Covid's impact on the Volunteer Cadre

Adult Staff
9

I’m another with views that echo yours.

Moving Sqn/Wing/Region just before covid hit and taking over a Sqn as OC the week of lockdown was bloody hard. For over twelve months we maintained virtual parade nights, often twice a week with weekend virtual activities maybe once a month. Before moving I was an OC and held two Wing SME roles, was out of the house two nights a week, most weekends and then on my nights at home I would often be doing paperwork, so only having to do two virtual parade nights was actually easier, with no rushing home from work to choose whether to have something to eat or to put my uniform on before dashing to the Sqn. Because I’d done it for so long, it was normal, I hadn’t realised that the work/life/RAFAC balance was way out.

Pre-covid I wouldn’t have thought twice about staying up to past midnight to redo paperwork that had been bounced back for ridiculous reasons so that Cadets didn’t miss out, whereas now I find myself pushing back, questioning local rules, despairing at some of the policies we now have to work with and just putting it in the too difficult box, and if Cadets miss out, then they miss out.

I had to deal with what could only be described as a horror show at my last Sqn, it’s completely killed off the enthusiasm I once had for the organisation. I’m in the process of moving to a new Wing / Region and the offer on the table was OC of a Sqn that completely needs rebuilding from scratch. I’m really not in the right mindset to do that at the moment, I’ve done it in the past and may well do it in the future, but right now, no. Don’t get me wrong, the smile on a Cadets face when they achieve something is still worth it but I’m not prepared to sacrifice my life to the extent that I did before, for an organisation that wouldn’t even be interested in why I was leaving if I sent in my resignation.

I have been a CFAV for over half my life, I hold (&use!) qualifications that allow Cadets to do the fun stuff, AT, Fieldcraft, Ranges, I also hold the not so fun ones, like radio & cyber (sorry to radio & cyber geeks :wink: ). I was a Cadet back in the day when we all piled into the back of the OC’s van to go rock climbing, without a second thought to AT quals and risk assessments, I’ve seen the changes come in under various Commandants, but the current level of BS, paperwork and not forgetting the local rules depending on the Wing / Region you happen to be in is something else.

I have several friends who have already resigned, no-one asked them their reasons or tried to change their situation so they’d stay on and several more who are teetering on the edge and it’s not going to take much to push them over it, they’re worn down by the demands from all sides, from HQAC, Region, Wing, Parents and even Cadets. These are experienced, knowledgeable people who are walking away when actually, like me, they just need a bit of support, a change in their CFAV role, to get them back to doing fun stuff with Cadets, to reinvigorate them.

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10

this is so true for me.

pre-pandemic i accepted it [the BS] as i was getting all the good things from the organisation at the same time - ie interaction with the Cadets.

currently i am not getting that, due to a change in personal circumstances I am not able to commit to the weekends as I once was, and my parade night evening attendance is suffering too.

I am seeing more BS than I am interaction with the Cadets and suddenly that balance is going all the way in the wrong direction.
I am not at the point of “why bother” - simply “why bother going the extra mile”

I have a few events I do each year as Event IC, they are not “big ticket items” and only on a Squadron level, but I have enjoyed them and have proven to be popular. I am sure the Cadet interest will remain the same but if my interest remains the same to complete the extra BS sorry Admin to simple move X number of Cadets to an activity in line with the aims of the ATC then perhaps that will be the decision made for me…

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11

I for one have taken stock of my life since Covid, I’ve gotten used to having my one weekend in three off for me and my partner, she’s gotten used to me not going to Cadets twice per week. As such what I’m willing and able to commit has gone down from 2 years ago.

If you them add a huge and increasing admin burden to that you move me closer and closer to “why do I bother”.

My number 1 thing that I do in this organisation is run DofE and I’ve had plenty of offers to go and do that for Schools etc for real money with far less hassle.

I’m committed to a number of events this year, but once those are done I will very seriously be considering if I am going to carry on or if I will examine other volunteering opportunities. (There is always the probability that a couple of good events will remind me why I put up with all the crap.)

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12

Likewise I have scaled back post Covid. I was volunteering in more than one place, I opted to keep the Cadet role.

RAFAC won out because the activities are more interesting, but it was close.

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13

I was an OC pre-pandemic, was in post for about a year, then went NEP due to family circumstances. By the time the first 6 months was done, the original circumstances that led me to NEP were largely resolved but work pressures increased significantly so I decided to take the second 6 months too.

While I was deciding what to do, I made up a pros and cons list and it was very one sided. The few pros related to the achievements of the cadets and wider squadron and knowing the role I played in it, but at the same time, I struggled to find anything much I could point to which I personally enjoyed after taking command; the limited time I had between family and work didn’t spread far enough to manage both the admin burden/BS triage and do the things I liked doing. One of the overwhelming reasons that kept me doing the job was the lack of anyone else when the last OC had to step down, but when I did have to step back, they found someone and the wheels didn’t fall off, so that made the decision to quit easier in the end.

If it wasn’t for the pandemic, I think I would have returned from NEP, even in a reduced capacity. However, the pandemic gave me the luxury of seeing much more of my own kids and gave me a different perspective on what’s important to me. I don’t want to have to compromise that In order to spend time just tolerating things rather than having a rewarding volunteer experience. It feels a bit of a selfish position but I think you need to be motivated to be a good volunteer and at the moment, for me, the demotivating factors outweigh the motivating ones, and the pandemic helped me realise that.

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14

The only reason I’m still in the organisation is because of the cadets and the end product I produce.

My tolerance of nonsense has also dwindled, but it’s not just a tolerance decrease - there has been a definite increase in the volume and conceitedness of the nonsense itself.

Following trying to keep the squadron alive and cadets engaged throughout our shutdown, we have dealt with:

Return to F2F prep
Managing a plethora of restrictions
Regional and National events not following the guidelines we were busting ourselves trying to not fall foul of
RC needlessly blocking activities
Updating all RAs to a new form
RC and WingCo adding their own requirements to event applications
The ongoing dirth of flying opportunities
L144s still not in armouries
Additional mandatory training and kit requirements for shooting first aid
Changes to 1st Class syllabus but not able to get the books
CAC more fussed about rowing than flying
Death of hope via ACTO35
FSMS
Latest SOV BS
Multiple inspections by various people

And that’s just what comes to mind from the last 12 months.

Prior to that - death of gliding and flying as we knew it, fieldcraft switching across multiple different sets of CFAV training requirements and apparently doing so again, the “Volunteer Agreement”, the farce that was “admin burden reduction”…

That’s not including mismanagement and poor leadership within CFAV SLTs and WHQs which seems to have been gradually getting worse across the country. The wrong people have been promoted because the face was right. The faces were a combination of masquerade and ulterior motives, and the wrong things were valued by those doing the promoting.

None of the above is exhaustive. The organisation is going further and further down a dark path, and the end product - the thing keeping me here - is becoming more and more difficult to deliver, and less worth the effort.

I am, however, more likely to be booted than leave, because if I’m going then I’m swinging as I get dragged to the door. And I won’t miss it.

Under the current climate, every CFAV who leaves or has left this organisation will gain so much and lose only stress, and the organisation loses far more.

The ATC represents 17 years of my life. Until a few years ago, never did I think I would be better off without it yet that is the ever-growing feeling. But I’m not here for me, so I’ve been fighting it… I’m starting to lose that fight.

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15

I mirror a lot said here. I took up OC (my second OC gig) back in July to get a squadron out of lockdown and have never had so little support or seen so much being demanded. I’ve yet to see my Sector commander - it took me four weeks to even get him to reply to an email about trying to get a new volunteer through a board. That new starter has had a really crap intro to the organisation - the new application process is such a mish-mash of procedures it is far harder than the old way of just getting them into one place and doing every form in one go.

It took my Wing over 5 months to do the paperwork to get me even assigned to my squadron. I have had a SNCO return and it took them 4 months to assign him from the time the Regional Commander approved his direct return to previous rank. Promotion for me to Flt Lt (remember, this is my 2nd OC gig) - not a hope. I don’t even have a No.1 uniform after nearly 5 years as the initial issue was screwed up and I’ve never found anyone to take responsibility.

I have been told not to even bother asking for uniform at the moment for my cadets as we just won’t get it. I have less than 30% in full uniform right now. Flying is starting up at last, but I recently got an invite to send cadets to some blue ATP ground school and it came with a load of documentation that was dated December 2018, so horrendously out of date. When I questioned it, the reply I got back didn’t even make any sense.

Shooting is non-existent - AFAIK every person who has a shooting qual on the Wing is now out of currency. I looked to see if I could get onto an Air Rifle RCO course. There is one available to my Wing. In January 2023. The summer camp this year has 32 cadet spaces. For the whole Wing. Parents are quite rightly starting to complain about “nothing happening”.

I tried to volunteer to do STEM stuff over lockdown. I was ignored. I tried to volunteer for a related deputy wing position recently. I didn’t even get the courtesy of a reply. I’m just not one of the clique.

And now we have to sack off the plans for our SOV to get back on the road. Plus the new fire stuff will just go onto my “I have no time” pile. I suspect the way I will eventually leave is someone will “reprimand” me for not doing something like that and I will just go “meh, fine, I just don’t care”. I suspect that is not long away.

Covid has just put all of this into sharp relief. It’s been a downhill road for me almost since I went to OASC.

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16

The leadership MO is increasingly do little, point blame for failure, and take the credit for success.

I know a few not bothering to renew. The same happened with fieldcraft.

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17

I’ve found the return to 2 weekly parade nights hard.

Pre-pandemic, parade nights were the highlight of my week, so after about a year of weekly virtual parades, I was keen to get back to it. Or so I thought. Almost every parade night I now find myself feeling uneasy because:

  • the training I’m delivering won’t be to the standard I want it to be as I’ve not had enough time to prep
  • the training other staff are delivering won’t be to the standard I want it to be as I’ve not had enough time to help them develop, and they’ve not had enough time to prep
  • the reopening paperwork has highlighted all of the paperwork we should be doing, but aren’t because we don’t have enough time

I hold myself to a fairly high standard (as I expect many of us in the organisation do) - not being able to deliver to that standard upsets me.

So I look upwards for support. My OC is burnt-out. I’ve seen our WSO once since December (I guess from posts above I should count myself lucky), and there’s no help coming from there. OC Wing is a great figurehead, but that doesn’t help fix any of the above.

I look sideways for support instead. Our neighbouring squadrons are both running on 2-3 staff, and they’re also running out of energy. We can give each other a bit of moral support, but not much else.

We have had a new staff member try to join the squadron. It’s been three months - the volunteer is keen but the organisation hasn’t managed to get them through the process yet.

CFAV I’ve known since I joined are leaving. The work they had been doing now needs to be done by someone else, increasing their workload. It’s a doom spiral.

Thankfully, our RC seems to be positively risk-averse in comparison to what I’ve seen described elsewhere on here. I’ve managed to organise and support “high risk to life” activities pretty much every other weekend this year, and that’s what’s been keeping me going.

Me too. Particularly when, having put in the effort to get activities running, I’m then finding I’m not getting the cadet numbers I’d expect at an activity.

I want to enjoy delivering cadet activities, both parade nights and at weekends. At the moment, the only thing keeping me doing them is the thought of the void that would appear in my life without being part of the RAFAC.

@HQAC - consider this thread a cry for help. We need support from the top-down for volunteer staff, and we need to make it more appealing and easier for new volunteers to join.

Challenge every permanent staff member to find one thing they can do to make volunteers’ lives easier. If that’s too easy, find five. Then keep going. Really focus around the experience of the staff (both perm and volunteer), and we’ve got a chance to save the organisation.

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18

This.

Meanwhile the bs out of that cottage at Cranwell has increased exponentially.

HQAC, we know you read this.

  1. There has been no bonfire if admin.
  2. Our available activities have realistically been slashed.
  3. Staff morale is at an all time low.
  4. More mandatory training modules with my hobby than as a high level technical professional in a risk intensive industry.
  5. Rotting buildings.
  6. Ineffective perms bed blocking before retirement.
  7. Utter derge of so called senior leaders. Absolutely zero leadership on display.

If you truly knew what we think and say on unit about you lot, even you with the empathy and soft skills of a toaster would ‘get it’.

Corps is bust.
No amount of fakery on social media will fix it.

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19

Yep.
All trash.

Given to us by the worst examples of leadership I have ever seen.

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20

Unmitigated ommishmables of a cluster fudge.

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21

This reminds me of another gripe of mine at the moment - not practicing what we preach.

Training resources that don’t follow what we’re taught in MOI.
Leaders that don’t follow Bronze Leadership (let alone anything higher).
Risk assessments that are crammed into the boxes, rather than actually following the process.

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22

Increasingly being asked.

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23

Eventually. I know this is the way it will happen to me too.

Until then. HQAC can reap what they have sown.

They have taken the keenest and frankly a highly capable officer and pooed hard and fast on them.
This derge from above, admin burden and loss of activity is fast out weighing any benefits.

And yes… there might be sycophants in the wings ready to join the circular firing squad after we are all gone, but theres only so far a bunch of yes men will take you.

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24

I find what you are all saying so sad , lack of care from those above is nothing new however it seems to me to be getting worse with every post . Perhaps its time to remind the powers that be in their ivory tower that without you at the bottom theirs no need for them at the top.
Is it time to ask “The Air League” if they would support a cadet type organisation with a BIG emphasis on flying. “The circle of life.” Ok prob. Not.
Good luck to you all.

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25

Great idea, but ACTO 35.

26

I think Pablo is suggesting binning off the ATC and asking the Air League to set up a new cadet force, maybe called the Air Cadet Corps (ACC would be rubbing salt in the wound at HQ) in a similar way to how the SCC are run.

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27

It may not help but I have plenty places on Air Rifle and Short Range RCO courses up here.

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28

This was my read too. And at this point it’s not a bad idea.

Without wanting this to turn into a Monty Python sketch, we all know what the RAF has done for us, but what can they continue to do, bearing in mind how much smaller they are than us?

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