They’ve already saved all of that by just cancelling it!
1 Like
Laughing at the QAIC Facebook post: a certain HQAC perm staff claiming that the previous announcement that QAIC would continue was accurate because the course that was already running didn’t get cancelled…
What a joke. That is clearly not what it meant, and to try and pretend that is the case is just silly!
Ah, technically correct, the best kind of correct
1 Like
Interesting idea that I’ve heard floating around. Would be good for JL to use some of the time they have available whilst on stand down to put on CPD for CFAVs who might not be confident in delivering the orders or acting as a section commander for the new fieldcraft syllabus.
12 Likes
Indeed! Where else are all these “experienced section commanders” that the new syllabus requires going to come from, with QJLs aging out and not being replaced?
That peeved me off because she posted that in response to me pointing it out 
FYI RIAT is headed up by a Wing Commander (OC RIAT) Supported by two Sqn Ldrs (OC Eng, and OC Ops) - all of these roles are primary
1 Like
Are any supernumerary elsewhere?
the previous Sqn Ldr Eng was also a Sqn Officer.
When he took on the (RIAT) role he was OC Sqn and Wg Radio Officer, but dropped the latter two soon after OC Eng appointment realising he couldn’t do all three.
I think it is personal preference
1 Like
So what do they do for the rest of the year?
I know RIAT will be all consuming for a period of the year but surely there is something else they are doing?
1 Like
Lot’s of important meetings to discuss 
Future Accommodation Solutions 
2 Likes
I wouldn’t bet on it - the Sqn I was at as a cadet hosted a weekend exercise called Ultimex - teams of 4 roaming the Cotswolds with activity stands - it morphed into a monster with 50+ teams from everywhere between Birmingham, Reading, Swansea and Exeter, a former RAF base and cargo drops by C-130.
The bloke who ran it - a CI - effectively did nothing else on the Sqn. Planning started about 18 months before hand, and as we got to about 3 months prior it started to envelop the entire Sqn. At one month prior nothing happened on the Sqn that wasn’t prep for Ultimex.
It was a brilliant thing - and it taught me to think big - but the other lesson was that of the 30/40 other Sqn’s who came along and had a ‘free’ weekend where someone else did all the planning work, less than a handful would invite a gang from our Sqn to something they’d organised…
Wing and region people would turn up/glory hunt for the weekend obvs, but oddly, were nowhere to be seen when we were traipsing round Gloucestershire asking farmers if we could use there land for a farm or whatever…
1 Like
Ops as i understand are in continual discussion with Douglas Bader House (the airshow office) in terms of what the show will look like and what the RAFAC committment/support will be (ie how many tasks are they wanting the Cadets to look after, and then a working how many Cadets/flights that will take all while keeping the camp within the agreed size)
Eng is much more hands on, or was.
As the tents were RAFAC owned, ie not on loan from Stafford/Bicester/MOD Stores, they needed “maintenance” in the months after the show they would all be unpacked, inspected and repaired where necessary, and repacked.
this was not just for the tents, but all the RAFAC hardware kit.
this was a repeat process as many of the tents were not just used for RIAT, being RAFAC owned there were available for RAFAC use and so often deployed on other annual camps where hard accommodation on station isn’t available. Of course once they returned to Little Rissington* they would again be unpacked, inspected and repacked on the basis that a stillage going out would be of “known” quality
*RIAT Camp has a hangar as a “stores” where it keeps its kit
2 Likes
That’s interesting, sounds like a QM job and I wonder if the HQ Logs people know this person exists and is doing something they should have visibility of.
Outside of my sphere of old people and nursing homes but I can see why there is a review happening at the moment of volunteer roles when all these primaries appear.
1 Like
before the OC Eng was a primarily role it was handled by Sam Badger, who was already overworked.
there was a close relationship with Sgt Badger at the time, but i haven’t heard his name mentioned for a number of years (retired/moved on?) which might have been due to the primarily appointment of the OC Eng role