We might as well give up. It’s like banging your head against a brick wall.
Written policy is meaningless because some random OC from 1324 Squadron knows better.
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I have proposed policy re-writes and clarifications and so I agree with you that it all needs clarifying and bringing together with consistency and clear rules that don’t contradict the actual formal process (which is the only process).
We are not disagreeing in that regard.
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Isn’t every wing commanded by a volunteer, and the RIAT camp?
Bit difficult to have a 3 week deadline when they haven’t sorted the policy out yet. Might as well make it a 3 year deadline and even that’s generous for a policy update in this organisation.
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The deadline is only to have RAFAC branding alongside the existing badges.
The rest of the amnesty is only listed as ‘temporary’ which in the RAFAC could be 3 years.
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Just to simmer this down slightly,
@OC.1324 you have said previously that you have a passion for heraldry & you also have a tendency to fixate on matters (I believe this to be a quote of something you have said so forgive me if I have misread or misinterpreted)
Do you suppose you have been given the leash on this project which at the end, is unenforceable in a volunteer organisation to distract you from focusing on more controversial matters that might cause greater turbulence e.g.
Inclusive Ceremony of Remembrance (/“Secularisation Thread”)
In short - are the paid staff playing the chess board with you so both projects fail?
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I do not think it’s a bizarre attempt to distract from other meaningful work I’m doing, and I can do more than one thing at once.
Originally, the plan was entirely to focus on bringing people on board willingly with authorised badges and clear the backlog, while also improving understanding, propose policy re-writes to bring about that consistency and clarity, and provide solutions to help nudge things towards where they need to be while inconveniencing people as little as possible.
This directive from Air Media (which has come about because people aren’t following branding rules in a rather big way) has appeared unexpectedly and so has now thrown a spanner in our very “softly softly” approach to this stuff.
That is why you’re seeing a quick need to sort it with that IBN, understandably out-of-sync with the preferred way, which would be to have policy etc red-teamed and robust and ready to release alongside, so everything is consistent. The broader team are very busy and this isn’t the only thing they’re trying to do.
External necessity has essentially forced us to deal with this stuff in a way in which we weren’t planning to, for many reasons previously discussed in this thread.
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I do make a note of all of the points raised here and ensure I give them due regard and consideration.
I don’t give undue weighting to what people say here though.
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As such, I would advise you to say to HQAC that you are going to “pause” (lovely RAFAC word that) further work in the heraldry registration until HQ media sort themselves out.
Otherwise the project you are attempting to deliver will be conflated & poisoned & you with likely part of scapegoating of the problem. You will come back to it when HQ media has sorted themselves out.
It also allows you to keep your sanity & kicks the ball in the paid staff court.
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Oh & wouldn’t call it bizarre - it’s a technique that’s been used many times in volunteer management both in RAFAC & many other volunteer organisation. It works fairly often too.
I don’t think that’s necessary.
It’s easy to get the impression here that people are losing their minds, but most people are quite accepting that there’s a bit of confusion, they ask for help with their interpretation, and we help and take the time to explain what’s going on while working on more substantive guidance.
Most people in the organisation understand that others are just trying to support one another to get it right in an imperfect world. I’m very generous with my time and I try to help clarify for everyone, as I do on here too.
In terms of badges, most of my work, bar sorting units out with graphics (because I’m nice like that and my hyper-focus is a super power) is simply continuing to advise and support people along the path to authorised badges. That work continues and I’ve even gone as far as to pin an informal guide on the badges SharePoint page to help people onboard a bit better and understand some of the nuance.
Again, there is a little inconsistency in the language I use there, but eventually everything should be aligned.
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Perhaps keep it as an option then in your back pocket.
I don’t doubt that you & others are working with best intentions but there are also likely to be others out there wanting you to fail for their own political reasons.
It’s another advantage of getting a team of people to help you - it allows you to have someone watching your flanks.
Oh I agree there. I’ve been given permission to grow a small team of informal volunteers to support with the badge research etc and to develop a bit more understanding so we’re not 1-deep on “expertise”. I have three volunteers at the moment. Just waiting for an opportunity for a proper catch-up and to induct them.
I think with these changes on branding, the best option is easily to engage and just accept that some people (as seen here) just want to watch you fail because they fundamentally don’t agree.
But if I didn’t engage proactively, badges are the sort of thing that would once again be an afterthought (if at all) and would just become even murkier and less consistent, whereas I’m helping navigate it through this issue and give everyone the clarity they need.
This isn’t how we’d chosen to do it (I spent a lot of time listening to views on here and we had a very clear plan to focus on developing buy-in) — we’re playing the hand we were dealt.
Also worth knowing that, on various areas of interest for me, there are allies and supportive parties everywhere. I received a wonderful message from someone about the remembrance stuff just the other week, for example, saying how moved they were to see someone deliver an inclusive, secular event where they’d been blocked and frustrated in the past.
My work represents a real need and was therefore absolutely worth all the effort.
This place focusses and enhances the views of the people on the forum, but there’s obviously a much broader base of people beyond it in our organisation.
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Well this thread has moved on SOOOO much since I was tagged.
Keep calm, carry on. Dont purposely go against policy to prove a point, do challenge where it needs tightening up. Greater clarity will arrive soon, once Air Media Centre provide some approvals and guidance. @OC.1324 has petitioned for various designs to be adopted and to give units templates.
Places like drums, yeah it obviously makes sense it’s only a badge not the logo, so we’ll get that added in blank and white.
No, if you have the badge already printed on a drum, you don’t have to set it on fire.
Yes, if you’re paying for a new set of painted drums, you should now add £650 onto your budget and have everything made official.
Yes, it’s always been the rule we have a badge next to the logo, but it was never enforced. Now it’s being pushed hard from RAF. As mentioned badge should sit as secondary to logo.
Where an official badge (official being sanctioned by college of arms) is not available, advice right now is to use ATC or CCF badge.
Don’t burn your merch, but when it comes to a reprint/restock, do it within policy.
No, no one will be forced to go through college of arms as it stands, but the policy will restrict usage of unofficial badges (non college of arms), most notably on social media (again, some questions asked of Air Media should give clarity here).
Once we hear back from Air Media, we’ll published that addendum I promised. It’s with them, with @OC.1324’s questions and proposals, but no approval yet and have been chasing almost daily. It will clarify the terms of the amnesty.
Anything I missed?
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I’ve been lurking this thread for a bit whilst at work. I previously did a large amount of research on Heraldic Badges in both the RAF and RAFAC as well as the processes for the designing/approval of badges for one of my MOI Lessons when I was a cadet. Im now a CFAV, so if you need anymore volunteers for the team I’m happy to help!
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Ping me an email and I’d love to hear from you!
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Blimey. We’re all on the same side here chaps (including Air Media).
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Shouldn’t this have been done before units were given 3 weeks to recreate their badges to make them compliant?
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There’s isn’t a way to make an unofficial badge ‘compliant’, that’s why:
Again, that’s not what the IBN said.
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