Just a general question, how does everyone keep up to date with developments and changes in drill? I know AP1358C has a version number but there doesn’t seem to be anything similar in the drill world
Updates are usually circulated through drill courses, NCO courses, AFI’s and emails so we usually find out pretty quickly if something changes.
AP818 v7
Other than when we switched to AP818 a few years ago, and when ‘Attention’ changed to ‘Shun’ a good few years before that, has drill ever actually changed?
A more pertinent question is how do we keep up to date on anything?
Revised documents are stuck on Sharepoint but there are no amendment lists or any way of knowing what has changed and when. For those of us of pre-Sharepoint days will remember the paper amendment lists that you had to trawl through with the books, that had amendment numbers on on for pages and text changes were annotated as such in margins. Before anyone says it, the date you got the list was normally several months at best after the issue date, BUT you knew what the changes were and brought them to people’s attention.
I get alerts for changes and most it seems are cosmetic folder moves as opposed to substance.
I remember applying the ACP19 amendment when we changed to Shun! going through the manual with a pen!
Other than the switch to AP818 I can’t recall any change to drill, though there are plenty who don’t seem to have noticed the new manual! There is certainly scope for corrections and amendments to be made to it but nobody in the RAF appears to be too bothered and we rely on rumour and hearsay to “clarify” things.
The CAA manages their updates to electronic documents far better than we do currently: they publish a summary sheet (in advance) and the updates are highlighted in the text.
[quote=“glass half empty 2” post=19250]A more pertinent question is how do we keep up to date on anything?
Revised documents are stuck on Sharepoint but there are no amendment lists or any way of knowing what has changed and when. For those of us of pre-Sharepoint days will remember the paper amendment lists that you had to trawl through with the books, that had amendment numbers on on for pages and text changes were annotated as such in margins. Before anyone says it, the date you got the list was normally several months at best after the issue date, BUT you knew what the changes were and brought them to people’s attention.
I get alerts for changes and most it seems are cosmetic folder moves as opposed to substance.[/quote]I’ve said it before - any changes to a manual should be included in Corps Routine Orders.
If it’s important enough to require a change to the pub, then it’s important enough to promulgate to people.
[quote=“glass half empty 2” post=19250]A more pertinent question is how do we keep up to date on anything?
Revised documents are stuck on Sharepoint but there are no amendment lists or any way of knowing what has changed and when. [/quote]
personally i believe this is what CRO/WRO should be used for
indication of a Corps/Wing policy change, or update to a file, folder, publication or instruction manual rather than the endless repeat orders which are simply ignored as “old news”
edit: Matt beat me to it!