Oh my days this opens up some great possibilities.
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Many of these would make great mottos!
I would assume the Welsh would very much be the/an appropriate way to write the geographical designation in the circlet. I’d have to check to give you a firm answer though.
As for mottoes, in theory they can be any language (and that’s a useful way to get around the “no duplication” rule).
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The only authorised badge I can see on the register for a Welsh sqn is 271 (Colwyn Bay). There isn’t an image of the badge, but I assume that as the geographic designation is in English then the badge will be too?
Nothing like a Gizzit.
based on the weekly brief (No.94) and the advert for “RAFAC BADGES PROTOCOL LEAD”
how does this impact your role @OC.1324? (or have you stood down and this is the advert for your replacement?)
This genuinely caught me off guard!
Incredibly nice of you to enquire.
A bit too much all kicking off at the same time even for my liking, but otherwise doing well.
To answer the questions…
This role is the one that was previously held as a primary role by Sqn Ldr T.
There are obviously some key things that are different on the advert (secondary role, no rank advancement), but I can’t quite remember the detail of why that’s currently the case, so I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t risk botching an explanation.
In terms of how it affects me…
I’ve been holding a secondary project officer post for a few months (informally hard at work since January), which allowed me to start driving some positive developments:
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taking a look at policy and highlighting where we stray from the Inspectorate of RAF Badges’ authority
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providing support to regions, wings, and units across the UK to help them understand all the nuance and commence applications
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making the process as transparent as possible to keep people appraised of the difficulties / timeframes, with the added benefit of then eliminating all the enquiries that were going to the wrong parts of the organisation.
I would guess that my secondary role will evaporate once this one is filled.
I intend to apply with a view to keeping things moving and developing as a role, but it’s entirely possible there may be someone better-suited to it than myself.
If that happens, I’ll be a bit gutted to step away from it just as the wheels are really turning (and I have some awesome developments in the system), but I’d be very happy to ensure a significant handover and to support from behind the scenes.
After all, I want it all to continue going from strength to strength because I really do believe what I say when I talk about the importance of this stuff being done properly and really well.
If anyone wants to know more, I’m happy to perhaps host a dial-in when I get back from overseas to discuss the challenges etc (which I think is something you may need to comment on during the application, so it’s only fair that I take the time to loop people in if they’re interested).
The toughest bit is that it’s all incredibly nuanced and that simply does not fit well with what people expect in a uniformed organisation (it’s not my happy place either), and so much time has been spent trying to provide clarity in the areas where clarity can in fact be provided, and to adapt processes so that we can avoid creating problems for tomorrow.
A chief frustration is that people love you when you give them what they want and can be pretty harsh or even completely dismissive of the role when you’re “obstructive”.
But the feeling you get when you’re able to support one of the many units on the list to take a step closer to getting their own formal heritage really is awesome. It means the world to them, and it means the world to be able to help.
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For those who are interested in general progress, things are continuing to move in a steady manner.
Current processing rate, while the inspectorate continues to manage all the badge changes across the commonwealth (crown changes) is 1 per month, which obviously makes the queue a long one, especially as units continue to enquire as awareness has improved.
It is hoped that we may be able to double that rate by the end of the year, but nothing is certain.
The current tracker is now outside of MS Teams and available to all with SharePoint access: Sign in to your account
I encourage any unit wishing to attain a unit badge to email me and join the queue. Taking a couple of months to think about it now could mean a significantly longer wait later, if other units beat you to the back of the queue.