But AT is so much cooler
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How much direct interest is the ACF seeing as a result of this and where?
You can put up all the posters, videos etc you like but unless you have evidence of increased âsalesâ or in this instance people coming in saying âI saw your âŚâ, it might look Gucci but pointless. You would IMO need to have 5 or 6 new cadets per unit nationally to say it was a successful advert.
If you are going to pay people to do this sort of thing there needs to be a part of the brief which says how much new interest is expected to be generated, to gauge how worthwhile it has been.
Imo if it puts the ACF name out there then they are doing better than us
The Air Cadets is still a national secretâŚno one knows about it.
In work, or social gathering if Iâm asked what I was doing on the weekend by someone who doesnât know me I have to explain who/what they Air Cadets is.
Even if its just one recruit per detachment the fact that the general public have a better (some) knowledge of the ACF then thatâs a win
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The Air Cadets have been a âsecretâ for as long as I can remember. When I took over the sqn, people didnât know we existed, but after a couple of years of getting into the public eye and being visible in the community that changed. Since breaking through the wall of obscurity, while numbers may not have been as high as some would like, the squadronâs profile and visibility is much higher.
If we need a load of centrally produced (no doubt ticking various boxes) posters going up, to raise the profile, then we are doing something wrong, especially now that people bang on about their SM presence⌠The local ACF is on a road that gets a lot of foot traffic of kids going to/from school as well as vehicles and their numbers have been about the same for as long as Iâve been OC, ours have stayed around the same, but without that sort of daily exposure and since reopening we have seen an increase in numbers, whereas the ACF speaking to the Det Cdr, has seen a drop and very little interest and when they opened it was a very slow return, with 3 for 3 weeks, compared to us coming back with c.60% of the old cadets from day one (albeit 1 night a week) and most of those that didnât come back were the group I felt most likely not to.
Overall I donât care much for the corporate approach. We are local and in the community and do our own thing, ergo IMO donât need the corporate vision/mantra. How many of those sqns boasting many tens of new cadets since reopening have relied on corporate posters etc? None, so do we need it, no. Would it make any difference I doubt it very much. Iâm not here to grease the egos of of ex-RAF Officers. I just wish these people would do something to restore our flying offer or let us do it. Sooner this than some poster or video.
Exactly, Even if each squadron did something like this it would bring a lot more attention to the core and most likely interest new recruits etc.
I have a waiting list of about 50, that has refilled since we did our first intake and this is the result of doing absolutely no recruitment effort. Iâd kinda like us to be more of a secret!!
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Certainly until we have the national CFAV recruitment and retention issues addressed!
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35-40,000 kids (still bigger than the RAF, despite covid) and a great number of units have rapidly increased in numbers in the past 6 months - weâve doubled and weâre not alone.
If you think thatâs a secret then thank god youâve never worked in intelligence.
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Lies. Youâre desperate for Sqn Ldr 
And there sits the great problem 
Itâs great that a large number of squadrons have grown in size, but with the lack of F2F activities, drop in motivation, will they stay 
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If the sqns maintain a varied and active enough programme for themselves, yes. And after all, as trainers in a training corps, thatâs what weâre here to do.
The cadets donât know any better, after all.
Just because weâre sat around here moaning that itâs not as good as âback in my dayâ (or even 3/4 years ago) doesnât mean anyone else actually cares. Certainly new cadets donât. Talk to them about what cadets 10 years ago did and you might as well be talking about what the ADCC cadets did - itâs as equally irrelevant to a new 13 year old.
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I mostly agree with you, but a number of my new recruits joined because they want to go flying. We do out best, but weâve lost cadets before because of lack of flying opportunities.
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Same with us. But weâve been honest with them from the start.
Can you go flying? Yes.
Will you go flying? Probably.
Will you go flying every week? No chance.
Can we give you the training so that when you do go in the air you know whatâs going on, what to expect, and what youâll do? Yes.
Set expectations with them and chances are theyâre ok with it.
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Flying - probably : is a bit of a stretch.
I would never give that level of expectation, based on a pre pandemic of one flying detail in 6ish years.
Iâve given up making any sort of expectation for flying, itâs too vague and I have less than zero confidence in the RAF delivering or making ir so we can deliver independently.
I concentrate on what I know we can do/have done and if something else comes up itâs a bonus for the cadets.
Sounds like youâve taken a leak in your WAvnOâs cornflakes.
Pre pandemic powered flying was ok if you were willing to travel and take the risk.
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Yeah, weâd get a couple of slots a year at least. Still not what Iâd want from a flying-centric organisation, but a lot more than 1 in six years. Gliding on the other handâŚ
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Depends on what AEF you use.
10 AEF didnât fly cadets for a couple of years, due to runway issues.
Others didnât fly at weekends, which was really helpful
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I didnât say the organisation isnât big, nor did I suggest it isnât successfulâŚ
But ask the average Joe on the street and many havenât heard of us.
The only colleges (2) who knew about the Air Cadets were former Cadets themselves.
I have to explain more often than not who/what the Air Cadets are/do.
The same is true in social occasions in non-ATC circles.
My mother-in-law was shocked I wore a âmilitary uniformâ the first time she saw me at a ATC event despite coming from an army background family and living in a military townâŚ
Some units are better than others (see @themajor ) but generally the organisation is not very good at blowing its own trumpet/promoting the organisation as a house hold name
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Iâd agree that despite working in a flying school, the majority of my colleagues and some of my students would ask what the uniform was and about the Air Cadets when they saw my uniform hanging up in my âofficeâ.
The ones that recognise it/know what we do are either UAS or current/ex cadet.