There some interesting ppts hitting HQAC Sharepoint at present from last week. Enjoy your viewing; no doubt things will come down the line eventually.
I watched the live tweets of the event - nothing of real substance at the time.
Where are they stored?
I like the blue to gold training idea. Also reenergising the comms badge. Something I really wanted to do as a cadet but the opportunity wasn’t there for me
Which presentation is the ‘blue to gold training’ in?
EDIT: Never mind, found it. Does seem like a good idea but is it not already in place to some degree just not recognised as such?
They have put the thought into the Comms badge, but there is no supporting structure for other activities, doubt we will see this for a while.
One assumes that Comms came up with the idea and it’s being expanded?
The Leadershio Badges are easy, Wing JNCO for Bronze, Wing/Region SNCO for Silvera nd ACLC for Gold?
My only issue is that if you get a badge for every wing course we will end up a bit scouty, everyone having loads of badges.
I’ve be saying for years that a gold leadership oval should be given for JL
That would mean ACLC/frimley etc would be silver.
However, I am also not keen on the idea of handing out badges for attendance at wing courses so I’m not sure what that leaves for the blue and bronze levels. It also devalues the full badge in my opinion.
I think though that there is scope for having 2 levels of each badge: a “standard” level and a “gold” level.
leadership: standard for ACLC etc, gold for JL
Comms: standard for a “basic” set of subjects, gold for the foll communicator.
FA: standard for YFA, gold for adult FA (from any provider!) - or keep existing red/green
Music: already has this system!
Shooting: needs a tidy-up
I can’t help but feel that by going as low as blue that we’re going to end up with cadets looking like scouts with arms full of badges.
I like the progression idea, but I think that we should get to bronze before actually giving out badges.
So staff and cadet numbers are ‘worry beads’ should we be surprised? Should HQAC be surprised?
We’ve had 2-3 years with reduced AEF and looking at an optomistic 18 months before we get any sort of gliding and ? years before either get back to the levels we used to have. We push the flying to draw youngsters in, so is it any surprise some leave as we don’t glide and AEF at the moment is not as much as it was. I’ve seen a drop in numbers over the last 3 years, most cite school, but just listening to them when they are on breaks or just chatting reduced / no flying and gliding has been a large contributory factor. The extra pressure put on staff to be qualified (as highlighted in the camps talk) along with other things any surprise staff leave and or don’t go for uniform. I can’t see in terms of what you can do in the Corps, what advantage (with exception of being ‘paid’) being in uniform is to the individual.
The CFAV age profile would have been more informative if the breakdown included by status and gender and some history to see if there are age groups with a large decline, which could then be used to address the decline.
OK use over 18s as staff at camp, many are now, BUT they are still regarded as cadets and subject to all the rules that a 13/14 cadet year old is subject to. Treat over 18s like the legal adults they are if we are going to maintain them. In my day we used to go out to a pub on the last night when on camps. Everyone knew we did, the camp com would tell us which pub to go to and no one raised an eyebrow. The only caveat was we didn’t get trollied.
Make special cases for older cadets around exam leave is an interesting idea, but what about those who manage their time and attend all the way through? I thought we were supposed to do training for future life?
If they can’t cope with the Corps and school, by all means discuss and make some alternative arrangements as they have done for donkey’s years, but no special cases. I worry how these kids will cope when they leave the bubble of education and have to deal with real life. Despite all the namby pamby rules at work now about taking time out etc, you still need to put money in the bank and expect (if it’s your thing) to see job advancement take a backstep. This is a hobby and at the end of the day if they want to concentrate on school fine … leave the Corps, they have done for years, a number of my mates left when they were in the 5th year and then 6th Form or Tech or started work. When our kids were at school 2 of them were in an athletics club, school teams and my son played Sunday football, which had one night training per week. The other was in a church youth group. Our approach was if you want to do these fine, but it means you do home/coursework around it or you give up the outside activities. They did all the schoolwork and their other things.
As for more badges, no thanks. Brassards are bloody nightmare as it is with the different configurations depending on what badges cadets have.
Some of the numbers are presented in an awkward manner. Why use 3D and other effects on charts? One of the senior managers I regularly present and supply information to, has said he likes getting my reports as it’s easy to look at and therefore understand, compared to some who he says gets overly excited with different styles of presentation and colours.
The 2FTS presentation was very short…
19000 Cadets flown??
so that isn’t even half then?
long gone are the days of 1 flight a year!
it is semantics i know but i find the “mission statement” interesting that they end user is mentioned last…
it could have been “inspiring the future generation in the RAF and aviaition through world-class trainin…etc”
edit: duplicate post
It surprised me that this is considered to be a problem seeking a solution.
When cadets can’t attend due to school workload (or any other legitimate conflicting priority) they don’t attend. They come back when they are able to. It doesn’t need any detailed investigation, formal leave of absence or other mechanism for them to step away from this voluntary organisation and focus on their priorities, though it is nice if they let us know so we can plan around it.
My only thought is whether or not there’s a simple ‘Cadet NEP’ solution, whereby a cadet can be entered in SMS as being on a leave of absence and therefore not liable for subs payments up the chain (and not expected to pay); but can be simply reinstated without issue when they come back.
Subs is the only question in my mind with this perceived problem. Ours just keep paying but I’m sure there are plenty who have a problem with that.
To be honest, Bader’s entire register system needs to be re-imagined to be able to book block leave in advance and to make it far, far simpler to enter the presence status of personnel without needing to use a mouse to to so.
Sounds OK, however given the vast majority of squadrons operate STO or DD for subs it becomes a faff and I could see cadet NEP being like staff NEP and offering a door to not return. Which is what happens with the vast majority of cadets who opt for extended LOA for exams anyway and staff who go NEP from what I’ve seen invariably don’t come back.
The ATC like any other hobby is about getting into a habit and once you get out of that habit it’s hard to go back. I had 4 weeks off (3 weeks holiday and week standown) 3 years ago and it wasn’t easy getting back after that and so I can understand someone having a few months off and thinking evenings and weekends to myself, or, emails and grief doing something that should be fun mmm …
I’ve got 4 on ‘exam leave’ and if I see 3 of them after the end of June I’d be surprised. the other has emailed me asking about things.
I’m firmly of the opinion if they want to be in the Corps they will ‘man’ up and carry on through their exams and other times. I’ve got 4 on ‘exam leave’ (parent instigated) and if I see any of them after the end of June I’d be surprised.
ATC Convention? No such thing.
I did go to a rather good thing called the ACO Convention last week, though. Good to meet so many of my ATC colleagues. (One or two exceptions…)