So what on earth are these for?
I wonder if RAF Officers ranks are ever likely to follow the ‘midnight blue’ styled braid of my old Officers in the ROC…? If these are genuine UK prototypes, and not just some weird commercial sales stunt, it looks to possibly be the case…
wilf_san
Typhoon Squadron is the RAF element on DTUS at Loughborough University - perhaps these rank slides are connected to that.
MB
^ what that man said!
Cheers
BTI
Not convinced. These rank-slides (if actually worn, in mixed/live circumstances) will cause endless confusion.
Why are they not woven with white bars, in the standard style of UOTC/UAS/Officer Cadets? Or perhaps have the addition of an austrian knot?
So the RAF-sponsored students of ‘Typhoon Squadron’ will eventually, as 4th-year RAFVR(DTUS) Officer Cadets, all appear to wear a rank visually similar to that of Group Captain? And have nothing whatsoever (at that point in their respective careers) to do with Eurofighter Typhoon?? I find it surprising that the AFBSC approved this: however, time moves on, and they must have had their reasons.
I have to say that thin black bars make me think OCdt…
I’ve no idea what position he held, but the only UOTC cadet I ever knew wore black bars
I think if they have a standard/default colour, it’s white
But I agree, they definitely can also be black
Unlike Army/ Army Cadets Under-Officer ranks, which (like RAF-pattern OCs/OCdts) are always looking white…
wilf_san
ps as opposed to certain former Air Force Officers, that originally wore ‘black’ rank braid…
[quote=“wilf_san” post=19784]Unlike Army/ Army Cadets Under-Officer ranks, which (like RAF-pattern OCs/OCdts) are always looking white…
[/quote]
Cadet Under Officer rank slides are actually supposed to have a blue stripe, but this fact is universally ignored as no one makes such a beast.
True story.
Talon, I never knew that the ACF still had CUOs (as opposed to AUOs). I had thought that maybe they weren’t Y2K-compliant, or something!-)
It’s odd that such a rank has never existed in the ATC. I’m unsure if CUO has ever been used in the CCF- I’d think that’d be yes, but rarely.
wilf_san
CUO is used in the CCF - it’s a hangover from the OTC days, really, and only certain units use it, often unofficially. Duke of York’s, for example, has RAF section CUOs, but when they go out ‘in public’ (e.g. I had one on a camp) they are dressed as CWOs.
I’ve never used it as a rank before but I’m about to ‘invent’ the rank of cadet Midshipman as a CCF RN CUO equivalent. The CCF RN rank structure stops at Petty Officer, presumably because they think RN sections are too small for cadet CPOs or WOs - ours is established for 40 cadets, for example, so they have a point. The problem is that my senior cadet (we call him ‘head of corps’) can be from any of the three sections and I want him to outrank the heads of the other sections (Army - CSjt or WO2, 121 cadets; RAF - Sgt or FS, 60 cadets). Moreover he will be the senior cadet out of nearly 200 and I think a rank higher than PO (=Sgt) is called for…
As Midshipmen used to be no older than 15 it seems the appropriate rank!
We do have them, though they are very rare. Despite what the manual says, the main uses for the rank would be either to ‘move on’ a cadet RSM who had been in post for a while but not old enough to leave, or if you had two cadets who were equally deserving of promotion above Cadet CSM/SM you could promote one to RSM and the other to CUO. With the new age restrictions coming in the rank will appear less and less.
