CCF ones did with the rifle/star/crown/crossed rifles with then blue outline for small bore & red outline for full bore.
Not much better on colour but in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king.
2 Likes
ACLC was my favourite badge. Much better than the gold one now. It really stood out whereas I find the gold badges don’t really, because everyone has the same badges with a different flash of colour.
3 Likes
understood - i can’t say I have had much interaction with CCF to have noticed…
1 Like
This I think is just a cyber issue. Silver cyber is just too easy for a silver course and one that you could do in an evening.
Hopefully when a new cyber PTS is put out it’ll actually be challenging and not something you just do at home.
I mean, this is mine and the wife’s brassards… Compared to now they do seem (in my eyes) to have a little more personality…
5 Likes
My biggest problem is that every level gets a badge so you can have a relatively full brassard without really having achieved anything
Exactly this. From afar it is tricky to tell the difference between someone who has done loads and someone who has done the complete basics. It very much used to be the case that you could tell someone had done lots from the other side of the parade square based on how full the brassard was!
I do however think the new system being progressive is better in a lot of ways. ie rewarding people earlier with something more than just a certificate!
1 Like
Wasn’t that the entire point? Most Cadets only last 18 months (or they did at the time) and them feeling like what they had done wasn’t recognised was given as part of the problem.
Doing it the way we do basically spun out of the old Corps CWO conferences, so effectively we have what the Cadets wanted.
Was there much call for this particular skill though? 
5 Likes
Think about the old comms system as an example! Can’t remember the exact details, but you’d have to do multiple courses, plus part of the senior/mac stuff before you got the badge. You could be very good with radios etc and not have the badge because you hadn’t done 1 exam. Now the progression is much better!
That’s the best example o that I can think of, wasn’t it like 6 modules?
Something like that, yeah. And some of them were optional I think? I think there were 4 or 5 compulsory things, then you had to do 1 or 2 other things from a list. As I know getting your armature licence was one of the optional bits. Or you could do something else. Can’t remember what though! I did a week with the Army Signals like a proper nerd 
It was great!
1 Like
So rather than looking at how we can improve the offering to increase the average length of membership we just hand out more badges.
I’ve nothing against a PTS in principle, though I think the current one needs a rethink in terms of balance of work (cyber bronze to silver is a perfect example). But I just don’t think we should be issuing badges at every level.
What? Not even first class with Corps Marksman 
Just brought back memorises of controversy over which goes on the right corner of the brassard; First Aid or Marksman… 
This will have been when you were meant to unstitch your master badge when you got the MOI lanyard! (Or am I mis-remembering that?)
I know, I was making a joke and it was pre-Master Cadet so you’d do Staff Part 1/2 and then remove Senior Cadet Badge and wear the lanyard.
3 Likes
That’s sounds like the one!
i corrected that for you.
In some cases there were certificates before badges, in some local cases they produced certificates for (almost) everything so there was a feeling of achievement.
that system has just been replaced by a formal one where there is a set progressive system with rewards at each level.
i accept to the layman on the street a brassard full of badges looks impressive whether it is all blue or all silver and only means something to those in the know (ie in the org)
it would be interesting to know the stats behind average length of service pre and post PTS badges - has it increased (in part) as Cadets can now see a progression along their training route?
No need. I’m still against giving a badge to wear on the uniform for everything. By all means mark the achievement with a certificate but the badges for everything is silly and a cost we could do without
1 Like
There was nothing quite like the stress of poking the holes in your brassard to put the musicians badge on! The old ACLC badge was much better as well, and if you did JL that one was supposed to come off as well. They were much more achievement badges rather than tick box badges (I would liken the old system more to most badges being the equivalent of gold on the new system so being something to work towards across a time/ can aspire to rather than a quick was to fill up a brassard).
1 Like
I actually don’t disagree with all of what you say
I do feel as the title suggest it promotes “badge collecting” as Cadets can see “merit” in a full brassard and as most Squadrons can offer most blue badges it is readily achieved.
which then begs the question, if everyone has a badge what value does it have - but then the argument is there is the next level to work towards and adds a bit more variety and uniqueness.
i am however for recognition sooner than it was seen previously - but do feel the blue badge is almost an attendance badge and the jump between levels is too small and there just to show “progression” (Comms/Cyber being the obvious examples for me)