Just have one sqn. Sod the smaller units in all but the most rural areas.
If you really are someone “in the know” like you try your hardest to pretend, then you know the real problem. And the solution to that is not create more units, but to consolidate the existing ones.
Having numerous units doesn’t solve the real problem; not enough volunteers.
Or we could:
Let’s be realistic though, this is never going to happen.
Too much ■■■■ covering has to go on. Unless we no longer deliver any activities, in which case, yes, we can reduce the admin.
I know we all bang on about wanting an admin burden reduction, but it only ever gets worse. I’ve given up even thinking about asking for it. It’s simply not realistic given the culture.
Not feasible in the short to medium term. We recruit new people, send them off to their own units and then… Burn them out, they leave, and we’re back to square one.
Nope, let’s make fewer bigger units with lots of staff. Serve more cadets and deliver more of a cadet experience to each of them.
What’s going to be better, 1000 sqns of 20 cadets, or 500 sqns of 40?
We have an issue with growth. The Corps is not incentivised for it.
Although politicians and senior MOD folk talk up the benefits of Cadets, we are managed as a cost.
Partially because of the funding and support in kind (think uniforms)
In most membership organisations they work out the base cost of servicing the member add a margin or contingency on top and calculate a fee.
So more members brings in more revenue to support more investment.
That won’t be news to anyone on here but I’m not sure our higher ups really get it.
If say it costs £8/m to support a Cadet and we charge £10 or £12 or whatever the maths is we are winning and would be able to grow.
Instead we have a pot of funding and the more who draw on it the less per unit. I’m sure that drives the desire to merge and cut units. Which going back to government objectives is the opposite of what we should be doing.
well ok, I’ll rephrase to “rationalise the admin & processes and make them less time intensive”, something which the Volunteer Portal, and the move away from Universe, should make a big impact on.
So we need to be looking at the retention and reasons for burn out, alongside the recruitment (or prehaps ahead of)
Except we have two pots of funding, public and non-public. One of which our CWC at ivory towers could be doing a lot more to grow (and spend) I suspect.
That is true, but it is the MOD funding which doesn’t respond to growth as far as I can tell.
Otherwise why the pressure to close / consolidate units?
it does seem odd to think the MOD/RAF would be behind spending more money on the RAFAC due to MORE units when in their primary responsibility we are seeing fewer personnel, fewer (/reduced) aircraft numbers and less airfields, Stations and bases.
All of which in comparison are of enormous cost - and don’t fit in with the future plans or remote piloted aircraft, cyber etc etc etc.
Whereas investing in young people, in a platform that in comparison is peanuts, would still be sensible. Especially when the bulk of the organisation is worked out on a volunteer and charity basis.
I think we should go back to battledress - it was much, much smarter in my cadet days. Battledress and boots.
“BY THEE 'EFT, QUEEK MARCH!!! crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch…AAAAAAABOOOOOUUUTTTT TARN!! CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch…”
Happy days!
yeah I see that counter argument - just odd to think on one side there are reductions and the other desires to expand
Think I still have some khaki short sleeve shirts + OGs - might try them on a sunny outdoor range day. 
I still have my OGs in the loft. But I was 15 last time I wore them. More chance of Aleister Crowley becoming Pope than me fitting in them.
Hobnails / ammo boots of course. 
My parents could hear me about 100 yds away from our house on the way back from cadets. No chance to sneak in late after a “short” stop at the pub (over 18 of course!).
Sadly my OGs were relegated to painting & decorating duties a few years back
Prophetic words. Just been announced that Hercules will remain in service until at least mid 2023 owing to a capability gap against Atlas.
Though rumour has it Spain want to offload some of the Atlas they’ve committed to buy but aren’t yet delivered.
The USAF have proven their RAPID DRAGON palletised munitions system - ALCM’s on a pallet, lobbed out the back of a C-17, pallet breaks apart, ALCM’s go on their merry way.
The munition they’ve used is the AGM-158 JASSM - but there’s no reason you couldn’t do the same with A400M and Storm Shadow, or Spear Cap 3.
It’s an idea that’s been about for decades - this is from when A400M was called Future Large Aircraft, was going to have turbofans and the palletised munitions delivery was called Future Offensive Air System. Early 90’s…?
Bit of a thread revival but the MOD is inviting submissions for the next Strategic Defence Review.
(With the caveat that it’s not the place to air individual grievances!)
Oh no. So they open this up to the trolls who are always comments on UKDJ that the carriers are white elephants, F35 is a waste of money, etc. and then use that feedback as an excuse to scrap the lot.
The UK Government must be just as stuck for ideas as we are, if they are throwing open the SDR to the wider population.
They are up against a couple of factors: the Armed Forces recruitment, training and maintenance establishments have been run down and partly civilianised over the years, to the point where they are incapable of expanding the size of the forces, let alone training and maintaining it.
The UK Armed Forces are incapable of launching large-scale or long-term offensive operations. We don’t have the national will to do so, either. I noticed this several years ago when what would have been a sideshow operation like Afghanistan became the main effort: a comparable sized campaign during the Cold War was Northern Ireland, which didn’t detract from the forces in West Germany, or prevent wars like the Falklands and the Gulf being fought and won decisively.
The British Army in particular attempt to fill their recruiting shortfall for an unpopular career amongst UK citizens by employing Commonwealth citizens: all very nice for diversity and the recruits who can apply for UK citizenship after five years service, but not so good for those countries who are losing good people. It’s my main gripe against immigration in all its forms: it doesn’t do the home country any good, reinforces economic inequality between nations and is a form of neo-colonialism - extraction of a poor country’s resources by a rich one.