First of all, apologies for the provocative heading. I don’t know what it’s like these days but when I was a cadet, what I’m considering would be tantamount to treason!
I’m here looking for some opinions. As an ex-cadet who is all grown up, I find myself with an abundance of time and the motivation to donate my energies to the cause of enabling the cadets of today in any way I can. Time isn’t infinite though and in an attempt to make best use of it, there’s a decision to make. Having read up a bit on the experiences of todays adult volunteers I have to say it makes for some rather grim reading.
Going in, one has the best intentions but when you read about people leaving due to massive amounts of admin, bureaucracy, cuts, disorganisation, activities becoming unavailable for myriad reasons…it starts to sound more like the organisation is a bit crippled and, dare I say, all work no fun. Call me selfish but there needs to be something more than the satisfaction of doing ones part.
The question is this then: is there any reason to devote my time to the RAFAC over the ACF given the general negativity in the air, or am I misconceiving? Is the RAFAC indeed in decline and would I be committing to something that isn’t going to last much longer?
All cadet forces have e their issues but sometimes it’s good to do something different to what you did as a cadet?
Have you looked into the Sea Cadets? they seem to be the one that’s leading in volunteer management at the moments.
Every organisation has its issue & we are still in covid recovery mode. Hopefully things will settle down but it will take awhile. It’s what works best for you & where you can do the most good. If you liked the AT side of the air cadets look at the SCC. If you liked the shooting & fieldcraft look at the ACF.
Not these days, tri-Service working is very much the way to go. even scouting would be acceptable.
Police/Emergency Service cadets on the other hand….
Have a good look at all 3 cadet forces. I have a very good working relationship with the local ACF detachment and some of their Company staff and they would be the first to admit the grass is not greener.
They have a different structure with a lot more training and other activities at Company level. So if you are considering Officer then it’s likely you’d be in a Company role such as training officer, unless your local detachment is large enough to have an officer commanding it. Most are run by Sgt Instructors or Staff Sgt Instructors now.
There’s also more variation based on capbadge, and how close the detachment works with its ‘sponsor’ regiment reserves.
Also the ACF Civilian assistant rank isn’t really equivalent to the ATC, it is more of a holding rank until the applicant enrols as a Probationary Instructor. You can’t - with some exceptions - stay as a CA throughout your time with them.
I’d second the idea that the SCC appears to have its act together.
COVID certainly seemed to knock us back a fair bit didn’t it?
Thanks for responding. I had entertained the notion of the other forces but you know, even contemplating the ACF (which seems to be far more supportive and organised) has me feeling like I need a bloody good scrubbing with that old establishment soap from government buildings made of sandstone.
You get the picture
Still though, classroom, field craft - I loved every minute of every bit of it and would love nothing more than to spend a few hours a week passing on some of the extremely valuable lessons I had the privilege of learning in my time. But only if it’s properly supported and therefore worthwhile.
The sea cadets also has Royal Marine cadets as part of them & they do like having instructors with field craft knowledge - they just have less restrictions than the ATC. Have a look as well as on the national website
I’ve wandered off - lead by my children I’ll admit - into the scout movement. I’m afraid I find it much more instantly rewarding, far less rubbish to deal with, and far more independence at a local level to do the stuff the staff and locale are best suited for.
We’re outside every evening - walks in the countryside, camp craft, cooking…
The SCC look excellent. Unfortunately their nearest detachment is about 250,000km away so they are possibly too far as to be workable. It really is the ACF or good ole ATC.
With regards to parent organisation - is the ATC still looked after quite well by the RAF or am I correct in what I perceive to be a bit of distance? Seems to me that the Army are quite supportive of the ACF, though obviously I can’t know that for sure.
There’s certainly a lot more info on the website and they were quick to respond to me with some formality too. A clear path of progression, uniform from day 1 (rather than my office wear for 6 months!), and so on.
But where are the planes? Where are the rusty Lee Enfields?
I jest. I’ve known scout leaders and smarter people I never met. Just not fully in my wheelhouse. A PowerPoint on modern AirPower though - now we are talking.
With regards to the mountains of admin I keep seeing throughout the forum - just what are people referring to? I know there’s an element of herding cats in all things but I’m interested to know just what it is that’s causing people to walk from the ATC.
Honestly, it’s a combination of frustration & exhaustion.
Less volunteers, less people to share the work. Tired staff &’tired kids. Not helped by some volunteers being Walter Mitty Peter Pan & refusing to accept things have changed.
New volunteers will make a big difference by re-injecting that hope & positive energy. It’s just supporting them long enough for the despair to be drained.
And that all would have to be signed off by another volunteer, normally requiring multiple weeks notice.
And it won’t get signed off unless we’ve all done climatic injuries training and it’s all up to date. One cadet out of date? App rejected…
And if we don’t carry around our climatic guide we’re in trouble…
And that other A6 guide fold out thing…
I think it depends on your mindset - and those above you who are driving the level of admin. Personally I have no issue with the documentation requirements as I see that they protect me in the event of something going wrong and display a level of planning which would be of great help should the worst happen.
That said, I am personally competent at ‘tailoring’ to suit the complexity of the activity, whilst making sure I include the important stuff - thus minimising my personal workload. There are certain areas of the organisation which simply don’t understand this concept and I can imagine if you fall under that area then you will rapidly get frustrated when you are asked to generate a ream of paper for a simple climbing activity on a parade night.
Assuming you can find the right balance of prep vs actual activity the rewards are still there; you get to see cadets and CFAVs doing good stuff and learning loads. But the organisation will take as much (and more) as you are willing to give - so it can easily become a second job if you aren’t disciplined with your time input.
Our wing asked for additional admin for events 12 months ago - and got ahead of the curve and got in touch with Wing in May for a day visit to a local airshow in August.
in reply i got:
Wg:please create these docs
me: i did so and submitted them
Wg:“ah i see you haven’t included X or Y”
me: you didn’t ask for them 2 weeks ago and I have never heard of a Y
Wg: Doc Y covered this, attached is an example
Me: ok thanks, edits the example to make relevant resubmits, with some questions on X
Wg: no reply for a month
me: chased up.
Wg: thank you for Y, and the answers for doc X are this, i notice there is no Z doc either?
me: you never asked for Z…
In the end i cancelled the idea it as it was simply too hard to jump through the hoops in time to advertise the opportunity to the Cadets in time.
but to address the “what makes the difference?” question - it is the Cadets.
it doesn’t matter if it is their smile returning from an AEF, firing the L98 for the first time, reaching the top of the climbing wall, or getting back to the bus after an airshow or museum visit - 99% of the time they are smiling, excited and grateful that the Staff made it happen - often asking when can they repeat the experience.
that is what has always made the difference to me.
if the Cadets didn’t enjoy it, even the crud bag packing or other community based events then I see that as a failure on my part and what keeps me going through the admin is the expectation the Cadets will get something out of it even if its the 7th time I have visited Duxford or have spent 40 hrs fighting with Wing to get an event approved, my enjoyment is seeing their enjoyment even more so when i know i played a part in making it happen
