One thing I hated as a CI was wear CIs were just ignored & in short not cared about. One of the micro aggressions in this is dress standards.
Majority of work places have acceptable work wear standards for professionalism & practicality.
There is no reason why this can’t be applied in RAFAC particularly as we are responsible for child well being & do a number of complex activities.
I don’t get get up about specifics but more of a general expectation
MTP - clean practical clothing suitable to the activity
Working blue - smart casual
uniform staff are wearing N0 1s - Smart - not necessarily suited & booted but perhaps a shirt or blouse & smart trousers.
That’s it nothing more complicated.
In addition sqns should acclimatising their CIs so it doesn’t come out of left field when they go on camps or to messes which they should be encouraged to do
Does it have to be a particular rafac or Sqn polo top - no in my book as long as it’s of a similar level of smartness.
We do have exactly this. ACP1358 has a section (Chapter 5) regarding CIs detailing appropriate wear for different occasions (including the single time when they may wear MTP, and how they may do so).
Per that specific chapter, it is specifically for conducting fieldcraft with weapons and road marching in line with ACRoMaTIs. It’s written as the only time a CI may wear uniform, although that is directly contradicted shortly thereafter by instructions for CIs performing in bands.
Bands is a new one for me: but that makes perfect sense as civilian members of RAF volunteer bands wear uniform.
We just need ACP 1358 to cover all of these properly, rather than having other documents attempting to change dress policy without going through the DPSG.
I’ve bought myself 2 Wedgwood blue shirts, one short & one long sleeved and some rank slides that state Civilian Instructor and the same for the dark blue shirt. Coupled with my official CI sweat shirt I can look smart with some grey slacks with sharp creases.
I’m not getting MTP as I have a Musto olive green shooting jacket and olive green T shirts and an olive green pull on fleecy top. Trousers are beige/mushroom cargo for durability and some brown Clark’s boots for smart wear or some well waxed Berghaus goretex boots for when it’s wet & muddy - they won’t polish up being a suede finish!
You don’t need these. Just a collared shirt or polo (of any colour), and an appropriate sweater or jersey if needed (per the ACP). The rank slide is especially not needed, if I’m honest.
You probably won’t need MTP, agreed - it’s only for if partaking in fieldcraft training with weapons, or road marching, or UAS operations (although that’s not yet in the ACP). The number of times I’ve known CIs to wear MTP, in the past decade, can be counted on one hand.
In St John Ambulance my unit would wear civilian clothes most nights be SJA polo shirts were issued.
On events they’d obviously wear their kit.
Being a civilian instructor only means not appointed with a commission or conferred honourary SNCO status. We can still absolutely provide them kit and tell them they must wear it, if we wanted to.
Unless I’m getting confused by your use of dress code and uniform, but based on your other posts I don’t think that’s the nuance you’re highlighting.
The nuance I’m trying to state is that if you specify exact items of clothing and say they must be worn then that is a uniform and not a dress code. It might not be the RAF uniform, but it’s still a uniform: as is the SJA kit you mention, Scout uniforms and school uniform (which are privately purchased).
A dress code is more generic, e.g. ‘polo shirt and trousers (not jeans)’: but not this polo shirt and these trousers.
In addition, not wearing a uniform is not what defines a civilian or otherwise: police civilian staff wear uniforms, post office workers wear uniforms, etc.
However, if the raison d’être for the civilian instructor cadre is to provide for volunteers who don’t want to wear a uniform — then don’t make them wear a uniform.
Typical Sqn night is whatever is on top of the clothes pile in my cupboard, T-shirt and tracky bottoms. Off Sqn I will wear CI issued jumper at most to identify as one of the gang
Parades and Remembrance I will push the boat out to black combat style pants and shiny boots.
I was under the impression that the original purpose of the CI was to be an instructor with specialist knowledge, who was there to teach and impart that knowledge rather than take an active role in running the organisation (which, in addition to instruction, was the role of the uniformed staff).
I also believe that was the original purpose, but the impression I get from this forum is that many CIs are generalists, are actively involved in running the organisation, etc. — but want to volunteer without wearing a uniform.
Apologies, to clear this up…I don’t need a uniform to read emails and collect paper cuts on the ever changing health & safety info versions I have to post on the boards that no one reads.
The sign-up sheets that aren’t on portal for cadets to sign up for the various activities that we have to add manually.
Or the changing versions of medical, avmed and TG Forms because they added a new box.
Hi, on most nights I go straight from work so wear smart casual clothing. On occasions I wear my light blue CI polo shirt and dark blue CI jumper. Especially if you go to community events with cadets. People realise you are part of the Air cadets.
They can still order them for you. You have to search for it on sharepoint. But they are still there to order.
Then on things like prize giving, I wear smart clothing with my gold CI badge. I like the fact we wear a C I polo or Sqn polo. It makes you feel part of the Air cadets team.
I forgot all about my gold CI badge, I have that in my drawer with my Civilian Instructor armband which is still in it’s wrapper. Once we get our building back open I’m gonna wear my gold CI badge and armband more often.
I have never been given a CI polo shirt, nor a ‘gold’ badge, nor a Zivilist Lehrer armband.
Polo shirts are proper chav, jewellery is just nasty, and armbands, well…
My role/appointment is pretty obvious, as I’m not a child, and not in uniform. Anyone who can’t put those data points together and form the obvious conclusion is unlikely to be helped by any aid that has letters on it.
