Anyone else notice the bit about WOs/SNCOs wearing the RAF TRF?
Cadet card brilliant idea. Also Sqns etc should have card readers to read same and oncea record is updated on SMS itās updated on cadet card
Until the time comes to pay for the card readers and software!
HQAC seems surprised that the badges theyāve introduced now have to be paid for - can you imagine how well a major IT infrastructure project will goā¦?
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On the bright side, at least cadet direct have now massively inflated the price on some (WO) slides, just to make private purchase even less acceptable.
Now only Ā£13.44 delivered!
Sounds like what I do for a livingā¦
I know it letās be fair you put it on SMS then we have to write it on in to log book if the system can can the crap down go for it. They have a CI card which I think is crap for CIs but could be adapted for cadets and Iām sure the cost of a card every year is cheaper than cost of log books and replacing those that are washed SMS is set up for photos. I worked for NHS trust with 12000 staff it works there could work in wings etc
Whatās does it say can work and SNCO wear it now
That made for interesting and mind-bendingly bizarre reading. How is that people manage to muck up such simple jobs?
The Sqn Ident badges saga is a total mickey-take, and has been for years!
The system was always stupid. We order badges ourselves, directā¦ Then we have to fill in a form to say weāve got themā¦ Then the form gets ālostā but nobody tells us so we think all is fineā¦ Then HQAC announce that nobody is filling in these stupid forms and get all angryā¦ Then HQAC refuse to pay the supplierā¦
Iād stop trading with them too if they treated my company like that.
HQAC need to suck it up! Accept that the issue is within our own system, swallow it to sort out internally, and just pay the damned bill! Unless I am mistaken the supplier is a small local business - not some giant manufacturer. Thatās someoneās livelihood theyāre mucking about with!
As for the TRF debate. I had heard some ridiculous idea about using the RAF TRF, but rotated 90Ā°. Why?
Itāll just look like the RAFAC have put their badges on wrong.
Then there was talk of everyone getting the SNCO TRF which was mediocre from the start.
A TRF should have no need for text or logos added to it, and we have no need for a TRF.
What they should do is create a simple formation badge - use the RAFAC block logo - just the same way that the RAF and the RN use their logo on a badge for public duties (such as was done for the Olympics).
Butā¦ There isnāt enough money to issue every cadet and CFAV with a fancy new badge because theyāve wasted it all on overpriced rank slides.
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simply because it is cheaper than any other alternative.
the badge and design exists so not āstart upā costs and means what is already being produced is done so in more numbers.
rotated 45 or 90 degrees as a differentiator between full time/reserve and CF
45 degrees is exactly what Iād want to see - as above, 90 would just look like we put the badge on wrongly. One TRF for the whole formation, simple and without any extra writing, etc.
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Because it is free: we can use the RAFās stock instead of buying new badges.
Cards and card readers again, oh well wait long enough and the ideas come around again.
The problem is they look at the cost vs 3822 and a bit of plastic wins. But how many look back at their 3822s and recall the good times and stories? Look at a bit of plastic and nothing.
Would there be the emotional attachment to a bit of plastic. I doubt it.
Then as soon as card readers/writers are needed at sqn and elsewhere the idea will go away again.
You guys are missing my point a little so Iāll clarify.
I appreciate that using the RAF TRF is the cheapest option. My points are:
a. We donāt need a TRF - what we might argue is āneededā is a badge which clearly identifies who we are - but we canāt afford one.
b. Using the RAF TRF (in any orientation) wonāt identify us to the public so why bother at all?
c. If we do go with the RAF TRF, why bother to rotate it? We wear RAF beret badges and (bar WOs) RAF Ranks. the addition of a TRF put on the wrong way around isnāt going to achieve anything new by way of identification in the eyes of the parent service.
Ultimately, we canāt afford to go the route which would bring a benefit so why are we fussing over finding the cheapest way to not actually achieve anything?
It just seems that somebody has got this fixation that we simply must have a TRF of some sort.
Why?
We could just wear no badge at all; or we could just leave things the way they are currently until such time as we can afford to do what we want.
We donāt need to take a āsecond best optionā.
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i think this is a valid pointā¦
playing devilās advocate to disquish us from our peers. We are regularly mistaken as regular forces when we are not.
We are regularly mistaken for the Army when we are not.
What is ideal is an identifier much like this - something really obvious who it is trying to identify
But it costs time, money and effort HQAC doesnāt have so for the time being we have what we have
I admit a RAF TRF in any orientation means nothing. You could show me 3x Army battalion/regiment TRFs and they will mean nothing to me, i couldnāt tell you if they are the correct orientation, back to front, upside down or inside out!
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Surely since itās a TRF the idea isnāt to tell the public who we are? Surely it makes sense to just give everyone the RAF TRF, we are all in RAF uniform anyway so why not wear it the same as the RAF, it says on the cadets beret badges who they are and staff all have the corporate crap on our rank slides so thatās the public facing bit done.
Exactly. Itās not to identify us to the public, and we donāt need to be recognised in a tactical situation so therefore we have no need for a TRF.
If we can receive the RAF TRF at no cost to us (there is obviously a cost to manufacture them but if itās not passed onto the RAFAC) then, sure we could all wear that. But thereās no real requirement for us to do so beyond - it appears - to satisfy the whim of someone who feels that we canāt possible just have a blank plate.
Itās almost as though whoever is in charge of this little project hasnāt actually bothered to consider what the intention is.
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In my case I got the badges photocopied the form sent the original. Probably 6-7 months later snot mail theyāve not had the form back, resent it signed for so I know it got there within a few days, another 4/5 months another snot mail sent again and this time I emailed them with the signed for number and lo and behold we have it.
God knows who is going to order more than they need, so just pay the bill and get on with it. As you say this is a small business they will ensure that no one else does business with them, unless itās cash up front.
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You now canāt claim for re-ranking either
Which was fun when I left to join the RAF, then came back and was told that I wouldnāt be entitled to time-served Flt Lt any more (despite the fact that it would have cost them nothing), and then I got to pay for the privelidge of having the rank changed on my No 1s!
Heresy.
This wonāt appease those who you get the impression have MTP jim jams and like to live the dream.
I went to pick up some kit and discuss a DofE exped last year and there some staff doing training on weapons. I was chatting with one people there in normal clothes, next time I saw them they were in MTP and as I was leaving they were back in ordinary clothes. I asked why they had got changed and they said they were doing weapons stuff so needed to be in MTP. The irony the sqn OC running the training was in shorts and t-shirt, no MTP in sight.
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