Not all WO’s are drill pigs that cant do anything else - I was a DI and an Arms DI, but I ran a sqn for a while, started a DF and took that to Sqn. Still did my WO bit and parades and drill courses etc, etc. Taught lessons (except POF)…
The expectation however is that they are “drill pigs”, due to the childlike mentality that exists in the ATC and seems to be supported at the top of the tree, that then permeates its way down. I’ve known WOs who have had no real interest in drill/discip and have been rounded on.
Want to instruct be a CI, do drill/discip be a SNCO, be more “managerial” be an Officer. When there are very many CIs and SNCOs out there who are more than able to run squadrons, but we have to have an Officer doing that.
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The expectation yes, reality like everything else in the RAFAC is varies from Reg to Reg, Wing to Wing and Unit to Unit. Also there are plenty of SNCO’s/WO’s running DF’s and Sqn’s along with authorisation to attend SCC at ATF.
Not me ive never been a drill pig ever.This goes back to my service days.I was a tradesman first if I had to do drill I did it (AOC Guard that sort of thing).However most of the time we just got on with our jobs.Obviously you never crossed swords with the SWO coz you d lose .Ive always held the view that as an WO in the corps/RAFAC/ACO im not and never will be the equivalent of a regular.I know how long it takes to get to that rank and the privilege it is to hold it.It takes years of very good F6442S and courses and crucially trade experience.I worked under a lot of very good WO/SNCOs in my time and they taught me a lot about man management and people skills.I just hope I can be as good as they were in my cadet service.
If you’ve managed to by-pass the expectation brilliant and that has to be good for the cadets you come into contact with and hopefully able to give staff a more rounded perspective of their role etc.
This then transcends into dealing with problems that arise, like cadets getting a bit too excited and upsetting others, by thinking they need to talk and act in a way that they don’t need to.
I was a WO over 20 years ago and it wasn’t like it is today. I remember it as being a lot calmer and more civilised. Cadets were cadets and spoke to each other like they always did and continue to.
I wonder if the problems didn’t come to the fore when adult sergeants were introduced. Since this time more cadets became adult SNCOs at 20 (there weren’t very many old style AWOs under 25, many Wings had an unofficial age bar) from being a cadet and didn’t have the time to learn how to deal with things in an adult manner and their behaviours and ways they dealt with things as cadets persisted and has continued to translate to cadets today.
Interesting point.When I was appointed back in the day the unofficial policy was they only appointed people to the rank who were preferably ex service and over 30.
Must have been a local thing, where I was our AWO’s used to all gondifect from being CWO’s straight to being AWO’s.
While not expressly ex-service and not official our AWOs had to be in the late 20s and attended at least 2 camps, which was used to assess their behaviour in the Sgts Mess.
Saw a few very young Warrant Officers on my course back in 95.There were also a few ex service like myself and one guy who d only been out the mob about a year.It was a good course though and we all helped each other as for some the daily drill was a bit of a culture shock.
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