Spurred by the recent thread about Road Marching Badges, we’ve come to the consensus that our policies are a mess (not a new idea to most).
Is it actually documented anywhere the purpose for each set of policy documents?
ACP, ACTO, ACATI, ACLI, ACPEDTI, ACRoMaTI, AP.
Other than our subject specific policy documents which have been sectioned off into their own families (Road Marching, Adventure Training, Logistics etc etc) what is supposed to be the difference between an ACP and an ACTO, and should we have different document families or should everything just be an ACP?
I’ll give this a go… This is purely from distant memory from about 20 years ago, but we originally used to just have Air Cadet Publications. In particular, ACP 20 was so big it had ACP20A (Air Cadet Training Instructions, ACTI) and ACP 20B (Air Cadet Administrative Instructions, ACAI).
It was found that managing smaller document changes was better/easier than re-releasing these big ACPs, so some ACPs’ individuals chapters/sections (called Instructions) split into either new ACPs or single Instructions documents. ACTIs eventually became individual documents called Air Cadet Training Orders (ACTOs), renamed to imply they needed to be followed rather than there simply as guidance.
Many of the Air Cadet Admin Instructions became ACPs in their own right (e.g., ACAI204 - Dress Regulations for the ATC became ACP1358/AP1358C) and all that remains in ACP20 is just Personnel related instructions.
The acronyms mentioned in the original post:
AP - Air Publication (RAF policy).
ACP - Air Cadet Publication (was ATC (now inclusion of whole RAFAC) policy).
ACTO - Air Cadet Training Order (used to be the Air Cadet Training Instructions (ACTI) contained in ACP20A).
ACATI - Air Cadet Adventure Training Instructions (used to be the individual sections contained in ACP 17 Adventure Training)… ACP17 is now redesignated as the Motorised Transport policy.
ACLI - Air Cadet Logistics Instructions; linked from ACP 17 for MT guidance but also includes Supply instructions too.
ACPEDTI - Air Cadet Physical Education Training Instructions (Split out from a Physical Education ACP or ACP20A but can’t remember for certain).
ACRoMaTI - Air Cadet Road Marching Training Instructions (This didn’t come from an ACP and was born as ACRoMaTIs from the beginning of making it an official RAFAC activity).
Looking at RAFAC Key Documents section acronyms… also:
DIN - Defence Instructions and Notices (MoD wide equivalent of our Internal Briefing Notes (IBNs))
JSP - Joint Service Publication (MoD wide equivalent of our ACPs)
GAI - General Administrative Instructions (RAF admin instructions)
Not quite. The Army has Army General Administrative Instructions (such as the infamous AGAI 67) but the RAF has GAIs (such as GAI 1026 for Service Instructors).
So for me, having one book that had it all in and then having specific chapters within that book that were subordinate to some fundamental truths (such as universal dress regulations) would be helpful.
I’m still active in the military and my brain just turns off when people start firing all of these different abbreviations.
It needs to be simplified so that people who don’t engage with it regularly can understand what is being spoken about and that it can be found easily by those people. A single “document” (stored in a very accessible place with quick links) that has streamlined approval processes should chapters need updating could be much better.
Especially as people don’t now have a physical copy of ACP X on the shelf which needs a full re-print each time there’s a minor edit.
Roll back the clock to a different time and different place, and we used to train cadets in this madness as part of Staff Part 2 - and was something that was deliverable on almost every squadron as matter of routine.
Over time, this ability has waned. I’m not sure if it was people passing the buck/shirking responsibility, the introduction of the AVIP or BASIC course and associated booklets which built a dependency/reliance on Wg to be able to deliver this information, or the introduction of Bader and electronic ways of working - each element of the above has its own impact on the now present knowledge gap.
BUT, as boring and frustrating as it was at the time, there were some distinct positives of having Staff Part II Cadets who were fluent in knowing and understanding the differences between the APs and ACPs. And their ability to research and find information whilst they were still passionate, interested and invested in RAFAC was actually quite a good attribute to have around the office! I’d argue it probably made for some better quality and more credible VRT/WO candidates at the time too.
Not a hot take; the best practice way of operating in many areas.
When I’m project managing I have one plan/GANTT Chart with subsections that feed into the overall. I don’t have 50 little plans that aren’t connected and sometimes override others but are sometimes overridden by others, with no clear guidelines as to when what happens where and why.
How is anyone meant to find the single version of the truth in this org with so many different sources and data owners?
An ACP is the policy - it is the “what”
An ACTO is the instruction - it is the “how”
ACP 1234 explains what we do - provide X Flying experience/ Y Shooting experience Z fieldcraft experience
ACTO 1234 explains how we do that - by attending 20 minute flying experiences / attending the range (after IWT) and firing as per the syllabus / running around in the bushes achieving skills within the syllabus
but it is never as clear cut as that - but is a good “starter for 10” when explaining to someone new
what is confusing, and frustrating is the lack of joined up link between the numbering of ACPs and ACTOs
I use 1234 above, but ACP and ACTO numbers are never interchangeable. topics 1-10 are not “admin” 11-20 for flying, 21-30 fieldcraft, 31-40 first aid etc…
ACP44 is Radio comms, and its corresponding ACTO is 073
CWOs becoming CIs was practically unheard of when I was a cadet, with them all going straight into uniform as plt offs or AWOs. CIs were generally those who left at lower ranks, or old ex-regulars with specific areas of expertise.
If we want to go this way, we just need to follow the JSP method. Normally you have the Directive and the Guidance as two seperate documents. Often JSP XXX Chapter 1: Directive and JSP XXX Chapter 2: Guidance. Often physically two different PDFs.
But I don’t really think we need that. We just need to decide what constitutes an ACP and what constitutes an ACTO.
But our biggest problem overall is a lack of continuity between policy. I’ve highlighted many times when one policy says one thing and another one contradicts it. Or an IBN/email comes out, and the policy isn’t updated.
To start with, we need to stop duplicating orders/meanings/definitions. There should only be a single place where a given policy or rule or table or chat or what ever exists. And if that is needed elsewhere, it should be done by way of reference, rather than duplication.
Something that I really think needs to be explored is the use of an AI model to help staff find policy. You can create custom GPTs where you feed it loads of data (our policies) and it’ll go through it all and allow you to ask it questions, it’ll then give you an answer and quote where it got it from. This could firstly be used to find all the contradictions. If you gave it everything, and asked where there are contradictions, it’ll tell you. But once the policy is fixed you should be able to ask something like “I have a cadet approaching 18, what needs to be done so they can stay on as a staff cadet” and it’ll tell you, and quote the policy.
As an example, someone has done this for Formula 1. They’ve fed it all the FIA regulations, so you can ask it questions, and it’ll give you great detailed and referenced feedback. For example, I can ask it “What are the regulations around fuel usage during a sprint race?”. And I get the following:
The BEST thing we could for for RAFAC standardisation is delete SharePoint and start again, with 1 unified SPO site for the whole RAFAC. Break it down into operational delivery sections: Flying, Gliding, Shooting, Fieldcraft. Each page is then in sections: Policy, Guidance, Forms, Publications, ‘Local Information’ (like each AEF has a page with their JIs on it, but forbidden to deviate from Policy). Have one unified process - MT, Supply, Uniforms, Promotion Boards etc. The nationalise the good stuff that wings/regions have on their SPO - like RAFAC Wide Vacancies, one single place for all vacancies across the RAFAC (WSO, SMEs, OCWs, Sqn OCs etc) so if people are moving round they can see what is available in their area. Only when the back-end IT infrastructure is unified can we even hope to have a unified organisation. St John Ambulance do it - all volunteer vacancies advertised in one place, all policy and procedure in one place, no ‘local’ rules.
