full of.
OP 1 - ATC 0. i fail to see what that achieves for any cadets…
This is an ideal opportunity to put good practice ref retention into play, as gets mentioned in every strategy that has come out of HQAC, which never really seems to materialise. That is listen to what the volunteer staff wants out of/from the Corps, in this instance go to squadron where they know/feel they will be wanted and enjoy their experience of the ACO.
The OP should cut his WSO out of the picture and address the issue through his P Staff Sqn Ldr. It’s he\she who’s responsible for the movement of personnel around the Wing, not the Sector Officer.
Going through the CoC is the right thing to do, not spitting dummies\throwing teddies. THAT is a last resort when the proper procedure has been exhausted.
Go to P Staff - P Staff action accordingly and transfer SNCO back to original unit. Result. No action, escalate to WExO. Action via P Staff - result. No action, escalate to OC Wg. OC Wg intervenes and actions via P Staff - result. No action from OC Wg, THEN throw teddies and vote with feet as you’ve been reasonable about the whole thing and exhausted all of your options.
The throwing of teddies at an early stage as advised by some, is the childish and immature thing to do. Different rules don’t apply as we have all signed up to follow the ACO rules and regulations. For those that don’t want to follow them, then they shouldn’t have joined.
And when the WExO/OC Wing asks what the WSO knows about the situation, and finds out “zildge” then it could get bounced. Keep them in the loop out of courtesy. The OC Sqn should do this anyway, but it won’t hurt and covers your bases.
What I should have said is that as your WSO hasn’t actioned your request, go to the next link in the CoC. Nimrod is right - keep him\her in an email\info chain but as he\she hasn’t (appeared) to do anything about your request, you need to escalate it.
I have had a quick look through my contract with the ACO and there is nothing about being on a squadron and staying there if I don’t want to. I don’t recall anywhere it saying in the rules and regs we can post you somewhere. This move was a fairly common developmental one for 6 months. The 6 months are up and it’s time to return. The fact that his current CO is seemingly quite happy for him to sit there with no real role/purpose, is shameful IMHO. We don’t know the full situation and the CO may have their own problems at the moment and this isn’t high on the ‘to do’ list. Every CO’s been there. But he should have said something and as this is only a transfer back, should be a sign it, stick in an envelope and send off.
I feel sorry for this lad, he’s obviously keen to “give something back” and at the moment due to poor management doesn’t feel able to and could quite easily walk away. If someone plonked an NEP request on my desk I and if it’s Corps related (not family/job), I’d want to know why. If it’s something I can help with, I’d do whatever and if not I’d speak to someone. Saying that it’s childish and immature is missing the point that sometimes to get the desired result you have to take an indirect approach. A to B sometimes requires a diversion.
As I said we have loads of rhetoric about retention of staff (again in the latest strategy) over the years, without anything tangible to facilitate it. Unfortunately this sort of situation whereby squadron commanders and above have unhappy staff (for whatever reason) who are vocal about it, are quite willing to play ostrich and or hope they’ll just carry on, is not uncommon. As a result often experienced staff do two fingers to the organisation, as they shut the door behind them.