Thing is, it is all very well the Commandant saying something like that, which is in tune with the volunteer at the coal face. However, (and in keeping with many big businesses) we have a ‘marzipan layer’ of management between the two who often say and do the complete opposite. This needs to be addressed, as is where a lot of the negative elements comes from.
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I can’t hazard a guess as to what your biased mind thinks it implies… But I can tell you exactly what it means…
It means that we are a structured organization where some people who demonstrate further skill, interest, and potential can find themselves, if they desire, promoted and appointed into roles where they can use those skills to train, develop and manage others.
It doesn’t mean that the long-term Sgt is any less valuable than a FS or WO… It just means that they are filling a different role as part of the big picture.
It’s nothing new or peculiar… Many, many ‘hobbie’ organizations place people into management positions where they can utilise their skills and pass on their experience to others.
It also means that the few like you who constantly rally against the very idea that promotion should be given based on merit and ability to commit to that different role, have probably misunderstood the workings of the organization they volunteer with, and might wish to reconsider their involvement if they consider it to be so objectionable.
Nowhere is that more pertinent than with you my man.
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This comment strays into the complicated area that no one volunteer, volunteers for the same reasons & the reasons why we all initially volunteered is different for why we continue volunteering.
Volunteers are people & need some form of reward & recognition to keep them going & give greater meaning & purpose to why they do things. That form needs to be in a tangible format as otherwise the volunteer will have a crisis of faith.
You also have the volunteers who project their reasons for volunteering onto others or implicitly believe their reasons are the reasons why someone should volunteer are the only reasons and are intolerant of those who do not follow the dogma or papel doctrine of the organisation.
No one (well very vast majority) will be able to volunteer until they die of old age so the question we must ask ourselves is “how do we see ourselves leaving the organisation”.
There is also the question at what point does volunteering for the organisation become harmful to the individual and it best for the individual to leave even if that person does not want to.
Rank progression is a key part of volunteer management but the gulf between what the organisation intends to happen, what actually happens on the ground and what the volunteers expect to happen is large enough to not only cause confusion but cause a crisis of faith amongst the volunteers.
officially this might be the line…but when it is so straightforward to gain promotion by ticking boxes, there appears to be a sigma as other the “career” Sgt is left behind…
As there is a route to promotion which isn’t arduous to complete, even if taking 6 or more years, there becomes a sigma on someone who is a Sgt for 8 years…
But it’s no longer a box ticking exercise, there must be no stigma, and we all need to reinforce the message to get past that perception.
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I agree there is no perceived stigma from my experience. It is still a tick box exercise though because they didn’t get rid of the existing minimum arbitrary tickbox matrix criteria (other than mixing blue/green camps) but added an additional layer of fluffiness to give evidence of how you are adding value on top.
I have two existing pre-Laser WOs, and one of my FS has met the time served element of the criteria. He meets everything except the camp requirement (which he did meet for promotion to FS). Due to a change of job and having two young kids has not been able to go on camp the last 4-5 years. He’s just as capable as the other two WOs with regular attendance etc. but cannot progress as OC Wing has deemed camp attendance as mandatory from the criteria.
I’m not a big fan of the whole producing clone soldiers of the exact same specification (all attending same courses with matching quals at rank ‘x’). That’s what made the RAF Air Cadets stand out as different to the other Cadet Services. The ability to pursue the activities you want to do rather than being forced down one route. It encourages diversity of skills, experience and creativity to problem solving tasks.
In a coffin, out of the door of my Sqn, with full RAFAC honors.
The band playing a dodgy rendition of Amazing Grace and a march past with 75% - 90% of personnel in time.
Followed by much banter and drinks on me at the after show event.
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Nor am I. We have such a wide range of activities… My approach is that what we look for in a FS or WO should not be some specific list of achievements, but a demonstrated ability to work at the higher level within their area of interest.
It will become that case the those promoted to WO are taking the top responsibility for some area or other in their Wing (or perhaps in their large squadron). We should see a lot more of the traditionally “Sqn Ldr” posts being more formally open to WOs or skilled FS.
It’s our job to manage the policy and direction of that AOR and to ensure that the FSs in the field are given the training, direction, and support they need to manage the Sgts below them.
What I need in a FS in my ‘trade’ is someone who demonstrates a thorough working knowledge and has the time and ability to be one of the people that I can trust to run courses under my direction, or to make Sqn visits within their sector to give assistance, &c… Qualification wise, they would ideally be a DI.
Other ‘trades’ will have different specific requirements. If someone’s passion is First Aid, for example, then one would expect that a FS should have an instructor qualification and be capable of running a YFA course or such under the direction and support of the Wg FAO.
Promotion to FS isn’t about being rewarded for being an okay Sgt for 4 years, it’s about taking the people who can (and want to) fill that management role within their area, and putting them in it.
Promotion really shouldn’t be about how many camps someone has attended in the past 4 years.
If I’ve got a good candidate, whose SME leader is telling me can do the job required, but they haven’t ticked some arbitrary box on the matrix, I’m going to be petitioning OC Wing and the RC to grant an exception.
Equally, I may have someone who has ticked the minimum criteria boxes in the matrix but is not yet demonstrating the required ability to work at that higher lever… That person is not getting FS yet.
The right people should be in the right posts.
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And going to camp just to fulfil the matrix is just as bad.
I have known people go to camp just to complete the matrix to get promotion for FS and WO.
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That’s the problem with the matrix. It’s a tick box exercise. But personally when I board people I’m just checking it’s not been a tick box activity… I want to understand what they did and more importantly how they developed from it.
So devil’s advocate here - a Sgt decides they want to spend their time on squadron, so remains a Sgt long term. They then decide after 6 years they would like to apply for WWO role - how would that work as they haven’t been a FS? Would they be allowed to skip a rank if they have fulfilled the criteria for FS, but not taken the promotion?
I suppose on the one hand if they were the right candidate then one would hope that an exception could be made.
On the other, if they’ve never been a FS and have only worked on a Sqn, then they don’t have the experience of working above squadron level so they may not be the best qualified person to fill the role of Wg WO anyway.
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I don’t know… If they perform well at camp then I don’t care so much why they are there.
Especially whilst we have this silly requirement to get camp-time. If my previously mentioned hypothetical ‘good candidate’ is being held back because they haven’t done a camp - the exception I would ask for not being granted - then I say “get them on it and let’s get them into that FS role where they should be”. For the greater good.
The other side is that I have known people attend camp and be utterly useless… Or indeed, worse than useless - a detriment to the camp.
But they’ve attended camp so they get that tick in the promotion box. It’s a rubbish system.
B
and some words
I’ve seen FS skipped before based on a RC approval
i echo this and reading above you’ll see I have experience of SNCOs attending to tick the box but only interested just to drink tea and munch on biscuits.
If someone is keen and active and they need to tick the camp box, chances are they’ll be keen and active on the camp too.
but for those who trickle along and attend events to tick the boxes, these are the ones you don’t want on camp - they are taking up a bed/coach space from a keen and active CFAV who would make the CampCom’s life easier rather than harder.
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One of the big problems these days is that with the handful of spaces that you have for Staff you can’t afford to take staff that don’t have Quals/Skills that you intend to use.
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The matrix should really be guidance, to be examined and assessed pragmatically when it is time for promotion, if certain bits can’t be achieved, well as long as other areas compensate, no worries.
As an example, I have been a staff member since 2005, and never been on a week long blues camp. I’d really like to, but the way leave at work is sorted for me, I can’t get the time, as an example I’ve already booked all my leave for 2022! Sure I’ve done shorter ‘camps’ but never a proper blue or greens camp, so on that basis I should never have been promoted!
Having said that, would I really care? Likely not. Would be quite fun to stay as Pilot Officer with a CFM and see the response when asked how long I did as SNCO before Commissioning and say I never was!
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I think the initial intention was that you as the individual didn’t do anything but your CO/next in the chain completed the paperwork & submitted when they were happy with you. It was meant to be that it then gave OCs a rough guidance plan on developing & mentoring their staff.
In practice it’s pushed down to the individuals which turns it into the tick box exercise everyone loathe as there is no general guidance for the individual of not just what to do but how you do things…
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Indeed, the individual isn’t meant to ‘apply’. Their OC decides whether they will be put forward or not.
The initial process was that after 4 years HQ would push down the form and the Sqn OC would approve or defer the promotion. If approving, they would complete the form with the relevant details and submit to WHQ. If deferring they had to give brief details to explain why and supply a date when the individual would be reviewed.
That was started during the early time-served days, and even after the introduction of the matrix the process remained the same.
These days it ought to be a nudge from HQ to say “Bloggs has completed the minimum time served… What’s the deal? Are you putting them forward or not?” rather than “Are you authorising or deferring their promotion?” The latter assumes that promotion is the default and will come unless there’s a good reason, when really it should be initiated only if appropriate.
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