I’ve been a member of a London Wing squadron for just over a year now. I hold the First Class classification. Our squadron currently has 5 Corporals, 3 sergeants and 2 flight sergeants. We have been told that many NCO’s are leaving due to aging over 18.
We also currently have 6 potentials and with 9 cadet NCO’s leaving I would love the opportunity to become a corporal but don’t how to come about it. Both the NCOs and adult members of staff seem hesitant to tell me the process.
Any advice? I feel I meet the criteria well and have shown maturity and leadership. Thanks
Are there any other cadets in the same situation. Well, I’d try and be cryptic. If a member of staff mentions the NCOs having to do a task, pipe up with something like “Oh,maybe one day I’ll be a Cpl”. Silly but you might get tips. I did. Get your shoes up to a solid bull, none of that painting nonsense. Perfectly pressed uniform are two essentials to be noticed. Stand out.
Volunteer for everything going out, even if it is only bag packing. It shows you are willing to do anything for your Sqn. Try out for the leadership exercises and try to command drill.
Don’t just rock up to the OC’s office and say “Sir/Ma’am, I wanna be promoted.” That’s preposterous. We’ve had two do that. One has been attending just five months. Unfortunately, that works in my Sqn. I would NOT recommend it. It makes you look pushy. The other has managed to bag Cpl and shirk out of the duties. Yet there are six cadets working our backsides off and she gets to do nowt.
So, work hard and do everything and one day you’ll stand out.
Thanks for your reply Nice to see someone the same as me out there
I’ve been there a while but don’t want to ask the OC and look pushy. Like you said it’s annoying when people seem to get it for no decent reason then opt out, the extra repos sublimity and duties are something I would happily take on! I had a bag pack today and the Cadet Sergeant said I’m showing a lot of commitment and I have already been asked to teach a band lesson once. Are these the kind of things they like to observe you do?
You seem to be standing in good stead. If there’s anything that could be done, even if it is something manky like cleaning the bogs then why not. I’d just say “Cpl,the bogs are filthy, shall I clean them?”. It makes you look like you cate about the sqn. Make an effort to talk to the Cdts, the junior and senior ones. Ask them how everything is going. If one says anything alarming, tell an NCO. Just try to be as interested as possible. Make sure you care about the cadets. You still are one.
Don’t get cocky. You seem to be on the right path. Good luke CDT-Luke.
I agree that showing willingness and dedication to squadron will certainly help. Talking to the other cadets is something that I love doing, I’m quite a social person and talking and helping both Recruits and Senior Cadets is something I do each parade night. So far my attendance has also been good, every parade night for the past year. I hope that I will become a CPL soon as the whole caring about the CDT’s is something our current NCO’s don’t do, they are actually quite rude and we as CDT’s are afraid to talk to them
As a fairly experienced cadet NCO I can tell you that there is nothing more irritating than a cadet who thinks they should be a corporal but isn’t. Don’t go around saying ‘I wish I could be a corporal one day’, I can assure you that that will get you nowhere. If you have decent NCOs above you they will have already taken note of your potential, provided that is that you have any, and be working towards developing you for a possible future promotion.
If you show commitment, dedication, get on with the other cadets and are reasonably capable you should already be well on your way to becoming a NCO. If I see those qualities in a cadet I tell my OC. On my squadron we say any cadet wishing to become and Acting Corporal (a pre-requisite to full promotion on my squadron) has to have completed a Wing level Junior NCO Course and ideally a drill course of some description too (the drill isn’t compulsory), maybe you should look into what courses you can do to put you in better standing.
Have a few of them in my sqn. Don’t be a little ‘echo’. If the NCOs tell the cdts to shut it, be quiet. Don’t shout 'Yeah guys you heart, shut up’or squeal. And for the love of His Saviour Lord Jesus Christ, don’t scream. Just a few tips.
my, very long, experience has been that anyone wishing to gain promotion needs to firstly show themselves to be a ‘decent cadet’. you need to do what you’re told, and don’t be a nightmare - turn up on time, read the instructions, have your kit in decent order, and know (roughly) what you’re going to be doing - to lead/manage. this may sound basic, but actually if you achieve this you’re already in the top half of your cohort…
secondly, the place you show potential is not on the drill square, or the classroom, or kissing bottoms in the anté room, its in the field. the absolute arbetor of whether someone is NCO material is a cold, wet training area/moorland with cadets who are cold, wet, hungry, tired, lost, or dispirited. i have seen cadets take the roles of Cadet SNCO’s when those Cadet SNCO’s fail in that crucible - and do so unbidden*. that is potential, that is what it means to be a leader.
*a 40,000 acre training area in at 400m+ in mid-Wales in March - sleet, darkness, useless Cadet SNCO’s, cadets who’d never worked in that environment, and cadets and Cadet JNCO’s who just took over and did what needed to be done while the SNCO’s melted into the background. one went from Cpl to CWO in 18 months after that, at Sqn she was as quiet as a mouse and hardly set the place alight, but when it mattered she knew exactly what needed to be done - both in terms of keeping the exercise running and keeping the cadets in decent shape - and she did it.
BTW - if you want to know what makes an NCO, the real answer is an old-style DPM windproof smock, Yeti Gaiters and a Munro daysack…
any half-wit can tick names on a register, and a badly shaved monkey can learn a dozen commands and shout them out on a drill square. none of those things are particularly difficult, and neither are they particularly important. no one really cares if someone makes a mess of a lecture on How Radar Works or if your Sqn gets Null Points in the drill competition at WTD.
i have seen and experienced - both as a cadet and as staff - perhaps half a dozen occasions where Cadet NCO leadership genuinely stopped things going very badly wrong. Daily Mail very badly wrong, perhaps not Coroner very badly wrong, but definitely bad weather, difficult environment, tired, wet, cold cadets way off the beaten track and something needs to happen quickly if things aren’t to go very-wrong very-wrong. without cadet NCO’s selected for their ability to manage when the plan goes breast tissue skywards, the results could have been very poor indeed.
i even had an experience where, at a Sqn Easter camp at an almost deserted Army Camp, every single adult member of staff was hospitalised with acute water/food poisoning - the only adults on camp were the MRS staff and the Duty Range Officer. a CWO was left to deal with the catering contractors, and manage 30-odd cadets for three days… She became a Royal Engineers Sqn OC.
Obviously it will vary from unit to unit, but I am very resistant to promoting people who are only First Class Cadets.
Cadet NCO’s need to have experience if they are going to be effective and as such I generally expect a minimum of 18 months service, Leading Cadet and to have completed or be very close to completing a Bronze DofE. I also expect a cadet to have done a camp of some form (annual camp preferably but with the limited spaces these days I’m content with a weekend camp).
I don’t go in for promotion applications as I think that leads to people ‘expecting’ to be promoted just because they have applied, for the same reason I don’t go down the interview route. (At least not formally, I might have a chat with a likely candidate without them realising they are being assessed). I speak to my Staff and my Cadet NCO’s (again the cadet NCO’s often think we are just having a chat they don’t realise I’m after their opinions on Cadet X Y & Z for promotion.) once I have formed a picture I decide who to promote and who not to.
In fact the good book has a minimum classification of Leading for a corporal promotion.
Before you jump to being promoted, get your leading cadet, attend an easter or summer camp, get on a wing NCO course and most importantly ENJOY BEING A CADET - the cadets life changes once you have a rank, even corporal.
I was promoted first at 1st Class and 14 years 6 month - I was a NPA, thankfully it was an acting rank and I (and 5 others) went back to cadet again. my second promotion to Cpl was at 15 and 6 months, leading cadet and I did several camps in the year between. Much better NCO as I had more experience and had already earned the respect of our cadets, and others in the wing.
I am going to enquire about Leading Cadet in January after Sqn. Resumes after Christmas. In regards to the camps, I have my name down for one in the summer and I have started my DOFE Bronze but only a little, so I don’t expect to achieve it in Early & Mid 2016, maybe this time next year.
Overall thanks for your comments, it has really helped to hear the variations from Potential JNCOS, NCO’s and adult squadron staff and I will take all advice on board. I’ll let you know how things go
CDT Luke I would like to hear an update on your situation as it is a year and a half ago since you put this up, I am in your situation trying to make my way I’ve now been there for a year and feel I’m ready I started my first year quite and never took care of my uniform or attended events, now my uniform is top quality and attend everything I can grab so tell me should I now refer to you as Cpl Luke or have u left the corps? Would love to know - CDT Burgess
Nice to see someone the same as me out there 
