No.3A Did anyone proof read this?

Everyone Uniform and Drill
1

My cadets are getting to the stage where a new Squadron Badge is imminent, with it, comes an opportunity to finally kill off the old badge and buy some new stash. That, comined with all of this chat elsewhere that with the death of WB shirts, no.3A may become our new lord and saviour, (Please God no…) I decided to actually read the No.3A regs a little more closely and noticed, a few confusing aspects.

  1. The badging of the shirt is not clear. For instance:

"b. RAFAC Logos previously approved through the RAFAC Brand Rules on the left breast, sleeves and/or back panel (combinations are allowed but there must be a minimum of an RAFAC logo on the left breast or sleeve).

c. Sqn or Formation insignia can be added to the sleeve or right breast but an RAFAC Logo is to be included on the left breast."

My reading of this is that if you want purely a RAFAC Logo, and no squadron or formation logo (I imagine formation includes things like sports teams, Nijmegen teams etc.) then you can wear a RAFAC logo on just the left sleeve if you so wished. However, if you do want a Squadron badge on the right breast, then you have to have a RAFAC logo on the left breast. (Personally I don’t like that, it sounds a bit cluttered to have badges on both breasts, I would prefer Squadron on left breast, RAFAC on sleeve.)

So far so simple, yet the only current example picture in the regs is of a WO in the D&C badging, with a D&C badge on the left breast. Nothing on her right breast, and the RAFAC logo on the left sleeve. Which is the complete opposite of what the description states???

  1. Outerwear.
    Paragraph 0229 f. states: “f. Outerwear. During inclement weather, either the RAF GP or MVP jacket with rank insignia may be worn but all personnel are to be attired in the same fashion. Berets are to be worn with outer wear.”

That clearly states that the correct jacket in no.3a is the blue GP or MVP jacket. (Unless I’m being really thick.)

However, the ‘order of dress’ summary on page 62 states:

"Field Jacket: PCS-MTP (Note 6)

MPV Suit: waterproof gortex [sic] jacket & trousers either CS 95/PCS-MTP for bad weather conditions. "

Which is the exact opposite of paragraph 0229! Who writes this stuff?

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Usual garbage - will get re-released in 12 months no doubt - after everyone has purchased ‘illegal’ Squadron shirts, because it was as clear as mud what they needed to buy in the first place.

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Before regs came out, I was given this as an appropriate and approved option by WWO.

“If you have Sqn logo on left breast, RAFAC logo must be on left sleeve.” or words to that effect.

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I prefer that, two breast badges sounds like overkill

Anyone got a front on pic of this year’s RIAT shirt ?

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See I was never sure because it keeps switching between “sleeve” and “sleeves”… so I can never work out what arm the badges are meant to go on

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In an update to this ongoing saga, The RIAT T-Shirts for this year are of course out.

Front: Large RAFAC/RIAT logo across the whole chest
Back: Royal Air Force Charitable Trust across the whole back
Sleeve: Royal Air Force Charitable Trust logo

So it seems the answer is: Do whatever you want, just make the t-shirt blue!

I know this is an exercise in pedantry, but I cannot possibly see how anyone can ever come down on an individual unit for not following the regulations, if one of our flagship events can’t be bothered either!

(I’m also pretty sure the RIAT Logo breaches the branding guidelines for not allowing an R’s space around the RAFAC logo!)

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But is the RIAT dress actually 3A, or just whatever made-up dress that RIAT have been doing for years?

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No 3a should be a polo, so I’m going with made up. I’m hoping the powers at be are pressuring these national and big events to follow the recently introduced 3a

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Surely the better option is to admit it’s lame and just stop trying to control it.

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3A is just…the worst.

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3a does not specify polo. T-shirts are permitted.

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Isn’t 3A just a chance to justify the made up ‘uniform’ which RIAT created.

Yet another example of how to achieve dress reg change by intentionally breaching them!

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Guessing this will rile people up but RIAT people always refer to the mode of dress there as No. 3R…

ducks and hides

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3Rs?

Right-not, wrong, and erroneous?

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RIAT

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No.

We are following the RAF lead on 3A - it was created to justify the made up “uniform” which The Motivational Outreach and other RAF teams created.

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Durr…

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Not strictly true…

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What that means (being a direct copy) from AP1358 is that “normal” No 3A dress is a polo shirt, but that a T-shirt “i.e. PT Shirt” may be worn for certain sporting activities, but once that’s done it should be back to the polo shirt.

…And then with regards to design… That’s seems pretty clear to me. I’m not sure why the confusion?

The RAFAC logo and the ATC heraldic badge are approved through the brand rules. You must have the RAFAC logo on there somewhere - Either on the left breast or sleeve, and the ATC badge can go somewhere.

If you are planning to put your Sqn badge on there then it can go on the right breast or on either sleeve - but in that case you must have the RAFAC logo on the left breast.

Though, I suppose they could have made it more prescriptive and therefor even easier to understand by insisting that the RAFAC logo goes on the left, a Sqn badge (if worn) goes on the right breast, and other items go on the sleeves or back.

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You should have read the whole section, the paragraph above the one you quoted states:

“0229.No3A Ensemble.When authorised for wear, No3A SD consists of:
…
b.Shirt.A polo style or t-shirt,iaw RAFACBrand Rules andPara0230below, is worn tucked into the waistband of the trousers”

And on the summary page:

“Shirt: A polo style or t-shirt. (Note 3)”

The confusion with the rules stems from the fact that the approved example picture directly contradicts those rules. The WO in the picture has the logo on the left sleeve, and a unit badge on the left breast. (As per my original post.)

That also flies in the face of almost every unit shirt I have ever seen, I cannot recall ever seeing a shirt with a badge on both breasts.

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Yep…
“iaw para 0230”

Para 0230 explains when to wear the polo vs when to wear the t-shirt.

Ah, well I can’t argue with that. You’re quite right.
In which case I’d say it’s a pretty obvious “ignore the picture - they’ve clearly just grabbed any old thing to fill the space”