Things are going a little bit better for now. I have had a very positive meeting with the Wing Chairman and a text message from the bank to say that the new signatures on the bank details are just about complete.
I have been told by our Wing Chairman (who is also an ex CO) that we can nominate someone else to join us at our meetings rather than the CO and we do have another officer who is slightly higher in rank than him and she has agreed to join our meetings.
As a CO myself, Iâd be mightily annoyed if I was told I couldnât attend committee meetings regarding my squadron. Whether there is another officer of a higher rank or not, the CO is the one who should be attending. They are in command of the squadron.
You sound like youâre enjoying creating problems and from comments in other posts, I suspect youâre either trolling for responses or you really are out to make life difficult. Either way, if youâre genuine, I would think carefully about your conduct in the role, because Iâm already getting tones of a vendetta against the CO and other people who volunteer their time for the young people of the organisation.
There is history here where the OC refuses to attend meetings.
In that situation they ought to designate somebody to attend on their behalf. I am not sure of the legitimacy of random officers attending in their stead.
Of course as members of the committee, albeit ex-officio members, the OC and Padre are both entitled to attend all civcom meetings. They cannot be excluded.
There may well be history, but another post stated that this CO was new in post⌠either way, other members of staff cannot be part of the civilian committee- other staff attend when they have a proposal to put forward to the civilian committee and they are best placed to argue the case. By attempting to exclude the CO, it is hardly a recipe for the harmonious relationship needed to make the civ com work for the squadron.
They are not excluding the CO - the CO is excluding themselves. Reasons unknown, but it is an obstacle to progress.
The CO can send somebody in their place - I have been in that position myself when my OC was away.
You are indeed entitled to your own opinion and thank you for your comments but I am only doing things on advice from people who have been with the ATC for many years.
alycidon, I would welcome training in any format and I think your idea excellent. I only want to do a good job for the Squadron and the Cadets. I love working with like minded people who strive for the same thing for the good of these kids. I would love to work with a CO where we both respect each other and everything runs smoothly. I also believe that Team Work is a great strategy and one I personally encourage. Thank you for your post.
Donât close the door or your mind. If youâre both new in post then you both have a learning curve and and pressures on you. Two people with new roles and responsibilities having to make a new relationship work is difficult - itâs usually easier when one or more has experience in their respective roles and how the relationship between them should work.
If the OC is unable or unwilling to attend, then a nominated representative is fine. They should, however, retain the open invitation to attend. They shouldnât be cut out or their representative appear to be a way of bypassing their âauthorityâ. There may come a time when one of you needs the other.
This. Whatever the history, both new to post, it will take some working out. However, that doesnât remove the attitude that has come across from posts, that led me to make the comments I did. The fact is for the time being theyâre the OC and perhaps issues with the previous committee led to them being unwilling to attend and a hostile new chair is hardly likely to make them change that action.
After being called out, your posts appear to have changed in tone. Hopefully how you approach the OC will too and it leads to a positive outcome for the committee and squadron.
And my opinion is based on many years within the ATC. Iâve seen plenty of civilian committees, both good and bad.
Maybe the fact we seem to get so many OCs with little or no wider experience of the ATC and the relationship between sqn and CWC, that the problem occur and in the same breath CWCs with similar lack of experience of that relationship.
I have endured CWC members who think they are a PTA and similarly I have known OCs who make unreasonable demands on CWCs in terms of the money they need, without having any real understanding of how bloody hard it is to raise money.
The fact so it seems that CWC is still a 5 minute slot at Cranwell is a problem, but this should not be the first time they become aware. In a time when squadrons are being expected to fud more things it shouldnât be an us and them situation. If it is then maybe the OC is the wrong person for the job and or the Chairman.
The Squadron commanders course at ATF isnât particularly good at preparing people to be OCs. For some reason itâs still delivered by people who have hardly ever run into cadets (and their parents/ CWC etc) let alone run a cadet unit. The course syllabus needs a massive overhaul led by those who do the role and have done for many years, to really prepare people for being a CO. Instead it repeats much of the initial course and then places a massive emphasis on a presentation, rather than the nitty gritty of the actual role.
It could be a powerful tool and week, but sadly itâs not. It barely scratches the surface in the current form.
When I went on it years ago, most of us had been cadets and or WOs and or been Officers for a few years, so knew what we were about. I pity anyone going who has little experience and is on a sort of ârideâ through the ranks. I was speaking to a young officer (22) who went last year, as his OC had given 3 months notice and he was being prepped for command, and he said it didnât seem to prepare you for being OC. He said lots of info passed, but very little of it seemed to come from real life experience. He said the outgoing OC (a man of some 27 years running several squadrons) taught him more about what to expect over a couple of pints, than his week at ATF. He said the week at ATF seemed to be more about doing something for the sake of it, rather than trying to prepare people for their future role.
Would they draft in current squadron commanders to deliver it? Unless they were heavily vetted and worked to a script so they were âon messageâ, I doubt it.
