Thought it might be worth setting up a thread to share ideas around cadet retention.
Like I guess a lot of units, we had a bit of a ‘bulge’ of cadets joining post Covid.
So we have more, older Cadets than we might have had in the past (years 11 and up).
They can’t all be NCOs. And because they’ve not been in the organisation as long as they normally would have (had lockdowns not happened) they are ‘behind’ in classifications, weapons training etc.
This means some of the higher level courses and activities aren’t open to them.
What have other units tried to address this, and what works well?
While they can’t all be NCOs is it worth doing some pre-NCO training with all of them so they get that insight (you get some data on suitability)?
It’s that more complex mindset & can bring a good culture together. Throw in drill instruction & MOI prep & they start to feel like they are developing.
Covid did a proper number on my squadron mainly shifting activities down a notch so cadets were doing things at a far earlier age.
It’s a pity we can’t have L/Cpls as that will allow them to take on more responsibility with affecting the wider NCO structure.
Time limited acting corporals, is possibly an option? Just make sure they and their parents fully understand it is time-limited, and they will revert back to being a cadet at the end of the ‘term of office’.
Allows the OC a chance to see how they handle themselves.
It’s for this reason I’d love the ability to utilise the junior-most ranks of the RAF (AS2 - LCpl), to enable me to recognise incremental increases in capability, then responsibility, all while still preserving cdt cpl as the first bigger jump in responsibility to a named post, like section commander.
Have your Section Cdr’s, your Cpl’s, as you need them. Then, to utilise/develop talent thats coming along behind your Cpl’s, you also promote those you feel you are just about able to Cpl - their job is to be section 2ic’s/fire team leaders, as well as to help train the new recruits.
The idea being that it rewards their talent/potential, while exposing them to the activity/learning that will get them up to the level you want your ‘full’ Cpl’s at.
If we had L/Cpl- whatever rank we’d use that, but we don’t, so we have to improvise.
Again, if you have a rank structure, it has to fit whatever objective you have.
We discovered this the hard way, but any demotion needs Wing sign-off (at least in my former Wing) otherwise OCs end up getting suspended - even when the demotion is wholly justified.
“Time limited” promotions and probationary periods don’t actually exist in HQAC’s mind, so anyone using them is opening themselves up for complaints.
A section 2ic doesn’t need to hold rank (though in the ACF/CCF they’d probably be L/Cpl) so is there any reason we can’t have snr cadets take on those roles more widely than just in the field?
No, but if you give people jobs/responsibilities, but without the ‘reward’ of rank, it can look/feel like a marginally less rubbish duty than cleaning the bogs.
Until we’re allowed to use temp/acting promotions we’re always going to be using some sub-optimal method - whether that’s promoting people who turn out not to be ready/capable, or giving people role/responsibilities without giving them rank.
Being able to promote for a temp period - 3 months, and really rodding that down/out to every possible cadet would be a superb training tool. But no, obvs …
What you lot need are big ticket courses and experiences aimed at the senior cadets, to reward the small proportion who reach that point by giving them experiences they can’t get anywhere else…
Some big course that combines leadership training with high level fieldcraft would be pretty good. Could even run it over multiple weekends and get cadets an ILM award out of it. If only we could do that!
It has also for harder to deliver the prerequisites for the courses that do run, things like L98 training, or higher level radio courses which our Region used to run but no longer does.
We were getting hardly any places before Covid so they aren’t really a motivator & we’re aimed at those already NCOs so not really applicable in this case.
You could form an “admin flight” that has different Sqn projects as well as trying to complete the bronze syllabus.
Other option could be to borrow some band equipment & form a corps of drums.
One thought, perhaps you could adopt an approach similar to Explorer scouts and get that cohort of cadets to choose, plan and lead their own activities, with staff supporting and enabling them. E.g. if they want to develop leadership, some of them could prepare, run and feedback on some leadership exercises. If they want to progress through their classifications, each cadet could choose part of a topic and peer teach to the rest.
A cadet, of whatever rank, could lead an activity. While they can’t all be NCOs, they can all take a leadership role at some point, whether that’s delivering a lesson or planning a series of activities.
It might be a challenge to do this within the rigid PTS so a bit of local 'flexibility ’ in applying the rules maybe needed.
Might sound like a daft point but I asked the cadets that are at the end of their “career” what they wanted and what they wanted to achieve before leaving and also how that differed from when they started. From there we were able to work with colleagues in the sector and some are now air rifle shooting, other have managed their Bronze DofE and going on to complete Silver whilst the majority have gone through MoI as well as Silver Leadership at Wing level. For some reason I don’t know if it is the “covid generation” or just happens to be the bunch we have at the moment but there isn’t always that curious get up and go attitude of initiative. It might be because not everything was available in the past and with the gap of experience that buzz of a cadet coming back to sqn after a camp or course to reflect on their experiences are lost.
Same here - I’ve got upcoming cadets at least 12-18months behind the those who are currently cpls & the difference in drive is significant.
I think it’s because when Covid happened you had a break in that chain of culture that passed the enthusiasm & drive down.
In the past the enthusiastic cadets would leave or change sqns or cadet forces if they got bored & went and did something else. Currently there’s a little bit of hanger ons who are coasting a bit.
as that will allow them to take on more responsibility with affecting the wider NCO structure.
