@Victor I just realised I’ve been posting on your thread, and not offered my opinion on your original question.
Is there anything in particular you can change to “fix” how you feel about the RAFAC? If not, then remember you should always put you, your family, and your life first. Sometimes that means there is no room for the RAFAC. That’s just how it is. Leave the Wing OC to worry about the Sqn, and you concentrate on you.
Why not treat the national stand down as a LOA? Email OC Wing, and tell your staff you won’t be around until the 1st September. Ask your Bader POC to assign your email to the adj. And then walk away. On the 1st September, if you feel the same, then resign. Don’t engage with any staff who try and guilt you into staying by threatening the unit viability, or whatever. The fact that you have volunteered in the first place means you’ve already done a fair bit for the cadets, and the RAFAC has had some benefit from you already.
You’re not alone in your feelings - some people work through them, some people ignore them to their cost, and some people decide that they’ve done enough for the RAFAC and leave. You need to choose the right route for you. Good Luck!
Before the shutdown I was starting down the path into uniform, but after spending all day sitting in front of a computer working from home the last thing I currently want to do is spend my evening in front of the computer as well so I’m having second thoughts about my continued involvement. Not just during the “virtual” period but when things return to “normal”.
As I said up-thread, I’d sit it out, and then see what direction the new CAC wants to push the ACO in - if it’s something you fancy, then stay, if not, then chin it off and spend your time doing something you want to do, or at least not doing something you don’t want to do.
My own suspicion (having children of my own), is that absolutely the last thing that cadets will want to do when we go back is anything academic in their spare time, and that if our offer in September is 'come on down, we’ve got some irrelevant academic work, no flying and a couple of weeks worth of AT before we spend six months polishing our shoes we’re going to have more staff than cadets by the October half term…
I suppose it depends how much flex anyone coming in has to change things. Do they have autonomy or do they have to get approval? Can they negotiate independently with ‘providers’ for ‘activities’ and just get on with it? Experience would suggest they can tinker within but have little or no ability to do more. A new CAC and all I can see is more of the same. For the sake of the cadets I would like to see something more on offer which is about actual flying. Everything has been far too theoretical or computer based for too long IMO. We can all sit in front of computers as time goes on and do nearly anything. We need to be offering as we used to, something that was pretty much unique in the youth organisation world.
Does this period offer a chance to reinvent the ATC and ditch some of the centralised IT “compuerisation”, in favour of doing things. How many staff, especially Sqn Cdrs comment on or about the screen based admin taking them away from face to face on parade nights?
I think you’ll find the plan is to continue more virtual learning going forward post lockdown, if software licensing permits…instead of travelling a couple of hours across a wing or region on a Sat or Sun morning for a training course, the question will be asked if it can be run virtually then do it that way to help save the money on travel.
But you are right any new Commandant has to have focus coming out of this lockdown is really steam rolling development in flying and gliding capacity. Aligning costs to support this and trimming the fat elsewhere, because let’s be real cost cutting as we enter a recession is going to be their main objectives for 2021. This will help staff and cadets fell encouraged to comeback in September knowing their is more flying and gliding availability…you know the reason 99% joined at 13 years old!
ATC training courses are dull affairs at the best of times. It’s only catching up with people or meeting new people that makes them bearable. The networking side is especially important for new people coming through, take that away by doing remote or online training and it has the potential to make people very insular very quickly, by design.
TBPH I’m not sure I could be bothered enough or have the discipline to sit in front of a computer screen being talked at for more than 10 minutes on a Saturday or Sunday or both. I’d go to make a brew or go to the bog if it was getting boring. This is why I’m struggling with current push by the ATC for parade nights. We’ve done this sort of thing at work for meetings and they are very dull, which you live with as they are your employer and like it or not, you are bound by your contract. Unless I missed something we don’t have a contract that is structured like that with HQAC. TBH all that would need to happen is send the associated ppt and info, any queries … email, no need for anything virtual.
I’m not sure we’ll be back before or in September, not even sure where this came from. Some of the staff have mentioned it and I’ve said, I’m working on wait and see what happens. I’m only planning for days I’ll be at work, everything else is suck it and see. Frankly saying any date is pointless and just presents false hope.
September is what the schools and universities are using as a working assumption, that came from the DofE.
It’s subject to change of course, but no one from PHE or the NHS has looked at that date/timeframe and gone ‘nah, no chance…’
Schools in England and Wales are doing some work on opening in several different ways/phases during the summer holidays, they may look at staying closed for the majority of pupils but putting forward a much more comprehensive curriculum than they currently are, they may look at getting particular categories/ages of kids in, or just an expanded version of what they are currently doing for the children of key workers - effectively summer kids clubs.
Quite simply however, no one knows quite what the situation will be, so it’s about planning a number of options to deal with whatever circumstances present themselves.