I wonder if a certain someone has been given an award for biggest fan on Facebook…
Or a signed picture would send them very happy!
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He’s probably already got a shrine with loads of signed selfies
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Please keep to the AUP…don’t take it too far.
CAC did a 30 minute interview with RAFA at the start of December which i just watched and i have so say i am impressed.
video here - link to RAFA Facebook
perhaps i have seen “aunty Dawn” too many times but i like his style, honesty and attitude - and his realistic approach.
Critically i don’t think he was trying to give the right answers, gave across the right message but appeared realistic in how that message was spoken.
His predecessor was very good at enthusiastic optimism, while Tony seems much more cautiously optimistic while hinting at what the key areas might be…
comments i thought are worth picking out:
Question: how does the volunteer fit in the organisation?
Answer: our CFAVs are our “centre of gravity” - without the CFAVs to deliver the opportunities the organisation makes available the is “nothing” - “it is a demanding volunteer role”
“i am hugely respectful of what they do, but also conscious that i need to maximise the benefit of the time and talent they [CFAVs] give and remove the burden, modernise our training offer…so they spend more time doing what they really enjoy, contact time with the cadets and delivering great activities not administrating them”
(from 19:50 in)
on the discussion of VPNs and the success (which he then goes onto what comes after):
come the new year we want to be able to get Cadets back in the cockpit, back on the hillsides and back on the parade square"
on the discussion of what takes place in 2021 and specifically the 80th anniversary this year…:
our focus needs to be on sustaining the size and shape of the organisation, and understand the harm Covid-19 has done to the organisation, how many people have we lost and how to we rebuild to the position from 2022 and beyond we can start growing and flourishing again…as much as we’d like a song and dance about our 80th, our energy is better spent on focusing on given our Cadets as normal year as possible…marking out 80th in the background
(from ~25:40)
One telling moment however was right at the beginning discussing the best role, the highlight of his career to date (prior to CAC) he talks about OC Aircraft maintenance flight at RAF Coningsby he saw “he could make a difference to the business and the people”
a line i thought was interesting he saw as a career highlight as it is something he’ll be doing a lot of in his current role
(from 2:20)
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I’ve been in a few meetings with him and asked direct questions. Responses back are generally direct, well thought out and as you say, much less optimist and much more realist.
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I like this.
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What the hell is normal?
For me normal is good annual camps on RAF stations and not a series of “educational/cultural” trips, AEF details and few AT things. Probably not the CACs vision / version.
I like the idea of not bothering with the 80th, we have far too many in between “5 year” anniversaries. Our next one should be 100th. The others are just an excuse to get cadets and staff to drive to some godforsaken hole with no facilities, stand around for at least 2 hours waiting for some VIP to turn up for 5 minutes, utter some meaningless platitudes and then go, we then have to drive home, having completely wasted a day.
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For some, such a parade will bear great significance. Cadets who do any anniversary parade are always proud to have been there. Any cadet who partook in the 75th anniversary will tell you just that!
I’m sure his priority is to get us back to as near what we had pre-pandemic as possible. Anything more than that would be a bonus at the moment.
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Those cadets who took part in the camp running up to it and the parade are indeed proud to have been there and looked fantastic, nothing can be taken away from them.
The reality of the matter is that the parade was for a minute amount of the cadets in the organisation, the fireworks, fly by and party in the park for the others was largely a waste of money that could have been better spent.
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This a million times.
It was one of a dozen events around the Country purely built to boost the personality cult around Dawn.
My Wing had a parade, total farce. Dawn showed up and the only thing she was interested in was getting a selfie at the front of the parade with all the cadets stood behind her.
Absolute farce and total waste of money.
20 coaches hired.
100+ days worth of VA.
Venue hire charge.
Unbelievable waste of toil and silver for that one selfie she wanted.
Curse her.
New chap seems good.
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I bloody love a Wing Parade.
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I still remember one in Christchurch as a cadet where we were supposed to cross a dual carriageway. The police stopped the traffic but there was so much faff from the staff that we were met with lots of angry drivers instead. Can’t say I’ve enjoyed one, ever.
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Indeed but make it part of Wing Field Day not an event in its own right.
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That’s not setting the bar very high.
I would be better to see or sense some ambition, in the top dog. Lord knows we’ve suffered at the hands of the last CACs lack of ambition or understanding the need to change, as the RAF became less able (and maybe willing) to support the Air Cadets. We’re meant to be part of the “family” and at the moment you feel we’re the child no one wants.
As a cadet I felt they were good, as you rose through the ranks you got to do “more important” or as you suspected, but then we just did it because that’s what we were told that’s what we were doing.
As an adult you quickly get to see the futility and utter pointlessness of them and it’s really an ego trip for Wing Staff and some adult SNCOs.
if they had any real worth why do so many staff have holidays, have to work or wash their hair, in fact anything to avoid it.
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So true. If you ask any cadet what they miss the most about not being able to do air cadet activities, how many would have a big Wing Parade at the top of their list?
If we can we should be celebrating the 80th by trying to get as many cadets up in the air as possible.
Why not make that an aim?
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that is a shame to hear.
i have been to three major Wing parades
60th
75th
RAF 100
and although there is some initial hanging around once formed up and marching through the city it is a good day. a pleasant church service, march back for tea and cakes (or rather curry and bread roll)
i thoroughly enjoyed them all, a good chance to see friends from around the Wing in a less formal occasion than a Wing Field day or other Wing event when there is always something to be doing a little chance than more than a “hi how is it going?” (ie Wing parades have a social element timetabled in) and of course chance to feel part of something specifically significant and more unique than annual parades such as Remembrance or BoB parade (the former one part of a larger formation, the latter a tiny contingent behind the RAFA in the market town). the first time my now wife saw me in uniform was a Wing parade and that made me stand that bit taller i enjoy them
seconded - i enjoyed our Wing 75th parade and so although our RAF100 parade would be a carbon copy was happy to attend again
seconded - but then i love a parade i am an RBL PM so tells alot about my enjoyment of a parade
i think in these circumstances, with a false start already, known loses for both Cadets and Staff given the rapidly approaching 12 month closure that he’s being realistic and trying to walk before he starts to run…
no point setting a high bar the week life returns to “normal” when what we know we could do (ie pre-pandemic) is a challenge with fewer staff, reduced Cadet numbers and loss in senior cadets simply through aging out.
i’m in favour of over-deliver and under-promising - a concept i don’t feel his predecessor grasped, particularly with the topic of gliding and lifting the pause.
i think it is ambition to think when life returns to “normal” that we’ll be able to pick up where we left off like it didn’t happen. so having the ambition to get back there, acknowledging the challenges is a fair target to be aiming for
i would firstly ask a Cadet how many Wing parades they took part in.
as a Cadet myself i only did one, as a Staff, three - they occur at best once every 2-3 years (75th + RAF100) but realistically only once in the average Cadet’s lifetime…hard to miss something which is attended only once…(although the way it is going Flying/gliding is a once in a “cadet lifetime” opportunity
I’ve had a lot of cadets say that the North Region Muster where they flew in the Chinooks was a massive highlight of their time. Admittedly the numbers were limited but what a positive way to celebrate our organisation?
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