Even as someone new to the organisation is clear there are many problems in all areas!
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This organisation is on its knees. It is being run by people who think ‘look at me look at the bar code I have.’ If we scan the bar code it probably comes up as wet lettuce…. We are all civilians. Some civilians in uniform. Some not
Flying slots - down or constantly cancelled.
Camps - wing camps are few and far between
Paperwork - on the up
Cadets - when we recruit cadets we ALL lie telling them what a wonderful organisation it is. Telling them they can do x, y and z. When in reality all we do is fail in giving them the ‘Cadet’ experience.
Wings are so clicky. Safeguarding issues get unaddressed and covered up.
People in senior positions are only there because of brown nosing OC Wing or Reg Cdmt. In most cases they are inept useless and imo should be removed and replaced by people who do want to make a difference.
As people have said the Volunteer is not recognised. Even though behind the scenes hundred of hours are put in. Far more than the 12 hrs per month or 144 hours per year.
Our uniform supply is a joke. ATC beret badges for a start and the scout style pts badges.
been in 25 plus years and seen many changes. Some good but most bad.
Unless something changes rapidly CFAV are going to leave by the hundreds. All because of bureaucracy and red tape.
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If you’re aware of any safeguarding issues that are being covered up, it’s really important that you report them directly to the HQAC safeguarding team.
https://www.raf.mod.uk/aircadets/safeguarding/report-a-concern/
Safeguarding issues shouldn’t be managed solely within Wings for exactly the reasons that you describe.
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both of these are not necessarily under the control or responsibility of HQAC or “Senior officers” in a Wing or Region - this is a result of what the RAF can deliver to us
(although recognise in terms of gliding, you are nail on head)
it still is a “wonderful organisation” the fact the organisation numbers remain high/stable is evidence of this - in the last 10-20 years although the Cadet experience has changed, and indeed you have seen that, the generations of Cadets coming through don’t see the changes, they don’t know what happened 10 years ago, they weren’t even in primary school to understand what they are missing out on.
again I disagree, we have incredibly competent and successful senior Cadets who have got the most from the organisation, either specialising down a certain route, or dipped their toe into every aspect the organiation offers. if you speak to them, I doubt they would claim their “Cadet experience” would be described as a “failure”
in my experience they already have. the last 4 years (ie since Covid-19) has been the biggest loss of CFAVs that I have ever known. the forced break was an eye opener to people how much they committed to the organisation, and what they were missing out on, be that other hobbies or time with the family - added to that good ideas poorly executed (which is a four word summary of most of the EWOW which have been adopted/introduced in the last 4 years) it is no wonder Wings have seen a mass exodus…yet Squadrons are see remaining viable, and Cadet numbers remain steady.
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This is the hardest bit for me. I know I’m lying through my teeth about ‘opportunities’, but I have to do it to get new cadets started.
I need approximately 15 newbies twice a year to replace those that are leaving, after they’ve realised the opportunities don’t exist.
Yes, cadet numbers are stable, but that’s largely immaterial if they’re only staying in for 2 years, not 5-7.
It would be interesting to see some stats on average time served for cadets going back over the years.
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in my 20-something years this has been typical for me across the half-dozen Squadrons I have been at. be it 3 intakes around 10-12 each, or 2 intakes a year 12-15+
how many do you know actually stay longer than 4 years - I am sure there was a report out that said the “average” Cadet service at 2.5 years and that was some years (a decade) ago so to suggest that Cadets are not staying as long now as there were 10 years ago is a fallacy
(I am not suggesting there are not Cadets who stay for 4+ years, but natural wastage happens. As a Cadet myself, of the 12 of use who started together nearly all of us did our Bronze DofE together. but after 3 years, there was only half of us who were still attending, and by the time I reach FS i was the only one of my intake left…everyone else dropping out for other reasons - and that was over 20 years ago)
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I would guess a lack of promotion (due to the inevitable pyramid structure) makes it less desirable for older cadets to remain if children a couple of years younger start promoting beyond them
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I know of 4 colleagues who are packing it all in because of the lack of real reward for their efforts which makes then unable to justify to their wives.
Its fine and well saying rank is a reward in itself, but when that doesnt attract anything other than being paid more compliments (which is actually to the soverign and not to them), then whats the point?
Work your dogs knackers off to get 2.5 bars to then be told “oh no, youre just going to get paid the same as a 1 bar despite holding more responsibility*”… nah thanks mate, jog on…
*lets face it, if youre at an event and you see a higher rank, youd be expecting them to sort the brown stuff out and take more of a lead, regardless who the activity IC is, especially if the activity IC is a SME CI or something.
At which point the activity SME says ‘if you know better I’m off home, carry on’.
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Please read your own words again. You’ve specified SME and you’re expecting to waltz in and pull rank?
And why did you specify a CI?
And yet…
No. That’s not how that works. At that time it doesn’t matter what is on your shoulders if you aren’t the SME or IC.
Oddly, that’s the response someone might get from me if they started trying to play billy bigguns on my activity.
There are problems with the system, but the drip of entitlement in how you’ve tried to argue the position is a problem in itself.
And yet you then go on to talk about an SME CI who wouldn’t be remunerated at all 
Have a word.
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Okay so lets say the issue is actually nothing to do with the subject matter itself, and is, say, child welfare or an allegation. Its reasonable for people to assume senior rank would be able to deal with this more so than a CI SME
It is surely the responsibility of the activity IC irrespective of status. Anybody there would potentially be a witness to any incident?
Unfortunately this culture is no longer the case. Wing volunteers (in general) seem to be those who don’t want to be at Sqn or do week days. I’ve known of at least two who’ve insisted that they will only volunteer within the wing if the get a staff role.
There are few though who are working themselves to death trying to keep things running with a large number of others doing nothing.
The rank system is no longer an indicator of experience, knowledge or even authority.
The activity IC is the person in charge - they’ve ticked the box on SMS & the SSofT is planned & assessed around them being the activity IC. Change it & all your planning goes out the window.
& don’t forget no-one holds a rank higher than flying officer.
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With regards child welfare we’re all trained to a minimum standard thanks to ACTO 099 - there isn’t a “bolt on” for a WO/Flt Lt/Sqn Ldr to complete to suggest they are more appropriate to deal with a welfare case than anyone else.
And with welfare cases it is a “need to know basis” - it isn’t a case of “right lads, this has happened, who wants to pick it up?”
whoever the CFAV who is made aware/spots it is the one who deal with it - that could a Staff Cadet, a CI or Uniformed CFAV - it won’t matter if they are a SME or not it is “need to know”
- Sorry sir, I have a welfare issue to deal with, I am taking Cpl Bloggs, and Cdt Dixon aside for a chat, I shall update you once appropriate and suitable.
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I have drawn that conclusion from the stats collect at my sqn over 12 years. We have always tracked the average cadet service time year on year, as it gives a good indication of cadet enjoyment.
The average service time has gone down, and yet we still deliver 100% of what we can at sqn level.
Cadets are leaving earlier and it’s due to a lack of opportunities beyond sqn level. It’s not fallacy its a statistically proven fact.
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Uhh, no it isn’t. It is your attempt at proving something you already think you’re seeing, that isn’t statistically proven at all and won’t stand up to any scrutiny.
Shall I send you my excel spreadsheet?
You can send me what you like, it’s statistically meaningless because it’s confirmation bias and clearly doesn’t account for anything external happening for cadets. You’re using it to say “everything is terrible” and haven’t considered any other contributing factors, like, say a 2 year covid shutdown period, or increased exam pressure, or your staff team changing, or other variables.
I am not saying everything is rosy, far from it, I’m just calling you out on presenting an opinion as if it is factual and applicable universally.
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But you are saying that, despite things being far from rosy, cadets in my sqn are staying in just as long as they did in years gone by? Where’s your statistical proof that stands up to scrutiny for that?
I didn’t say it was applicable universally, that’s why, other than my own sqn…
You don’t have that data to illustrate that. What you would need is comparable data from other ATC sqns & other cadet forces.
If your hypothesis is correct then it would follow the same would be happening at other sqns.
If that data correlates you then need to compare to their cadet forces to see if there is societal shift or something specific to the organisation.
A good example of comparing is the recent cadet forces data on adult volunteers.
If the ATC was experiencing the same thing as other cadet forces then the decrease & increases should be in parallel. That’s not what’s happened as the ATC has continues to loose volunteers where there is an uptick in the other organisation.
We can thus conclude the issues on recruitment & retention are within the ATC & not a wider culture.
Likewise you need to compare with local sqns & demographics to test your hypothesis.
It could also be that your program is not as it once was & not changed with the times. You have lots of variables but you can only really confirm that the average service length has decreased.
As your spreadsheet has lots of data - what’s the stat on % cadets staying for three years or more?
I would say this is a better indicator of lack of above Sqn activities because it’s as this point that these really kick in.
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