I think a x3-5 multiplier is more realistic as the cadets just don’t want to do VPN, it’s not what they signed up for.
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I wouldn’t fall off my chair if the 50% number came to fruition - I think we also need to be planning for the 50% who do come back to have radically different ideas about how much time they are prepared to commit, and how much faff they are prepared to put up with.
Boiling a frog is easy if you start with cold water, but the frog got out of the saucepan in march, and when he/she dips their toes back in 15 months later they may well decide that the water’s too hot for them.
I think it will be October before an OC will be able to write out a list of the staff they’ve got for the next six months with any kind of confidence - some people will simply not come back, others will come back having decided to scale back their involvement, and others will come back intending to get stuck in, but quickly decide they’ve been looking back with rose tinted glasses.
I’m going to go back, on my terms, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I chin it off eventually…
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More to the point, will there be eligible cadets for the high end camps? We’ve lost our senior cadet base with aging out and career moves so envisage a period of building up the squadron, training NCOs and staff requals for a good couple of years.
The likes of JL serve as a very big carrot to cadets, if we lose them it could have a big effect on the older cadets. I’m sure the courses will adapt accordingly. Having cadets travel large distances for residential camps isn’t going to happen for a good while. Our region are advertising for ACLC (good luck) but at least they are trying!
i think what we come back to will have a big impact on everyone.
whatever it looks like it is going to look different - be it just in the numbers we’ll have at the unit, losing X% of Cadets and Staff.
permitting Sqns to carry on and work to there strengths i think is a good route forward. for some they may be the drill unit, or an AT unit (be that walking, climbing or watersports), or even shooting.
it might not be the Corps “bread and butter” but i think if Units are allowed autonomy and to perform activiites which it is good at, can do and “turns the staff on” (for want of a better phrase) then let them crack on.
i can’t see the benefit in forcing us all down a “return program” route were the shape of the return of f2f is set out by HQAC or Wings
if you have CFAVs returning with climbing quals, let them put some climbing weekends together, or if its a unit that can deliver first aid training let them carry on…
…whatever it is if the staff are allowed to do what they enjoy, that passion will be picked up by the cadets and at the very least aid retention.
if we return and forced to do the dull stuff (or rather banned from the interesting stuff) those Cadets who do turn up are going to wonder why…
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This is a valid point. As much as im biting at the bit to get back to F2F (Sounds sad but Cadets is my escape from the reality that is my complex and stressful life) however recent life events have made me realise not to be so keen to attend everything. Im going to focus on what I like doing in the RAFAC, im going to remember its my hobby aswell as the Cadets…we all forget that
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Why are we worrying about “high end” this or that.
We need to get back to doing the basics on the squadron, not worrying about a few bruised egos of those doing the selective camps and courses.
We seem to have gravitated away from being squadron centric as the need to be qualified and complete a load of sphincter twitching paperwork to step outside the door as grown.
Make the squadron the centre of the universe and other parts secondary.
This is the opportunity to reset the Air Cadet experience for everyone and make it less onerous. I can remember when being a CFAV was fun and not feeling like wading through refrigerated treacle. If there is a 50% drop in CFAV, how many more will follow shortly after? Currently despite their problems the sqn staff have all said they are coming back. But the question has been what will the cadets do. I’ve suggested we parade one night a week, so as to reduce our commitment and potentially make it more attractive. I need to work on selling this, as there have been “we’ve always done it like this” line from the other staff.
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It seems strange thinking back now to how many weekends were essentially pre booked on the calendar for cadet activites. Over the summer I found myself enjoying the free time and even managed to take up a couple of new sports/hobbies.
Going forward I definitely think there will be an element of sticking more to the things I enjoy and giving a second thought to pre booking a lot of my spare time.
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My point is merely that we need to ensure that enough of this happens across all activities and it should be clear to those that have a greater focus on running our higher level courses and events that if they want to run those then they need to shift the balance of their efforts and pitch in to build their own audience.
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DofE, IACE and attending camps are open to everyone, the conditions imposed are not ones of fitness or education which are limiting factors as per FS and JL
As for PPL I have only known (from the sqns I’ve been on) 3 cadets get a place on a FS, one of these went on to do a PPL. Whereas I have in the same criteria known 9 cadets do a PPL and incidentally fly solo before the Air Cadets would allow it. These weren’t rich kids.
I’d be interested to know how many of this loss is active staff, I know that my Wing has really taken the time to get its house in order Admin and ACTO99 wise. So lots of Staff who had left but were still on the books are now gone.
We have had 2 staff taken off of our books, neither of whom had been seen for years. One I submitted the paperwork for over a year before lockdown and the other never signed the Staff agreement as she was away at Uni so I left her on the books on the principle that HQAC said they would throw her out.
I don’t know of a single member of Staff in my Wing who has said they are going so far who is actually active within the Wing.
I do agree with @angus that people are going to come back with a different level of commitment though, high is going to be a shock to the organisation.
None of my Cadets have attended a single VPN outside of the Squadron, we keep sharing them on CP but our guys have just had zero interest in them no matter who WHQ get to deliver the sessions.
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i can’t speak for the wing, but a staff member on our who left fairly early on into the pandemic was not “active” fairly regular attendee but not someone who got involved, more “helped out”.
of those i speak to who have lost staff, interestingly they have all (3 include ours) been male CIs of an age old enough to have kids to leave home (or thereabouts) - it will sound like a cliche but perhaps this is a demographic that have more options for hobbies than the rest of us, and have the interest to pursue either a new one or invest more time in one with their reduced family commitment.
Good question.
No idea. Maybe some/much of it only a paper loss?
It’s going to vary but that wouldn’t shock me.
I know of at least 6 on my Wing, and in the case of 3 of those, it means the almost definite closure of two units.
Yes!
Let us do on Sqns what we once could without the constant sound of ‘there is a Wing Team to deliver that’. I am aware this varies massively between Wings but if I hear one more time ‘you can’t do that at Sqn Level, there is a Wing Team to deliver it’ I may well fill in my paperwork to leave. I’ve moved around the Wings and seen some really good stuff going on and some quite frankly shockingly bad ways of doing things.
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When teams do that it greatly irritates me.
I like Wing Teams I think they are really useful in helping to run things that we can’t run ourselves. (Different Squadrons have their own strengths, I can run DofE all day but don’t have anyone to run Radio for example). They are also useful for helping Squadrons become self sufficient and that should always be the goal of those teams.
What I hate are empire builders who then decide that only they can deliver that experience! Deliver at Wing for those who can’t, but those who can don’t need to come on your courses they can run their own, which actually takes up less spaces on your courses which is a good thing!
We run Wing Bronze DofE Expeds on mass putting out loads of Teams, I go and staff them all, I take very few Cadets as we can run our own Expeds locally, plenty of Squadrons can’t. I would throw a proper temper tantrum if someone decided I couldn’t do my separate Expeds anymore.
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Yeah If only said wing teams actually delivered!
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Unfortunately a lot of this stems from Aunty Dawn’s beloved PTS badge system - Blue on Sqn, Bronze at Wg, Siver then Gold etc
We need to be able to deliver the maximum we can at Sqn level - more diversity to what we deliver on parade nights and the ability to take this as far as possible. This leads to greater staff and cadet engagement.
Not all cadets/parents have the time or ability to spend weekends ferrying to other locations for courses/activities. If its a 2 day course with no over night at a site 1hr away from home that is a massive commitment for a parent to make - and they may have other activities/children to think about
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I agree and disagree with this… We can’t stress too much about things like that. I know for some it might rule an activity out, but we do spend an awful lot of time making things incredibly easy for parents.
Lift sharing and imaginative ways of getting kids to and from activities is part of parenting - My poor mum had to whizz me about for cadets, football and rugby - whilst my sisters were off trampolining and goodness knows what else - all often in very different places at exactly the same time…
That’s part of being a parent.
I think sometimes we worry too much about serving an activity up with squadron transport and no pressure on mum and dad / guardians to do anything… Fair enough if it is going to mean sitting outside an airbase they can’t get on all day (eg flying)… But for other stuff get them to figure it out.
I started taking more of a hard line on what we would and would not provide transport on a little while ago. I was told to expect complaints and uproar… What actually happened was the cadets parents started speaking to each other and lift sharing to/from activities.
Some of them actually appeared in the office to say how it was good to see activities happening and to see things going on and I think enjoyed ferrying cadets about!
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I am still waiting for our Wing training team to deliver something to Staff or Cadets. It has been 11 months and we have had absolutely nothing!!!
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