Apart from someone I know telling me some of the supervising Air Cadet staff he saw were surprisingly scruffy at RIAT this year, after he gave me the souvenir programme to read I noticed no publicity for the RAFAC in there. No 2-page articles which have been published in previous years. Not even one page, or half a page. The only mention of the RAFAC I noticed was a tiny box with one sentence as a key among 25 other boxes on a map. Did the influencers drop the ball? Or was it a budget thing?
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Thatâs because there are pauses on anything beneficial to squadrons and cadets, and advertising the organisation would be too much good publicity, the consequences of which cannot be risked.
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Something to do with not submitting press releases during the pre-election period so it missed the cut off date?
Youâre obviously not aware of the current plan to kill off the ATC.
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Disappointing to find people still canât get RAFAC/CCF/ATC terminology right.
Itâs a plan to kill off RAFAC!
The cadets still wear cap badges with âAir Training Corpsâ embossed upon them: we still have that link with our past.
Plus the ATC was the organisation I joined in 1981 as a cadet. We used to go shooting or gliding most weekends, fly at least once a year, visit our nearby RAF station (now sold off for other purposes) for various activities, get regular RAF recruiting team visits (it was simple to join the RAF in those days - human beings were your points of contact), and all this without any IT administrative over-complication.
But like you said, weâre not the ATC anymore, or at least not that ATC, and donât we know it. 
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lot of us are still in the ATC.âŚâŚ. That never went. It was the ACO which was rebranded. The RAFAC is made up of the ATC and CCF (RAF)
Now the matter of which they are trying to kill off could be debated 
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âSupervising Air Cadet Staff⌠Surprisingly scruffyâŚâ
Not sure who he saw, could some have them been CIâs supervising cadets, or were they uniformed personnel? or was he expecting No1s or No5s for all Fist Aiders and staff showside? Although there was only the AT centres and a small comment about 900 and odd RAFAC buildings (false statement) as always there is a huge RAFAC presence definitely more RAFAC than RAF personnel supporting on site.
He may not recognise the difference but I will ask next time I see him.
Well I know I tried my best to look spick and span as much as possible but the tents / lack of hanging area and ironâs makes it somewhat difficult to do as much as possible. That and the fact that long grass kills toecaps on a daily basis does make it somewhat difficultâŚâŚ
Lack of VA also killed off a lot of the old sweats as well that have previously attended as for the responsibility we hold getting paid at a lower rate sucksâŚâŚ
Out of curiosity, what responsibility does a Flight IC hold that requires eg Sqn Ldr pay? Or even Flt Lt?
Given some of the people integral to organising the camp (not that Flt ICs arenât important - just donât necessarily organise the fortnight) are FS/Sgt or indeed CI, Iâd question if flight ICs really need above Fg Off?
That said, when that Sqn Ldr is commanding their sqn of 100+ cadets or their sector, or when the wing commander is commanding their ~30 sqns, they absolutely should get their full pay, imo?
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This drum gets beaten regularly. Not sure how weâve ended up going from RIAT events programme to the whole VA pay argument 
He is ex-ATC from yonks ago and still knows the difference between VR(T), (reminded now RAFAFC), and RAF.
To answer the question, he said he noticed untidy beards on uniformed staff (bum-fluff beards in uniform is one of my pet hates!), untidy and overweight uniformed staff, jewellery on show (neck chain over uniform shirt), and spotted something a cadet-escorting staff member was wearing âwith more badges than a scout camp, including wingsâ which he thought rather odd in 28° heat. Minor things for us I guess as we donât select from the queues of young adults applying to join partly based on fitness and appearance, and keen and talented CIs come in all shapes and sizes. Some of those people end up in uniform so some variation in appearance to the average RAF person will happen.
The untidy beards and jewellery bit agreed is inexcusable to be fair especially if you are show side escorting cadets. The âoverweight uniformed staffâ part if he is ex ATC he will know there is no formal fitness test. Agreed the 2A or 2C dress in particular doesnât look great with a belly the size of Britain but would rather have the volunteers turning up than RIAT having to find an additional 600+ volunteers to allow the show to go ahead. In its current guise, there are more RAFAC than RAF there and RIAT wouldnât be able to function without us but personally I think it was a bit poor that it wasnât recognised. A simple thank you in the opening statement of the programme would have been enough.
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Luckily we are an organisation that accepts people for who they are, not what they look like. I would of told him where to stick that opinion.
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