Amalgamation of Cadet Forces

One of the main issues I’d see would be the differences in funding/support between the different organisations from our respective parent services. I don’t think the SCC especially get much in the way of subsidised activities or kit from their parent service, (not to say we don’t have to do our fair share of scrounging).
The differences would need to be resolved in some way to make sure one branch was not subsiding another

Sorry you felt you needed to delete my post,
But if we cannot give personal experience of another unit/ organisation then I feel we cannot understand why the resilience to amalgamation is there.

So from me for multiple reasons NO!

Would you be impressed if, assuming this debate is being held on the ACF side, they decided not to get involved with the ATC because HQAC had employed a nonce - and that therefore the ATC was full of Nonces…?

No, I thought perhaps not.

I think it would be indicative of feelings and the realistic impressions given out by each cadet force to another.

We all have failures but if we do not see them and act then we are just blinded.

Your personal experience will obviously impact your opinion. However, if they’re that bad here is not the place to share them.

Not at all - as a ATC cadet we had flying, gliding and shooting opportunities regularly.

As for my current unit, I can’t speak for nationwide but certainly in my local area all of the CCF’s have great opportunities.

In the wider discussion - I have just come back from a weekend supporting another schools CCF where there were 2 ACF officers also assisting. We had a great time and the kids got loads out of it. At the end of the day as CFAV’s we all share the same desire, no matter the uniform we wear - we just want the cadets to have a great time and learn something doing it.

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My detachment is in one of the more affluent areas of the county, and also one of the most successful. Those in more “run down” towns seem to actually get less cadets. I’m not sure how the ATC do in these areas mind. My top cadet is a public school girl, highly intelligent and the parents own a house valued north of £1 million. I wouldn’t have described them as working class.

I’m not sure where they have gone, but I don’t see many of the young-offender type kids in the ACF anymore. We used to get them, but they seem to have gone elsewhere. Are there less of them, or is the ACF not cool enough anymore?

To be honest we did lose something when that happened. Cadet had a bit more pride, not in the uniform, but in themselves when they were wearing it. Of course, I would a cadet back then, so the glasses may be tinted a slight rose colour.

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I suspect that they’re not refered anymore, maybe you can put that down to antipathy to the armed forces by the indoctrinated social worker ‘class’, more than anything.

Edited to add: A house north on one million pounds in the SE can just about buy your a tatty tent under an M25 flyover whereas up north excess on one million pounds can get you a property that actually has space and land not a small tent. Property values are horses for courses.

I used to moan about the CCF Army; now I am their CO I have to improve them instead!

Yes, we should do it, despite the loss of jobs in staff officer posts (and perhaps also BECAUSE of the loss of jobs, i.e. the cost savings). No, I don’t think it will actually happen.

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this - but only because HQAC will not be the top of the pyramid.

indeed i fully expect any “purple” MOD Cadets/Military Cadets to be headed up by the Army removing a large portion of the RAF/HQAC contingent.

would it work?
personally i can’t see it working. as stated there is no model to follow - a bigger CCF some would say, yet it might work on Unit level but from a management/full time role i think it would be a mess.
HQAC already claim a lack of resource to do what is on the to do list, in the history of amalgamations no organisation has ended up with a higher overall personnel count - ie less people, everything goes slower

we already complain it takes weeks to get IDs, DBS and remuneration completed, without the standard certificates and transfer paperwork etc…combining this task to one HQ - i find it hard to expect any improvement

Devils advocate Steve - a lot of the stuff that we do on paper such as remuneration, is already done faster on the Army side. In fact anything that has to have gone through Bde seems to be sorted right quick, anything through HQAC slow.

We might actually find ourselves better off due to improved process. Not everything requires more bodies working harder, these days proper application of process and technology will do the job just as well.

Identity is a big thing.

Guaranteed that if the 3 merged, the go-to uniform would be MTP, and therefore we’d all be referred to as Army.

Growing up I had the choice of Air, Army and Sea cadets. I chose air. I deliberately avoided army. If it appears in the outside as Army, how many thousands will we lose, how many thousands would never even want to try…?

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Personally, I’d like to see much more inter-operation between the CFs and integration at the higher levels; but still retaining single-service indentities.

(A bit like my views on the forces in general, really)

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You must be in a different brigade :slight_smile:

If that were the case CCF cadets would all already be parading in only MTP - it is the Army’s show ultimately at the end of the day.

I used to think the exact same thing and was proven wrong - Don’t let your own prejudices get in your way.

Fair one! :slight_smile:

This would be the way forward, but if it happened you couldn’t see it remaining as independent at the bottom if the top is integrated for too long.
The rationale for this is cost saving and combining resources. If it couldn’t save money and see things being combined, it’s a non starter.

I’ve been through 6 merger and acquisitions in my working life and for while you get people doing their own thing, but eventually people go and jobs get absorbed, as you move towards being a single entity.

When the RNAS and RFC joined a 100 years ago there was no model to follow, and IIRC for several years between the wars it was a fight to retain the RAF as single entity.
I’m not saying that it would be easy, but a joint CF would open up opportunities and activities.

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I think it’s self pride and not the uniform in the ATC as well to a large extent. But only because people bang on about their uniform, I’m not sure too many are bothered about the RAF.

Interesting views. I joined as an air cadet as I wanted to join the RAF. It worked. Jointery, in any form, is like a bruise: it starts off blue, goes purple and ends up green!

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