Being a staff cadet, it’s very evident that the organization treat us as staff when it suits them and cadets the rest of the time.
I do the Adj role on my squadron and transport cadets to and from events like AEF as the escort. Yet on the Adj side of things some staff don’t want me using the staff office and want me to be in a room with the rest of the cadets while doing Adj work. And on the activitys side of things I can’t claim fuel despite driving 150 mile round trips because no other staff are free for the benefit of cadets while if a ‘proper’ staff member done it they’d get mileage expenses.
That’s only a couple of examples out of many i’ve seen…
The organisation or the current staff? I have found it a big culture challenge to get the mindset of “staff cadets are adults” into the staff team, took a little while.
Speak to Civcom chair - maybe claim from Sqn funds (& @ .45p per mile maybe )
The higher organisation has struggled with the notion of “adult cadets” since the poorly thought out and conceived LASER Review. Speaking as an old style staff cadet who carried on to 22, we did all the things modern day staff cadets do, but there wasn’t this confused position and ‘hostility’ from on high which then affects how sqns react. The old style 18+ cadet drank, often with staff and they bought us drinks and those of that bent smoked, again staff offered them ciggies.
Until and not until someone high up grows a pair and bins cadets at 18, will we move on. But they crap themselves that they will lose “cheap staff”. As it is and as it was cadets leave at a time convenient to them. It makes me laugh that “we” want 17 year olds to stay and then invent a whole raft of conditions (above a DBS and safeguarding tick exercise) they should meet and give them nothing as a sweetener, except be an adult when we need them and treated like a cadet when we don’t. Then something like this, which OK is not going to affect very many of the few over 18s in the organisation in this day and age, but again it’s another embuggerance. Adults leave because of the BS from on high, so why should we expect youngsters to not do likewise? A greater percentage do when they go into KS5 as studying becomes more serious, part-time jobs become more of a thing as do relationships.
So according to the “Most recent changes” section on sharepoint Key Docs, ACP 20 has been updated to V16 which includes adding these new policies into ACP 20, amongst other things. However when opening it or downloading it, there is no difference to V15. The document has V16 in the footer, but the amendment sheet still only goes to V15, and none of the listed changes from the SPOL comments seem to have been changed.
I was most intrigued by “New PI 114 - CFAV Code of Conduct.”
I’m intrigued by the change to medical requirements for Officers & NCO that are mentioned in the key changes (obviously without actual V16 no idea what those changes are). Right now as far as I am aware their is basically no medical requirements to serve in uniform (with exception of our flying comrade’s). I am aware of staff with nearly every medical issue known to human kind and who provide amazing services to the cadets. The new policy could be interesting… will HQ RAFAC shoot them self’s in the foot again.
So what they are saying is, any member of staff who previously enjoyed a drink and letting their hair down at a dining in night after a tough year of volunteering, should now pre-load at home before turning up?
Oh, and taking a hip flask that you can drink from in a toilet cubicle could also be an option.
)
It is a few, as ever, who has spoilt for the rest of us.