Who has an NCO room and what is the general consensus on them as a concept?
We used to have one, but it’s a luxury we couldn’t afford and always became untidy despite threats/warnings/sanctions.
I’ve always found that NCO rooms are not very effective.
Room being left untidy and/or unused.
or the opposite
the NCO’s hide away in the room and do no work at all, don’t work on their classifications, or any other duties.
I’ve found in the past that it works well to give the NCO’s a desk/computer in the staff office. It makes communication between the NCO’s and the staff much better, and hopefully keeps things a bit more productive and efficient.
We don’t have one, and we don’t suffer for it.
We have a classroom designated for NCOs primarily as a place to get together during break. This is the room mainly used for basic/junior cadet instruction so has displays pertaining to uniform, drill and so on and duty rosters. As a result untidiness or hiding away isn’t an issue, as it’s a classroom first and foremost and remains as such.
This is what happened when I was a cadet NCO many years ago and it worked to promote a sense of team among the NCOs, and differentiated us from the cadets. It was a rite of passage as a cadet.
We also used it a place to speak to cadets who had been sodding around and the SWO or CO knew where to find us to speak to us about things, without creating a sense of what’s going on. Cadets knew getting summoned to the NCOs room wasn’t normally a good sign.
We used to have one when I was a Cadet early to mid 90’s it was only really used during Naafi breaks or if the NCO’s had a meeting or something they can be useful but are a bit of a double edged sword!
We do not have one as we simply do not have the available space. Even if we did have the space I am not sure we would have an NCO’s Room.
If our NCOs need to have a get-together on something they can grab a classroom during break or if they need to work on some sort of preparation we can usually manage fto find them a corner in a class or in one of our 2 offices.
Every couple of months we set aside a parade night to be an NCO’s Only evening. These alternate between “serious” and “fun” and are a chance for the NCOs to get together on the squadron without the burden of needing to be responsible for the cadets and the general running of things.
we had one when i was a Cadet, using the “Classroom 3” of a Spooner hut.
it was a standard classroom which became NCOs only during break and it had some lockers in for bags/training material. it also had a dart board for break time entertainment (while the Duty NCOs over-saw the main body of Cadets)
i remember it being taken off us more than once because of the state it got into, and was eventually canned all together.
today that room isnt official although the NCOs all use it. it is strickly open door to avoid an “us and them” situation, the lockers are still there and a small cork notice board has gone up to allow the team to leave notices to each other so it now a practical area rather than just a crew room!
When i joined there was one, but its now my office (SNCO/SWO)
I had a particularly useless CWO who decided to ask for an NCO room. We said they could use a classroom at break.
In fact he turned it into an office for himself. Even going so far as to re-arrange the furniture so that the whiteboard was at the front of the classroom and the large monitor screen (which we use for powerpoints etc) was at the back. All so that his ‘desk’ was facing the door when people entered.
Needless to say I rather lost patience with the idea after that…
All of the problems people seem to get are easily managed.
We’ve had one for years and apart from a bit of mess occasionally, which the Senior NCO that night has to clear up (regardless if they made it or not) to the Adult SNCOs satisfaction, it works well. It’s a part of sqn life and not a privilege.
You know… most NCOs will be at the squadron little more than 2 1/2 hours twice a week.
Why do they need an NCO room to hide away in? Shouldnt they be out “NCOing” with the cadets or liaising with staff?
Not like theyre doing 8/9 hour days and need coffee breaks away from the riff-raff.
I thought they had simply gone out of fashion.
As a cadet we had one at York and it was always immaculate, as the CWO, I made sure it was!
It was seen as something to aim for. Somewhere at break you could go and have a sit down in some comfy chairs and chew the fat.
It also became something of pride to the NCO’s. We had a number of “items” which had been “obtained” which were part of the “Mess Silver”.
Personally, I’m in favour of them. Providing there are ground rules and even an occasional inspection by a member of staff then what’s the problem.
It’s not a case of hiding away. What rubbish! It’s all part of the NCO world. The more cadets see the benefits, the more will want to be NCO’s. The more you have to choose from. The better the quality.
Again we have a situation where we have those who say we need to be more military like, and what could be more like the military than each “section” having there own space when having some down time.
When I look at cadets during break, they split into groups as they want to speak with peers, so allowing NCOs their own room to do this makes it easier. Plus as RS says makes being an NCO look like something other than just another cadet, with a slide on their shoulder.
I wonder how it would be taken if it was suggested staff weren’t allowed their own space to have time away from the cadets.
We only have a 15 minute break. If you think it takes a few minutes to get a drink/tuck etc then there’s a basic 10 minute break to stand inside a room with a few others.
Apart from that we share with the ACF so no, we don’t have the luxury. Not sure if we would have one anyway. In modern RAF bases NCO/Officer/Junior Ranks segregation is for billeting and meals. I don’t think that tea and lunch breaks every department has NCO rooms where the rich and famous hide whilst the riff raff slum it until the tea is drunk and the biscuits are nowt but crumbs on the floor 
[quote=“Racing Stick” post=14045]As a cadet we had one at York and it was always immaculate, as the CWO, I made sure it was!
It was seen as something to aim for. Somewhere at break you could go and have a sit down in some comfy chairs and chew the fat.
[/quote]
you obviously had the room for such a luxury.
in the 6 Sqns i have been on 4 have had the typical spooner hut arrangement with a main hall and three side classrooms. a dedicated NCOs room would reduce training rooms by 25% and that is something which we cant do!
the other two Sqns however were quite different. one was in a corner of a TA centre and although room we had was plentiful, there wasnt the number of rooms to permit a NCO room.
the other however did have an oversized broom cupboard, enough for a desk and half a dozen chairs and i have to say was a nice arrangement.
i think an NCO room has its benefits which have been highlighted in this thread, however it isnt a shouldnt be a priority, for those Sqns without the space or facility for it. all too often training space/rooms are a premium and an uneccessary luxury doesnt justify losing a classroom
Well if there isn’t a room because of lack of space it doesn’t really matter does it?
This thread only applies in particular cases where real estate is at a premium.
My current Sqn now has no room for it, so the NCO’s use a classroom for their break.
[quote=“Racing Stick” post=14045]I thought they had simply gone out of fashion.
As a cadet we had one at York and it was always immaculate, as the CWO, I made sure it was!
It was seen as something to aim for. Somewhere at break you could go and have a sit down in some comfy chairs and chew the fat.
It also became something of pride to the NCO’s. We had a number of “items” which had been “obtained” which were part of the “Mess Silver”.
Personally, I’m in favour of them. Providing there are ground rules and even an occasional inspection by a member of staff then what’s the problem.
It’s not a case of hiding away. What rubbish! It’s all part of the NCO world. The more cadets see the benefits, the more will want to be NCO’s. The more you have to choose from. The better the quality.[/quote]I’m generally in favour of them if kept in the way that you describe, particularly if the NCOs take an active role in admin, etc.
However most of the time there just isn’t the space available. When ours was converted we only had two NCOs so it was barely used as a mess anyway - what it was used for was as a classroom for which it wasn’t well suited. So we converted it and it now provides more value.
I’ve visited sqns (2 hutters of the old days) where they have a number of rooms and even they don’t have a dedicated NCOs room.
Lord knows where the notion that the cadet NCOs had their own room stemmed from, other than the mind of a cadet NCO. As I said in my day we had use of a dedicated classroom during break and that’s what the NCOs on my sqn currently have. Dedicated as far as that’s the one you will use.
What works well, and IMO one benefit, is if myself or one of the SNCOs wish to converse with the NCOs, we can without drawing specific attention.
I think a lot of you are looking at this from the wrong Point of View. It’s just as much an advantage to the cadets to have the NCOs in a separate room during break-time as it is for the NCOs to be away from them.
In my experience the more corporals in a room the more of a fetish for absolute silence there is, I do find it a bit irritating when I walk out of the office during break-time and find all of the cadets lined up against the wall for no more than the crime of enjoying some conversation during their time off. Better to stick the corporals in a room for 15 minutes.