People are preferring to stay as CI rather than go into uniform.
People are opting to go SNCO rather than Officer.
CI roles have blurred with SNCO & SNCOs have blurred with officers i.e. we’ve lost organisational clarity.
Not al CIs want to do the drilly shouty stuff but that’s fine as it doesn’t form part of their role
Not all uniformed staff want to do the drilly shouty military bit BUT that is part of their role, at least on a basic level.
The paperwork takes time to progress which puts people off the process.
So as a comprise suggestion:
You no longer have wait the probationary period as a CI before applying for uniform.
You still start as a CI & you are still on probation but you don’t have to wait for the sign off before applying to go into uniform.
This way people aren’t forced into going into uniform & can take the slow path but those that are keen and do want to go into uniform can start the 6-12 month recruitment process straight away.
However this still doesn’t solve the issue of recruiting new volunteers in to the organisation.
SNCOs may also be appointed as direct entrants and it is not necessary for an applicant to have previously served in any capacity before their appointment. Initial appointments will be in the rank of Sergeant (ATC) or Sergeant Aircrew on a VGS - on probation for the first year
The conditions of eligibility for appointment to a Cadet Force Commission (CFC) are set out in Reference A. Potential commissioning applicants must fill one of the following criteria:
a. Be serving in the RAFAC, and served at least 12 months, as a non-commissioned officer; WO/FS/Sgt (ATC).
b. Be serving in the RAFAC, and served at least 12 months, as a Civilian Instructor (CI).
c. Be an ex-cadet who has reached the rank of CWO, FS or Sgt and who has served as a cadet for a minimum of 4 years and is aged between 20 and 25. If the time limit is exceeded, ex-cadets must be appointed as either a CI or SNCO, and serve at least 3 months, prior to putting in a commissioning application.
d. Under exceptional circumstances, where previous experience and skills are deemed appropriate for CFAV service, Civilian Committee members may be considered for commission if they have served at least 12 months and are known to the chain of command. Requests for such appointments are to be made in writing, with full justification on their suitability to the Rgnl Comdt, who is to then seek authorisation from ACOS Spt at HQ RAFAC.
In accordance with Reference B [JSP 814, Chp4.], Regular Armed Forces personnel may not be enrolled as CFAV, although they may help at cadet units as ‘Service Instructors’. However, it is permitted for currently serving commissioned personnel of other Reserve Forces (including ADC and VeRR) to apply for a CFC commission. The minimum age for an ATC/VGS/AEF commission is 20 years or 18 years for CCF(RAF), the maximum age is 65 years.
Then apologies - it’s changed since I last looked.
So we already have a mechanism in place for direct appointments.
Are we using it? I don’t know of any direct SNCO appointments & it certainly seems that the bureaucratic interim means that everyone is doing 12 months as a CI.
This appears to be a big part of the problem. It seems that many are still pushing people to CI despite the policy which allows direct entry.
That’s basically where my input on this began. We need to stop that “you’ll become a CI” default approach.
I’ve seen this recently, and in a big way. I will say though, it is much easier to get parents or similar to join up as a CI than it is going into Uniform. That’s from my experience anyway. I think getting people to join initially as a CI is still good, but what is needed is focus on moving people into uniform. Possibly even going as far as maybe putting a normal time limit on CIs… That’s not something I agree with personally. But it may work.
(ie, you join as a CI, but within say 12 months are expected to go into uniform.)
I suspect the concern is “But I don’t know how to be a uniformed instructor!..” and rather than “Don’t worry. We teach you everything you need to know and you won’t be expected to dive in at the deep end.” we say “Don’t worry, you’ll be a CI and nobody expects anything.”
It irks me senseless that we bring cadets in, brand new, and we train them. We don’t have “Civilian Cadets”… But we bring staff in and we don’t give them the same grass-roots training that we give the youngsters.
Primary duty staff training teams. Think how much higher the standard of SNCOs coming up for promotion would be if we devoted a similar energy to preparing them as we do for cadets.
On direct entry SNCO the Cadet section on the RAF website states:
Blockquote
Of course, first you have to join as a Civilian Instructor and then have selection interviews at Wing HQs and Regional HQs but we guide you through that…if you have the potential then we’ll spot it!
So if our own public facing media has it wrong, it’s unsurprising that some Wings don’t follow policy.
I must admit, I always interpreted and was given the impression from higher up that the “previously served” line to referee to previous uniformed military service and not that you could directly apply.
I actually only know of one incident similar to this ever happening, and it wasn’t a forced transfer, rather a refused transfer that the person wanted. Also this person was a CI and not in uniform…
