But the NCO’s didn’t join the scouts and this rubbish impacts on the credibility of all of us.
This does look like it’s been done by a committee sitting well away from everything.
Before this gets anywhere near ‘the street’ there has to be a proper and fully laid out expectations / requirements for each badge and full chance that cadets WILL be able to achieve the progression. Just looking at shooting this has become more miss than hit in terms of accessing training and chances for ranges. Talking to people in the bang stick club, there seems to be more time spent training and testing cadets than actual range time. One of our cadets won’t go shooting ever again as they had to travel for 1½ hours, were subjected to a long lecture on range safety before sitting around, waiting for staff to be passed to use the weapons, staff faffing around doing things to update range tickets, then getting 25 rounds and then sitting around waiting to go home. They did say there were other things going on, but they went to shoot not do first aid or map/navigation exercises. I have to admit I’d be frustrated. The radio badge system, as much as it doesn’t interest me, looks like someone’s taken the time and trouble to present something that shows progression, however patchy access to this might be.
This badge system looks like trying to invent and find a cure for something that doesn’t exist.
When I was a cadet I didn’t feel we didn’t have enough badges and in my time as staff I’ve never heard cadets saying we’d like a lot more badges. About the only badge that has appeared is one for Nijmegen, which is sort of OK, but isn’t really necessary like the first aid badges.
As both an RCO & SAAI I share your frustrations, however I must say I am not a member of bang stick club, and it’s disappointing that you perceive those staff that are involved in supporting cadet shooting as being a club, one of the reasons that some areas struggle to offer this activity due the staffing being viewed as a closed shop.
My frustrations lies in the lack of get up and go amongst the cadets, especially when it comes to cleaning rifles at the start and end of the day and running the butts, 2 things key to a smooth running range. It also difficult in some cases to get support from attending staff to complete the range set up effectively as they are too busy being social (I am also guilty of this) 25 rounds is completely pointless as nothing can be achieved with that under the current system, as that would allow the rifle to be zeroed.
The biggest issue I find is the amount of time some cadets need to pass a WHT, mostly due to lack of rifle contact and subsequent skill fade, some will require remedial training, this means a member of range staff is missing to complete this training, and in some cases the cadet will pass too late to partake due to how the shoots have been structured.
I would question the ‘long lecture on range safety’ as whilst this is required should take about 5-10 minutes providing the cadets pay attention, and in reality is not where time is lost, more waiting for cadets to finish cleaning so they are ready to receive this crucial briefing.
I like the concept of the progressive training and was briefed this at ATF about 2 months ago. An upgrade could be good for us and it gives Cadets something to work towards.
It is due to go live in 2017 and they were looking to get badges approved in September. I’m not sure whether these were agreed or not.
The one thing I don’t agree with is two of my Cadets who recently went flying are being told by AEF Staff that they can claim their Blue badge and wear them now they have passed. They are returning back to my unit requesting the badges that, 1 do not exist and 2 the process of ordering does not exist.
I took it up with my CoC only to be told… “Unfortunately the processes for claiming these are not yet in place. ACTO 31 & 32 are in the process of amendment and should be issued before Christmas along with process to claim Wings.”
I’m now the horrible one that tells them they can’t yet have these badges…
I’ve only just caught up on this thread.
I like the new comms badge syllabus, especially as gaining the previous comms badge was like getting blood from a stone in our wing.
However, I’ve still not got the badges from a course ran earlier in the year, let alone the three after that. Even after lots of phone calls to our wing HQ, I’ve resorted to keeping a well known cadet supplier in business…