Exactly.
If I didn’t have my SNCO the Squadron wouldn’t be able to operate.
I value their opinion on this (as in much else), it would take something earth shattering for me to go against their judgement.
Ultimately no, with a formal process in place judging them on written applications and board answers there isn’t the place for the informal chats that used to take place. (Unless the process is a sham and you just promote who you feel like anyway).
The same goes for some of the uniform staff, it’s not a panel of 9 people, (or wasn’t back when I was on a Squadron running them).
I feel the CIs should feed into the board process via the OC as they may see facets of the cadets attitudes and behaviours that they maybe trying to hide from the uniformed staff,
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While we do applications and interviews (for FS), we also discuss promotions at staff meetings so that everyone in the team has chance to input if they’d like.
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This made me snigger. My experience has been the real world is exactly like that.
Get on with it, and learn on the job.
ETA: I agree that, in an ideal world, we should provide cadets with training first.
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We are lucky that we have eager cadets who take notice of NCOs and attend each night, putting their names down for activities and courses that show on portal for them. They also know that if they can’t make it that they record this on portal and don’t end up with the dreaded (A) on their attendance.
We have let many cadets take the cadets through drill so they have an idea of how it feels to try and keep them in control.
And as a CI I have always been asked for my input as many of the cadets come to me as the OC is hidden in his office and the SNCO’s are otherwise engaged. I take as much notice, if not more, as I’m often in between rooms and see how the cadets behave with no uniformed staff around. With the huge number of cadets we have, if I know your face and name in a positive way then it shows their self-thinking to ask if anything needs doing or if I require help.
Obviously, the list is given to the OC but most of the time, we are already in agreement between the staff who gets stripes and who may need a little more time.
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So is there no process and it’s essentially lock who you like?
To be fair, I don’t think there’s any requirement for a formal process. It’s probably a good idea though.
We try to document our decisions so that we can give the cadets feedback if they’re unsuccessful and in case we get challenge.
I think the most important this is the CO sets & defines the promotion & selection process that best fits their style of command & they review & change it as the squadron changes.
What works for one CO will not work for another & it’s why it’s not something that can be dictated from wing or any other level beyond base principles.
Those principles are in my mind:-
- clear & easy to understand
- is attainable by the cadets within a reasonable time frame.
- is transparent & honest
- is comparable when the NCOs go off camp with cadets not from their squadron.
It’s why I believe Wing NCO course should be standardisation courses - the Sqn does the pre train & selection, wing does the formalisation.
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My old Wing insisted that there must be a process, they didn’t define it as it’s unique to a Squadron, but it had to exists and it had to be written down with results recorded.
This.
I see the value of a firm and transparent process, but when I had loads of hopefuls and needed a way to better understand potential because I was new, a big process with interviews, leadership / teamwork exercises, and presentations on things like uniform really helped me sift people.
When I clearly only have one cadet who is experienced enough and I’ve deliberately observed from a distance to run through my checklist, it’d be unfair to put anyone else through all that effort when I know I won’t select them.
It’d be good if Bader could run a profile for all selected cadets that would give a very good sifting overview of key info you’re likely to care about.
I may have missed it, but I’m currently not aware of anything other than individual reports for things like attendance, classification etc.
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There isn’t, it would be nice if they could provide some APIs and a sandbox for us data geeks to play with!
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Probably worth an ask, especially if you have some specific ideas in mind!
Couple of examples (off top of my head)
Does a particular cadet always miss a specific night, say sports
Are cadets from a particular school absent at the same time?
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I need a chat with all mine over the next week actually. I need to understand how exams are going to affect them all and what we can do to support them.
Such a pain that just as your cadets become experienced enough for rank, they all get on the never-ending carrousel of exams!
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I’d be interested in known what do you do for NCO promotions?
Do you do the old style boarding interview in front of officers?
Or do you have them meet a criteria?
Or do you have a more modern way for cadet to gain promotions?
How often do you offer promotions per yer?
So we used to do a written application, as detailed above, this was a combination of showing you met the minimum requirements (as set by me) and a brief personal statement (less than half a side of A4).
If you got through the paper sift you did a Drill and Uniform assessment with the SNCO ic Drill/Discip and the CWO. This was a simple pass/fail and was essentially redoing your pre-uniform drill test (or whatever it’s called).
After that it was a board, OC and SNCO ic Drill/Discip asking the questions.
For Sergeant or Flight Sergeant it was the same process, higher standards expected. More expected on the papersift (things like JNCO course completed etc) and the board was 3 person adding either the Deputy OC or the CWO depending on availability etc.
We ultimately moved the application to an MS Forms format to make it as easy as possible.
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Don’t suppose you have a copy of the MS form application?
I have to write an essay for my promotion 
Good life skill though!
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