it could work but I think the four nights a week is the only valid option.
a Cadet only interested in aviation topics turning up every three weeks isn’t great so would be best as a four night format one generic and one for each topic.
how do the CCF manage with with Army and RAF sections? I confess I know nothing about how they operate but know that Cadets do both disciplines so is it not a case of copying what they do and then expand?
The year was 2011. James Plastow was putting together a report which identified a number of efficiency - and cost - savings to be made by purplising HQs.
Everybody not at the coalface ignored him - Turkeys generally don’t vote for Christmas.
It should be easy for cadets, and it makes sense to offer them some sort of tri-service experience. Staff sharing could be messy though, particularly with some of the egos bobbing to the surface in recent years. Others have already alluded that the army cadets don’t really need help staffing fieldcraft and shooting, and SCC staff are probably self-sufficient when it comes to RYA stuff. What would the RAFAC bring to the tri-service party? Ok, flying and gliding. But really? Can the RAFAC offer these opportunities to cadets from other cadet forces? I can foresee a lot of friction if blues RAFAC staff are routinely used as babysitting/driver dogsbodies for ACF and SCC activities. What proportion of RAFAC cadets are into fieldcraft? 25%, 40%, 50%? That’s a lot of RAFAC cadets suddenly given access to something that they could only previously do at wing level (with restrictions). What’s the likelihood of attracting similar numbers of army cadets who want to learn all about adiabatic cooling?
How popular are the Public Services BTECs?
There are even military themed colleges opening up.
Im pretty sure the majority of my cadets would bin off the academic subjects, in favour of more shooting, fieldcraft, flying, and boaty stuff.
It is just that mind set that is chasing “experienced” staff away. By devaluing experience you are set on a course of self destruction, it is by gaining experience that people learn, indeed, organisations learn. Sadly those who purport to have the best interests of RAFAC, ACO, ATC or whstever guise it had when you joined seem to be losing the " Team work" ethos. Teams draw on experience and grow because of it. It is time you all gave your heads a shake and put the Cadets first instead building your ivory towers.
Yes. Over a year later and look where we are. Maybe more of a death circle?
Tutors grounded and no ACPS for another year.
Only getting worse.
Look at the RIAT thread. Paramedics etc using their own equipment at events… Risking the registrations etc. Utter jokes.
Not seen any improvement in delivery. Cat bleed courses exist now, which is nice.
No comment.
Less of this. But certainly more CFAVs realising the effort is not worth it. Lots of ‘straw breaking the camels back’ going on. Minor things crossing people over a line.
Hahahahaha. Yeah. This is only worse. Leadership at all levels seems pretty broken. There are some great people, volunteers, perms and FTRSs. But far far too many bad eggs.
This has already been summed up perfectly tonight:
So what will be the straw that breaks the organisations back? I think we’re heading that way where something, not necessarily even that major, will cause a bit of a crumble.
tbh I don’t think the RAFAC has “recovered” from Covid.
On a local level everything is continuing as before, but from what I gather with 1-2 fewer staff as what was 100% attendance each parade now has now shifted to 50% (or those who did 50% a less again).
The only positive I believe we have seen in recent years is the Cadet and Volunteer portal (which is mainly the efforts of a CFAV team) everything else which is “new” or “different” from 5 years ago is a restriction on events, or burden on the CFAV and for what benefit to the Cadets?
I am lost at how the Cadet experience (lets forget the CFAV experience for the time being) has benefitted, improved, been enhanced, or simply progressed from what it was 10 years ago.
the Cadets opportunities are fewer and further between while the CFAV (lets go back to them) are putting in more and more effort to make just the basics happen…
Unpopular opinion: right now, the CFAV experience is more important.
Why? Because staffing is at a critical level. Almost every activity I attend is on skeleton staff. Of 5 local squadrons, 4 have minimal staffing.
The CFAV experience needs to be positive so volunteers stay.
Then we can look at the onboarding experience to help get new staff in.
Then… Then we can look at the cadet experience.
Not so unpopular as you might think. The cadets will always be there; it’s much harder to recruit, train and retain good CFAV.
From what I have perceived, there is quite a blasé and cavalier attitude to the volunteer from on high, especially at HQ level. There is a disconnect with the employed staff and the volunteer.
The paid staff see the RAFAC as a job and put in their 37 hours, they then shut off for the weekend. They see the RAFAC in the same way as the volunteer sees their own jobs. The volunteer has a passion for the organisation; it is their way of switching off from their jobs. They will go the extra mile.
There are two thing that will need to alter before the RAFAC can change,
does the salary meet the expectations of these roles?
I wonder if as a CAFV Sqn Ldr WSO, or even OC Wg was offered such a role their salary would be comparable??
Given the WExO rate, a role which commands the rank of Sqn Ldr, is less than I earn (and I am no where near Sqn Ldr Level in the RAFAC) I certainly have no interest from a financial point of view in applying for a WExO role so do wonder if CFAVs were offered full-time roles in “positions of power and influence” who would be applying given what is no likely to be a competitive salary…even more so when considering the responsibility the role could have
I would actually be interested in a role like WExO or similar if the pay met the responsibility level. Currently, I don’t think it does.
no and that is exactly my point.
I suspect a good number of competent CFAVs who would excel in the WExO role have a civilian salary which exceeds that of the WExO rate - be that by a few grand or double it.
It therefore worries me when i hear of CFAVs who become WExOs as they see it as a benefit to their career (which may well include a financial benefit). I am in danger of offending people now suggesting wages = intelligence, which i know it doesn’t (my wife is a nurse and earns less than WExO rate) but does make me think what did they do prior to WExO if they see it as a positive move for them.
even more so concerns me why anyone would take the WExO role on given the compensation vs responsibility
the only exception would be those Senior RAF officers who retire from the RAF but not yet ready to retire from work and see it as healthy pocket money until they are ready to retire from working life…
Our last WgExO was a former CFAV, supposedly qualified to do the role.
He was the most lazy, incompetent and rude WgExO I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet
To be fair, around here, the majority of stupid policies seems to originate from CFAV.
There are a number of WSOs in my wing that are shunted from post to post, that seem to enjoy making up policies and processes that have no real point - presumably to make sure lots of people can see how busy and effective they are.
God no - part of this issue is the over reliance on volunteers in critical areas.
Unless those people have experience managing volunteers in other organisations then they need to be kept away as they just try & recreate what the did as a cadet & not take the organisation forward.
Im not going to contribute too much into this thread (well because its really obvious who I am ha)but want to ask a devils advocate Q.
How much of the issues stated do you think are legacy issues that previous leadership teams across all levels have failed to actually challenge and fix? now we have a CAC who is turning over every stone and is unearthing dead bodies that should of been dealt with over the last decade or so and its all come to light in a short amount of time.
Full disclosure some decisions i’m not a fan of all decisions but just a different perspective maybe.
Not the case everywhere, some squadron’s near me simply never reopened or are still(!) to reopen. The amount of admin to reopen was just too much for a lot I suspect.
Absolutely. I don’t think it needs to be done as linearly as you suggest, but I think some financial investment is needed (e.g. a suitably sized IT team, consultants(?) for the syllabus, new HQAC training team staff etc) to properly fix a lot of the long-term issues we face.
Absolutely what is happening, it’s something that can’t be fixed quickly and isn’t easy. Although the decisions made and the way those have been communicated is a different story IMO.
Yet he is still making decisions that are at best baffling, and at worst criminally negligent - as shown by the FOI that we’ve been recently discussing.
But how many of those legacy staff and volunteers are still in post or since promoted?
The attitudes persist, problems aren’t being solved, and the fixes aren’t working. During which time, experienced people are leaving the delivery arm of the org.
Change journeys are a journey, and leadership needs the buy in of those they lead. If they lose the faith and/or respect of the people through their decisions, actions, inaction, attitudes, or especially pertinent in our case a lack of transparency, then they are failing and the organisation is suffering damage.