Hi all,
I’m new to Air Cadet Central and I’m looking for some advice about returning to the RAFAC as an adult volunteer.
I was an air cadet from 2013-2015 and the organisation played a big part in helping me build my confidence as a teenager, but I left to focus on my A Levels. I’m now 27 and, for most of this year, have been thinking about contacting my local squadron to see how I could get involved.
For the past decade, I’ve worked in motorsport communications, PR, and media relations, leading communications teams, managing digital content, and mentoring junior staff members. I also sit on an industry advisory board for a university media faculty, so I have some experience supporting young people and students.
My main questions/worries are:
- Whether my background and experience would make me a good fit
- How much time I’d realistically need to commit
- Whether I’d be able to contribute meaningfully alongside a demanding job
I’m keen to give something back, but before approaching the squadron, I want to make sure I understand what’s expected and what’s realistic.
I’d really appreciate any honest advice on what squadrons typically look for in new staff and what the initial expectations usually are.
Thanks in advance for any guidance!
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I’m sure your experience will come in handy somewhere! For example, managing a squadrons social media presence and recruitment/marketing.
In terms of commitment, officially, there is no minimum commitment for Civilian Instructors, it’s just based on what you’re willing/able to commit and what your unit expects. Realistically, they’ll probably be grateful for any time you can give.
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I’m pretty sure there is some work being done on building up teams to support media across RAFAC. Certainly, our Wing is doing it.
You do, at least for now, need to start on a Squadron as a volunteer but there would be no harm in contacting your Wing media communications officer as well.
That said, there are other areas you might want to be involved in, such as STEM, and you might find (as I did) that I picked up other areas that turned out to be of interest, and I didn’t know cadets now do!
Start with a chat with the OC of a couple of local Squadrons, see if there’s a good fit?
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We accept people with nothing but a passion for, and interest in, youth development.
Definitely get in touch with your local unit and see how it feels. You’ll then start to get a sense of where you may want to focus your time.
I’m sure we’ll be lucky to have you!
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Hi Jimothy, thanks for the reply!
It’s reassuring to hear that my experience could be useful. Social media, recruitment, and marketing are all areas I enjoy working in. I appreciate the insight about commitment too!
Do most squadrons have a dedicated social media/communications lead, or is it usually combined with other duties?
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Thank you for your advice, it’s very helpful!
The work you mentioned on building media teams is actually something I’m very interested in. In my research so far, I’ve noticed that a lot of squadrons aren’t optimising social media effectively.
For example, many post mainly on Facebook, but most cadet-age users aren’t active there – it’s mostly parents and guardians. At least from the outside, optimising platforms and boosting local media presence could really help with both cadet and staff recruitment.
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Thanks for taking the time to reply. When I first thought about volunteering, my initial motivation was simply to give back. I think young people today face far more challenges than I did, even 10 years ago, and when I look back on my time as a cadet, being part of the RAFAC genuinely made a difference and helped to shape who I am today.
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If they are fortunate enough to have the staff (or a staff cadet who is keen) then yes.
Otherwise it falls to the Adj or who ever knows their way round socials.
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It’s usually combined with other duties, depending on how much time the person has to commit. However, as you indicated in one of your responses, it really does benefit from having someone dedicated talking ownership of it.
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This is true, however often we don’t view potential cadets as the audience. It is parents, potential volunteers and other stakeholders and supporters. Local council, nearest RAF station, RBL, RFCA etc.
I have more young people keen on joining than I can take in. My limitations are i) staff ii) premises and iii) funding, in that order.
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As I’m sure you’ll have realised, it’s actually worse than that.
We have redundant sites, a competing “air cadet finder” which gives incorrect information about many units, a national website competing for rankings against lots of individual unit websites and social media pages etc.
It’s an area where additional expertise and capacity for the core team in sorting this out would benefit the organisation immensely, as it’s actually quite a complex area where many CFAV (I count myself here) will be putting a lot of effort in and actually causing themselves harm or being ineffective, because we just don’t understand how the algorithms work.
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I live in the middle of 2 Sqns, and if I had done my research, I’d have chosen the other sqn as they were way more active on social media than the Sqn I’m at now. In the end, I’m happy I was contacted by the Sqn I am with now. I have the time to attend both nights and weekends if they need staff to make the ratios up. We also have staff who can’t do weekends and only 1 night a week. Any time you can give is better than nothing.
It’s all GEO now anyway
Generative AI is where all the cool kids hang out.
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That’s really insightful and it definitely highlights the scale of the challenge. The fragmentation you’ve described (redundant sites, competing pages, conflicting third-party data, and national vs regional vs local overlaps) is exactly the kind of thing that makes online optimisation difficult for any organisation, let alone one with such a distributed volunteer structure.
From the outside looking in, it sounds like a lot of the issues stem from a lack of a central digital or SEO framework. Without a single, unified approach to how squadrons present themselves online, volunteers can pour a huge amount of effort into producing good content while unintentionally diluting overall visibility by competing with national or wing-level pages for the same space online.
The fact that incorrect external listings and tools are also feeding outdated information adds another layer of complexity for squadrons, especially when parents, prospective staff, community partners, and other stakeholders (as @WestlandScout mentioned) rely heavily on those sources. At the same time, it also shows why using the right channels effectively from the start is so important.
With search behaviour shifting as well, including towards AI-driven summaries and generative tools (again, as mentioned by @WestlandScout), getting the foundations right becomes even more crucial. If the underlying data and structure aren’t consistent, it’s much more difficult for traditional search engines and generative platforms to reliably gather accurate information.
It sounds like an area where coordinated guidance and a bit of specialist support could make a big difference across the organisation. If I do decide to volunteer, it’s something I’d be quite interested in getting involved with.
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Reach out the HQ Influence team (contacts on Sharepoint). Sounds like they could use your help.
My advice for what its worth……
Make sure that what you are doing is what you want to be doing. Remember, this is a hobby, so just because your day job is in one area does not mean that is the area you need to focus on as a CFAV.
I have had volunteers who have major qualifications and experience in areas that as RAFAC we would love to utilise. However, some are happy to do this, whilst others are of the “thats my working day, I come here to do something different”
At the end of the day whatever you want to offer would be useful - just make sure it is what you want to offer!!
TBH a lot of units just want a volunteer with a pulse who is happy to throw themselves into anything 
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