The term ‘discuss’ is used in this context to make people think, talk and reflect.
How do we think future generations will look on us?
As the generation who inspired the next?
Or the generation that was responsible for a contraction of the corps because everything was stifled by beaurocracy and risk aversion.
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How to make the cadet experience fun again:
Some of you may die but thats a sacrifice im willing to make
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In reality not a million miles off, even if it is slightly tongue in cheek.
A simple example is things like Mountain Biking, if you fall off you can get badly injured (broken limbs not what you would call rare), but if you eliminate that risk it ceases to be Mountain Biking and becomes Canal Towpath Cycling.
Which one sounds more fun?
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Really wish I could like the post by Gimmion more than once.
This is all the wordage required on this subject in a single post.
Glad someone found the strength to tap it all out on our behalf!
Without significant positive change the org is finished.
Understatement of the year.
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Sorry to add water on your fire, but there are custodians, some may go, some may stay and new ones are always joining.
Perhaps, but new staff can’t jump straight into OC/Adj/Trg Off roles, really. This very problem has seen squadrons close.
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I used the phrase of “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” Which loosely translates as “who guards the guards themselves?”
Applied to us - who are the custodians of the custodians?
The organisation is a network of inter connections historic knowledge & ways of doing things. It is a machine which moves & clunks and occasionally things go ping, bits seize & little wheels spin so the big wheels can turn.
Experience career volunteers are not easily replaced and takes about three to five years for a volunteer to understand the organisation enough to take things forward & keep the momentum going.
Yes we can get new volunteers but covid has hammered every other volunteer organisation simultaneously so every other is going for the same pool or potential people.
My Sqn is old & some unique quirks but without that understanding & that history you don’t have that interest or pride in the current Squadron. If you are just a group that stands up & stands down then there is nothing to be a custodian of.
The organisation is in recovery mode from covid & is behind the other cadet forces in pushing our adult recruitment.
And I think that’s what our general issue is - it is rapidly becoming apparent that we are not as good as we think we are or tell ourselves.
We are good & do achieve a lot but because we are arrogant & believe our own hubris we then feel negative when our high expectations are not met.
To throw another metaphor into the mix when the body is injured with a cut, infection can get in and the puss builds up as the body tries to deal with it.
If the wound isn’t treated & the puss drained it can cause the body to go into a delirious fever whilst it tries to fight the poison and you are then faced with a permanent amputation that can never be fully recovered from or death.
As an organisation we need to treat the wound and reduce the infection by cleaning out the puss of negativity & cynicism otherwise the body will become filled up with bile and be poisoned.
How do we do this?
Forums (both online & face to face) will allow some of the poison to be drained. Positive engagement with a few perks as well as delivering activities with as little effort as possible well help clean the wound. Policies and processes will enable help seal the wound (plaster & steri-stripe please, not cauterising with a red hot poker).
We can still deliver what we always use to & as a good as we use.
What we need to accept is that the methodology, the how, we deliver has had to change and will never revert back. If we want to deliver the same stuff as we use to we have to adapt to our current circumstances, accept we are not as good as we think we are and be the innovative creative people that found ways round & through the bureaucracy rather than just surrendering to an inevitable doom.
If we don’t look after the current custodians then there will be nothing left to be custodian of.
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As a current OC, I do find myself questioning many of the new ideas that come down the chain of command. Bottom line is that Squadron’s just want to get on and do stuff that gets cadets active and a lot of what we have to do now is detrimental to that quest.
Policies and procedures need to be in place for an organisation of our size, I get that, but from where I stand, I can’t help but feel some decisions are made without any real understanding of what happens at the coalface of a squadron.
Many things are sent down that demotivate CFAV’s and their fellow Civilian Committee colleagues which can only end one way, people leaving the organisation. The moment people start saying “this is just too hard” we are in trouble.
If the organisation doesn’t get a grip on this, the short answer to your question will be “Yes”.
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So long as we can provide what the cadets want then the organisation can survive - granted we can’t do it like we did when we were cadets but the present generation do not know any better. So long as staff can be bothered and are able to provide this we win - once it falls into the too difficult tray we lose the reason for the staff and cadets to be here. That’s what HQ RAFAC mission should be - not inventing new badges and trying to mould us into the junior air force with cyber and virtual training - thats what home xbox’s are for
As an aside a recent training weekend offered a range of courses and an interesting split in numbers of applicants:
L98 IWT/LFMT - 99 applicants
SNCO Course - 13
JNCO Course - 30
Bronze Leadership - 8
Bronze Cyber - 4
Bronze FA - 10
Silver FA - 7
MOI - 15
Maybe this demonstrates what the cadets want?
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I don’t think “death spiral” is the right phrasing. Things have been going in the wrong direction for sure, and there are other stresses on the organisation and it’s volunteers.
The RAFAC isn’t going to pack up shop anytime soon. I know I come on here and can be pretty damning when I feel peeved, but generally the cadet experience is pretty good.
Keep in mind that those joining now have no expectation from the organisation - as it’ll be their first experience. So I’d say cadet morale is pretty good.
Of course we need good staff, but we’re a strange bunch that put up with a lot. Hopefully some attention will be paid to the current complaints.
In fairness, it wouldn’t take much to reverse a lot of the aggro.
Simple things like ditching ultilearn and having the exam structure come under cadet portal (saving endless issues over log in etc) is in the pipeline and will be a win.
Auto mileage/VA through volunteer portal is another win.
We then just need an outbreak of common sense in regards to unit admin. Electronic DBS is a step in the right direction, and in fairness SMS is a pretty good management tool for activities.
Simplifying some of the processes in training would be helpful. Binning off ridiculous things like the fire alarm rubbish. It just needs a “can do” attitude team to come in and sweep the rubbish out and make squadron life easier.
That isn’t a massive obstacle, it just requires the will to do it from the perms.
That is the main frustration, it wouldn’t be hard to fix the problems, but it would take a wholesale change at HQAC. So it therefore feels impossible.
It would be really helpful if the mandated courses all staff have to do had a couple of days specialist training. OIC and the nco equivalent could include the essential safe guarding stuff but make some assumptions that we know about leadership etc… this would free up some time and maybe that could be spent diversifying skill sets.
Such as air rifle range instructor, Fieldcraft instructor etc.
It could send uniformed staff back to squadrons with a new tangible skill that will unlock activities to cadets.
It just seems such an obvious way to unlock some of the frustrating skills shortages we have.
But the staff training pipeline needs simplifying and then provision for training needs to be made.
There are so many simple changes that could be made that would make such a huge difference.
So at this stage I think the organisation is able to be rescued if some change is made soon.
Maybe another 5 or 10 years of decline and it’ll be a different story.
That’s not necessarily true - at least, it hasn’t been for us.
We get a lot through who, despite having had no exposure to us, expect to be flying. And regularly.
We try to set expectations very quickly, but you can see the deflation in them and the disappointment from their parents that we “don’t do air”.
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It depends what that expectation is. If you get enough AEF/VGS to offer one flight a year, I’d say that would be a win.
Anyone joining expecting to be powered flying every other weekend or a funded PPL need to give their head a wobble, it is an expensive thing to do. We have scholarships for flying solo but very few will have that opportunity.
As AEF recovers it shouldn’t be unrealistic for squadrons to expect 20 cadet spaces per year. For most squadrons that will cover 1 flight to each of those that want to fly.
Plus camp flying.
VGS will just be a nice occasional top up, when they get round to it!
There is a longer term fix needed there, but volunteer patience with this might be improved if we were regularly able to do everything else with a lot less hassle!
It’s not true debs and there is more admin for OCs this way…NOT LESS.
it is NOT in it’s current format a step forward.
Oh, I didn’t realise that. Well again, it’s something that ought to be simple that is being made harder.
Yep shouldn’t be rocket science. Yet RAFAC make it more difficult.
And without wanting to start an argument. This is case in point.
How much is shielded from those who aren’t Sqn OCs. Because we know that if we even let on to 10% of the utter derge we have to put up with, no one would stay in this org.
Also…
And I really am not trying to pick a fight, but how long have you been in the org? And how long in uniform?
I’ve got 3 cycles of this time frame under my belt and can clearly without and rose tinged spectacles remember and track back to a time when EVERYTHING was easier. Same level of cadt injuries and deaths but almost no paperwork.
All of the admin added since 1995 has not made any difference to fatalities or major incidents. Except add more and more admin time.
So in my experience. What do I see… I see good times lost and 3 cycles of worsening.
Maybe things will improve. Maybe they wont.
All I can say for certainty is they havent over the last 18 years.
What was so Good about the Good Old Days
This popped up on YouTube and seemed relevant 
For the record, I enjoyed the good old days, but I was a cadet, I have no idea what they were like as a staff member, I guess I’m just jealous.
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We don’t.
We’ve been back nearly 12 months, and not one sniff of a flying or gliding opportunity has presented itself - not even short notice cancellations.
We were really lucky when we restated, in that we had about 20 newbies walk through the door. But now they’ve finished first class, and are asking about flying, gliding, and going on annual camp…
Every sqn in my wing has been offered one or two flying opportunities before the end of summer, powered or gliding.
If we get a summer/autumn allocation list like we have for spring then each sqn will have at least 3 opportunities before the end of the year.
Plus any extra camp provision etc.
We’re in an area where we have to travel a fair distance for AEF and a long distance for VGS. I’ve seen the regional rosters, and in our region everything is even across the wings… so it may come down to your WAvnO.
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