M-B raises a good point…if the RAF is justifying uniform contracts based on the RAF and Reserves with some addition to cover the RAFAC (given we only get initial kitting “guaranteed”) then based on those numbers the RAFAC has good “buying power”
You say this, but the RN cadets are still in the old no. 4s, not the new PCS version; I suspect this is on cost grounds as a PCS suit costs more than a blue one.
So, a split of uniforms isn’t unprecedented.
Also, Jeltexes…
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I expect that at some level there’s an economy of scale that might even require our inclusion in their contract.
Although we miss out when supply goes wonky, the difference in negotiating a contract for rolling supply for 80K (with what, 10% new joiners annually across all streams?) and 35k with presumably closer to 5% new is probably worth a few pennies per item.
I wonder if they are going to have sizes to accommodate the 5ft sod all 5 st dripping wet cadet to the 6ft 6+ 19+ st brick outhouse types and all points in between and are they going to be unisex or will there be male and female variants to accommodate the differences, again across all size/shape variants.
A mentioned we are the main customer in terms of numbers, so it should be biased towards us. But it won’t, cadets and staff won’t get issued immediately (unless they are doing something) and there will be (as when we went from BD to trousers, jumpers and shirts … I am that old) a transition period where for 3-4 years cadets like me and my mates were in a mix of old and new and this when we had a proper air force. As a result we’ll be sniffing around the stores for scraps and be thankful, like normal.
No, it shouldn’t. The priority, as always, is operational personnel of the RAF, who have a greater need for suitable work attire to conduct the role they carry out on a daily basis, and for whom the final product has been specced and manufactured.
It’s blindingly obvious and perfectly logical that their daily, operational requirement trumps our occasional cosplay. Numbers be damned.
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Given we had that exact spread amongst my IOT entry into the real thing way back when, I can safely say yes.
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I don’t see this in the reality when ordering uniform.
I do. Those sizes at the top and bottom of the tables, that we don’t often need, are tiny and huge respectively.
Not tiny enough, sometimes, but we’re generally dealing with people still growing so it’s not long until it’s a good fit.
I have seen the reality of people wearing it, so your objections mean nothing.
Well we just to have accept what they give us and no arguments or bitching from us, just roll over for a belly rub.
So we will get the same crap service … put an order in and then faff and fanny around to get cadets into uniform from old stock or for those who have grown (as over lock down) where it becomes a slog and then staff initial kitting which takes more than one visit to stores. This has got worse as the RAF has shrunk and we haven’t. We promise free this and that compared to other youth orgs, but to me free doesn’t mean in dribs and drabs. The times cadets are in ill-fitting uniform because the service we get is so poor is inexcusable.
The Corps motto should be - plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, because this is just how it is and feels. Chance for something to change for the good and it just doesn’t, because no one in the CFAV is any position (do not mention the CFAV Gp Capt) to affect things.
It’s not asking for anything massive just recognition that we exist and expect a good service as we have nowhere else to go. Which actually plays into their hands, knowing we can be treated like 3rd class citizens and there is sod all we can do.
You could you know… be nice to the guys running stores.
Never had a problem, infact our store and got his full order… he would have got it the same day, but the store manager had been on a break
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I’m polite and so on, but when all said and done they are doing a job and getting paid for it. I’ve never done the pressies thing as we have always been so far from parent stations that it is impossible to have a relationship other than business.
The sentiment of bringing out crap new uniforms seems to have drifted into the minds of the Garda. Issued from next week:
It’ll be interesting to see how they cope with going into polo shirts and cargo pants. At the moment the only positive seems to be the laughs they’re getting on twitter
The jackets are very European, the Dutch have something similar.
The shirts are also very European and would’ve fine in black or a darker blue.
I suppose the question is are they comfortable and practical for what they are doing?
I’ve spent the last 28 years of my working life in polo shirts and similar trousers, practical and comfortable to wear and easy to wash.
I don’t entirely hate the jackets, admittedly. But the polo shirts are gopping, they look like they were made in 2002 for a corporate event, and I think if they were set on modernising then they should have done something about the cap.
I bloody hate polo shirts.
I mean… I’m sure they have their place… Playing polo or something maybe… But god, why are they so bloody common as “business attire”? Just makes everyone look like they work in a small local computer repair shop in the earlier '90s.
Ughhhh
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It’s the epaulets that get me.
If going casual, go casual.
Epaulets only work on shirts…
Velcro rank tabs exist for UBACS
I just love to notice that the Police Sargent has Epilets with their rank on them as well as displaying it again on the sleeve.