Steve, the crack at fieldcraft training was to highlight the fact that if we are coming short in some areas i.e. providing BTECs to cadets due to limited resources, then those subjects which are not relevant should be curtailed. The resources are then used to provide the minimum standard for the core aeronautical subjects.
The Royal Navy have their own PCS: like them we would continue to wear RAF headdress and festoon ourselves with badges which also identify our parent service.
I’m a Cold War fossil, being in my late 50s: the same age group as our last three Commandants. I think the issue of the hidebound modern British military mindset has more to do with the UK Armed Forces’ lack of training in original thinking amongst its personnel and fear of loss of control amongst subordinates, than the historical era in which we serve.
The 1982 Falklands War was a notable exception: they were left alone to get on and win the war.
…as am I!
But what we keep forgetting is why do the kids come and what do they want to do?
Its not another 2 hrs of classroom learning, even if it is ‘life skills’ that they can use in mil or civil life - these are bi products of providing them something that is fun to do with their mates that is not on a pc/phone etc.
So whilst a few come for BTECHs etc most just want to ‘do’ practical things together and have a laugh in a quasi military environment.
Now the next Comdt needs to remember this and then make sure that whatever the RAF’s ASTRA, or next policy wants to drive towards, is moulded in the right shape to deliver against that policy but in a way that meets the Cadets objectives.
At the moment I think we are driven to much by policy and to the detriment of the cadet experience - think Adair’s circles with all the focus on Task needs and little on Team and Individual
to be honest I feel the organisation is short in a lot of areas. Buildings - often under invested, poorly maintaine Uniform - difficult to get delivered/collected on time, rarely in stock, Flying - a “promise” of once a year is now once a “career” Gliding - what used to be an opportunity within the community (eg Wing boundary or thereabouts) is now so far away and take place so infrequently for most its hard to consider it a USP) Shooting - getting harder, despite the introduction of Air Rifle. The L144 hasn’t lived up to half of what the No8 did before, and lived up to its expectation of being poor Annual Camps - fewer opportunities at fewer locations, with spaces for less than 10% of the Wing CFAVs - many experienced, skilled, knowledgeable staff are choosing to leave in the last three years than ever before. The recruitment process is overly complex and lengthy which has put off potentially interested CFAVs.
Sqn CO position is a ball ache, no one looks forward to picking up who has been around long enough to understand the challenge of the role.
need i go on?
this is a thread drift though from tony’s departure in September
Whilst outsourcing sounds reasonable in princple, anything that has a significant risk to life (rtl) our leaders will be keep in house.
This is more likely about duty holder control and no desire/cost for MOD to carry out basic mandatory auditory checks rather than the quality and reputation of the out source providers who on a whole are good and safe at what they do.
Errr, at the mo shooting and field craft are the things I look forward to the most, due to lack of more practical aviation training. Especially during summer months with wing and region skills week, it’s mainly the shooting and field craft that sells it to most cdts, at least on my sqn. Also full bore is fun.
We didn’t do fieldcraft in early 1980s ATC, and it didn’t put anyone off joining. Not when we could go gliding or .22in rifle shooting every weekend. You get taught fieldcraft in the Army or RAF when you join, anyway.
During this time my dad had 6 glider flights over 3 years. This was being part of Aberystwyth sqn, being one of the most remote sqns save for those in north Scotland that are still mainland UK. Meanwhile I’ve been in cadets nearing 5 years, in one of the larger wings (to my knowledge), and I haven’t been gliding once. When cadets joined and said they wanted to fly, they actually got to fly…
Obviously some of this is due to COVID, and partly due to the temporary hanger at Ternhill having a dead possum moment, but surely this is degrading Cdt experience and retention, especially for those who dont stay on the bench and NCO/snco etc. although I will stop rabbiting on as ive strayed a bit from the thread topic.
Not much of a thread drift, more of an examination of the State of the Nation upon the departure of its Commandant. Leaders of organisations have to be judged on their achievements during their tenure. He was getting a full-time wage for being in charge, after all.
AEF/Initial flying training already has been outsourced by the MoD to Babcock, so all the RAFAC need to do is get out bookings in before the regular armed forces do. Our money is as good as anyone’s!
I’m trying to get the air cadets to stop spreading themselves too thinly by prioritising time, money and resources to those areas which meet our aims as an organisation and what we can not only budget for but what we are able to do.
So if AEF and AEG are impossible to do in any useful way, and full-bore shooting and fieldcraft can be done, we should therefore bin the flying and concentrate on all trades airfield defence.
This would mean that all squadrons would have to have DP service rifles, small arms and fieldcraft instructors, in order for it to be fair for everyone.
However, cadets still need their own form of Basic and Trade Training, so we would still have to do a variant of Classification Training, which would include firearms and fieldcraft, some of which is done in a classroom.
Babcock contract is to supply and maintain the aircraft,flying is still vis the FTS and DH. When you saud outsourcing it was a reasonable assumption that it meant buying airtime from another provide such as local flying club, which i dont think will happen as discussed earlier. Unfortunately its eggs in one basket
This sums up the role. Dawn was able to make reasonable changes because of how long she was in post but e en then she wasn’t able to change due to the bureaucratic inertia of the organisation.
It also helped that Dawn was a personnel officer so understood more about the people/volunteer management side.
It is not enough for the person at the top be the fixer.
They can only create the environment & in a volunteer organisation where some are Cold War warriors it takes a long time to change.
The only other way would be a board sweep & clear the decks such as moving HQAC from cranwell to cosford & have all the RCs & CoS reapply.
I think part of the issue with keeling was the type of engineer that he was.
Aviation engineers tend to be very precise will low deviation permitted & a low risk threshold.
Electrical or system engineers look at the flow of things & how things interact holistically which is more of what we need that the “if it’s not safe it doesn’t fly mindset.
or indeed anything else we deliver or teach really!