RAFAC vs War

What on earth would happen if we went to war would we play any involvement or would we sit here like lambs

It’s been asked many times but in short no.

there was a limited potential call up when officers were VRT (mainly centred on specific roles & trades) but in short we would all be stood down under current regulations,

However in the event of a military attack on the uk from a hostile state I suspect with staffing requirements as there are, there may be some quick legislation kicking in.

The emergency powers act is quite powerful if ever invoked.

Closest we got to a national emergency was Covid & then resulted in a stop everything so they didn’t have to concentrate on cadets mindset.

Whilst it is scary I wouldn’t worry too much & would try to avoid getting caught up in the hubris

1 Like

Possibility on rafac afa teaching staff being required to mass train forces in afa?/ any other subjects possible

Regulars do first aid at work or FREC3 & rafac only teaches St John’s so the qualification isn’t high enough & the adults skill quality too varied.

2 Likes

I’ve seen regulars being trained in silver fa so huh?

Regulars have be trained in rafac courses if they are delivering RAFAC courses.

In theory the could probably convert their qual but it’s simpler just to attend & get the box ticked.

2 Likes

Any other possible courses we deliver that would help for regs?

Also bit different but would they ever take control of our larger sqns or take all of our rifles and can they actually do this

Weapons potentially but again rafac instructor quality is too varied.

Fieldcraft is below that of the other cadet forces.

Drill & ceremonial is not needed in war time.

Possibly glider training through VGS to support pilot training but that’s pretty much it.

1 Like

They certainly could requisition the building.

Rifleswise if it’s service rifles they go back. If not they would probable

Oh damn thank god my sqns a caravan they surely won’t want my building

#bringbacknapoleonictactics

Its a mobile building…

Pretty sure as soon as / if we are at war any gliding would be stopped …as would most non military aviation.
Gliding training would serve no use anyway ….if they needed to train pilots (its a bit late by then to be fair! :wink: ) then they would just use civil aviation a/c.
I would imagine any aircrew recruitment would be from mostly ex aircrew who can fly anyway!
…and we would probably run out of a/c long before we ran out of pilots!

1 Like

Are we forgetting that the ATC was formed during the Second World War? It was neither subsumed into the RAF nor stopped from training.

1 Like

It was put under official RAF command rather than the air league but I think that was due to the political persuasion of chamier rather than a formalisation.

It was also a different war & best described as ā€œtotal warā€ with every aspect of society being redirected to the war effort.

you also had attacks on uk mainland.

In such as situation in future you could repurpose the ATC to a civil contingency support or possible reactivate the ROC with the ATC redirected to this role.

However the simplest option would be just to pause & stop until the end of the conflict

3 Likes

Two things should happen.

Immediate halt to all cadet activities - bar online I suppose…:grimacing:. That means fewer cars on road, less fuel use - all of of those are things that actually help a state at war.

The RAF needs warm bodies to bolster critical, but not particularly skilled work - filling sandbags/building revetments, using earth moving equipment, firefighting, catering… the list is endless.

10,000 staff…

Yes that would be my thinking too, national resilience stuff. Step forward to do the menial stuff to free up the trained bods to go forward.

But as it stands, no legislation for that and we would see it going through Parliament long before actually being expected to do anything.

2 Likes

9,999 staff… they don’t want me.

I’ll dig for victory instead.

4 Likes

When ā€œVenture Adventureā€ was a thing, and wrapping kids in cotton wool wasn’t!

3 Likes

All the above would very much depend on what type of ā€˜war’ we were at…

Worst case scenario ….buckets of instant sunshine start arriving ….forget any sort of organisation …..we would be back in the dark ages in a matter of weeks…with no choice over types of labour …those who can, live….those who cant ….probably wont be around too long!
I still think the ending of Threads pretty much sums up how it will be!