This.
And we do seem to have a particularly inept and useless crop of CFAV OF3s and OF4s across the Corps at present.
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Hearing some of the horror stories they are faced with and accountable for both career wise and legally, based on behaviours and actions of CFAVs…i wouldnt trust CFAVs either but it shouldnt be this difficult at the same time.
I think if there was more transparency people would get some of it atleast but it definitly its the minority ruining it for the majority.
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OC Squadron allowing more cadets to travel in a minibus than available seats 
Now no longer in organisation I hope.
It is stupidity like this that means HQAC don’t/can’t/won’t trust CFAVs. One individual causing issues for the rest of us!!
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The BSB, SRA and CILEX regulation all publish regular reports of disciplinary action taken and I’m sure it’s the same in most other professions.
I genuinely believe if we had publication of screw ups (even if they were anonymised) with an explanation of what went wrong, what punishment was handed out and whether any policy changes are happening as a result then people would be more accepting of these restrictive policies and also less likely to risk having their rule breaking published across the organisation.
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I thought this was what the total safety news letters were about but i havent seen one of them in years.
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Unfortunately, this is partly driven by Squadron staff. Those who don’t read the regs, copy old admin orders and RAs and then, worse still, don’t get other staff on the activity to read what was copied. Major errors in what is produced causes trust issues.
Sounds extreme but it is reality and happens a lot.
Personally I’m happy to have paperwork checked. There are always exceptions but talk to any Wing and Region Adventure Training Officer and they will have plenty if horror stories Im sure.
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A lot of this, though, is caused by the piss poor comms practise throughout the org and our inability to rid ourselves of old documents.
People are using old regs because they think they’re current and we’ve made it far too hard to check what the newest rules are.
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And people in senior roles ie Sector OC or OC Wings not keeping up to date. Many times they’ve said something to me that’s flat out wrong according to policy, and are amazed when I show them current policy.
Again though, this can’t be fully blamed on them. If the changes aren’t properly communicated, how would they know? But then I question that if I know as a lowly CI, then they surely should know better.
Most organisations ive worked in have always provided a one pageer of what, how, and the impact…i dont know why we dont nationally.
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This is what IBNs/announcements should be. But instead they issue them for the most random things, and then don’t issue then for big policy changes.
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In my experience this is mainly an issue between Sqn/Wg/RHQ especially at event planning/approval stages
I believe too many SMEs are double hatting and therefore don’t have the time/ability to do the job they should. They should be working with you to enable you to plan and get approved your activity, but a lot only look at your paperwork x days before, and if it needs amendment, you are running out of time to fix.
So, at the end of the day, it comes down to manpower. If we had more volunteers, CFAV would not have to double hat and the ability to help would improve
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Bang on
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Too many people just drop applications on the SME’s at short notice, then expect you to drop everything to look at their event which is planned for the next weekend.
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Wow, you’re lucky
I’ve had worse, I got less than 24 hours a while back and then they sulked when I was at work and didn’t have time to review it.
This too…i dont even entertain the moaning of someone who puts in a complex event application with less than 2 weeks to go and then gets told nope.
Although I’ve put events in with 4 weeks plus to run and still had a last minute struggle from certain SMEs.
…and I agree that there are just as many on the other side of the fence that are contributing to the problem.
Was just saying that in my ‘ideal world’ event organisers and SMEs would work together from inception to approval - organiser to organise and SME to provide advice/guidance, so neither party is in a state of shock when it comes to final greenlight moments
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That would be lovely
It is kinda cyclic. “They” don’t trust “us”, so impose tighter restrictions. Restrictions are ignored because they’re overly restrictive. Repeat.
I quote “they” and “us” because, as debated above, “they” could be Wing, Region, Corps, and “us” could be Sqn, Wing, Region, Corps-level.
The solution feels like a complete attitude change, at all levels, from combative to supportive - a switch from restriction and prevention to support and improvement.
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