Is it really that bad?

Adult Staff
42

I don’t know but I would suggest that the uniform is a secondary consideration for many when they join, even cadets, so to say we sign up to rules is a bit weak. Cadets have no choice in the uniform game and are as Daws says at the whim of whether or not stores / the supply chain, as are uniformed staff to an extent. I can’t remember when stores ever delivered a demand in full. We won’t go into the various fails due to someone in a job not getting contracts sorted out. Their probably promoted and in possession of gongs for a job well done.

If there was ever a reason to stay as a CI, it’s the rank stupidity that creates a turdfest that goes with being in uniform just like this.

43

If we were talking about an organisation that was broadly running well I’d almost certainly agree with you - that some tedious chap with inflated ideas about his importance has thrown his teddies out of the pram at some minor prick to his pride.

However, in an organisation with no gliding, barely any flying, camps for perhaps 10% of cadets, shooting hammered, supply problems lasting years, Sqn’s with infestations that there’s no money to fix, botched reorganizations and a leadership that seems to be utterly divorced from the day-to-day reality of Sqn life - I can well imagine that this was just the last straw. Unfortunately, morale is so low, and dissatisfaction so high, that my assumption is that this bloke has had it up to here with the organisation.

That’s the real problem, that the ACO is so divided that the assumption is that its the other side fault…

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44

I fully get that a moment of thinking at the time the photo was taken would have resolved all of this before it started.

However if you get back to the Squadron and this is the only photo you have what do you do? Not use it so as to keep the uniform Police happy? Or do you view your cadets getting their first wings in 3+ years as more important and publish anyway? I would quite happily publish and be damned, what are they going to do shoot him?

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45

Take another one! It isn’t exactly a masterpiece and it doesn’t have a glider as a backdrop.

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46

But Social Media needs to be fast time, you can’t be waiting till next week or the moment has passed. (Personally for me social media is there and then so I would have been able to retake the photo straight away).

47

We don’t HAVE to tweet everything we do!

Now that we’ve seen the photo I’m even more set in my opinion that this whole affair could have simply been avoided by having the lad take his jersey off indoors. Apparently his three companions all manage to take theirs off.

I can’t agree with the “fast time” requirement. In this case the intention is presumably to publicly congratulate the cadets and to gain a bit of publicity for the unit.
There is absolutely no reason why the photo must be rushed onto twitter the very moment that the badges are awarded.

If it were me, would I have asked for the photo to be removed? Probably not. But I would likely have said “A big well done to your cadets! For future reference though could you please have all cadets dressed appropriately for photos. Is there any reason why this lad has not removed that jersey?”

It’s seems to be very much the “in thing” to condemn anyone for enforcing dress regulations (as though in doing so they are pooh-poohing the cadets achievements) but not so popular to say "The bloke in question should probably have thought a bit before taking the photo.

Is this really a resigning matter?

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48

But we only have one half of a story. Who knows what else the officer might have threatened with by his Wg staff?

49

True.

We do have some utter muppets in the organization but would any of them really make such a fuss over the removal of a photo that it was worth chucking it all in?.. I don’t know.
As cynical as I am I’m not sure I can imagine even my least favourite people making so much of a photo that I’d decide to quit.

50

Maybe - as Angus suggests - it was the final straw. The thing is, we just don’t have enough of the full story to make an informed comment on the situation.

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51

To be fair to CRAFAC though she has got herself involved here trying to keep him in.

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52

try telling CRAFAC that… did you know she had a dump today…

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53

I suddenly understand why someone on my Facebook feed has resigned from the ACO… You’ve lost a good 'un there - hard working, vastly experienced, still completely dedicated despite decades in the Corps, well liked and respected - a chap of many talents. I can pretty much guarantee that this was a straw that broke the camel’s back.

And frankly if anyone is getting bent out of shape by those photos, then you really do have big problems as an organisation. Well done that cadet, and who really cares if he’s wearing a jumper, or they all were in a bloody freezing caravan? Were you there to know why he might have been wearing it?

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54

Same for us; er, might be able to point you to some that fell off the back of a lorry… PM if interested. :wink:

55

I think it’s worth remembering that the person in question isn’t here to defend themselves so it isn’t fair to begin to accuse them of anything. Try and stick to the original question - is posting photos with uniform discrepancies that big a deal or should we allow for some leeway.

56

I think the point we can all agree upon is that the photo, in itself, isn’t a big deal.

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57

You think wrong. The photo itself is the major problem.

Either this organisation has a set of uniform rules that we are all expected to follow, or it doesn’t and people are free to mix and match as they choose. Not any different from other sets of rules, really.

Our dress rules are dictated to us by the RAF - they seem to expect a certain standard to be adhered to, with what flexibility exists being defined in those rules. Certain people are engaged to monitor those standards, such as others monitor unit H&S, shooting compliance, AT compliance and so on. division of labour.

With that in mind, we are all expected to adhere as closely as we can to those rules, and this becomes especially important when we present ourselves in public (directly or through publicity)

As a member of the badge police, I don’t personally care what way our rules go but I will police based on those rules because that is what is asked of me and it is what is expected of everybody. Relax those rules and I will relax my stance. Relax them too much and you bring into question the link between us and the military - we may as well go our own way from that point.

The situation in the photo should never occur - whoever decided that a No2 jumper was appropriate cold-weather wear in No3 dress is misguided and should have thought harder about it. I do accept that it is cold at a gliding site and when push comes to shove we will do what we need to for people to be safe and warm. It was a failure in planning and, in part, a failure in supply.

The crime here is publishing the photo, knowing that it was publishing an infraction of the dress regs. The solution is trivial: don’t take that photo. Maybe make sure everybody is correctly dressed (3 of the cadets had removed jerseys), or stage a new photo later.

The fix is also easy - take down the photo and either publish without an image or wait and take a new image that is suitable for publication. It does not require a shouty phone call (from either end of the phone), anybody wearing hats and being denied tea, or dummies being spat out and people flouncing off into the sunset.

I don’t care how much we as individuals agree with the media and dress rules, they are the rules we are bound by and until those rules are formally relaxed (not simply ignored by slackers) then we are committed to them. It doesn’t matter how high up our chain we go with this, until we wrest full control of our own dress regs from the RAF it is simply not our call!

Also, the wing media officer should have been all over it like a rash!

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58

There is a Unit in the Royal Marines that allows the wearing of JWH with red and black flashes, over MTP during the winter months. Looks quite smart.

Seems to be a mountain out of a molehill. That Cadet is probably going to feel terrible and embarrassed as it’s highlighted something the Cadet never thought of.

59

… is the key

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60

Well some ought to tell them, they should sort out their supply of uniform for Air Cadets. It shames me that we get youngsters come along, the OC tells them and their parents (like I did) you get uniform supplied barring shoes and socks. Then when it comes to kitting, they can be left waiting for items as stores don’t have them, or someone somewhere has failed to do their job, sorting out contracts. You can’t at that point start saying to parents, you’ll need to buy this or that as we haven’t got it. It makes us look very amateurish.
Maybe the CACWO needs to man up and make this clear and yes we will make every attempt to make cadets look good, but the RAF needs to make its mind up whether it wants us or not. If the former ensure we get what we want when we want it or the latter poke up with what we can do. They can’t have it all ways.

61

I’m with you 100% there.

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