It may be worth noting UAS students don’t actually wear the eagle on No.1s anymore; certainly used to but they were all removed about four years ago! The only item on the sleeves of our 1s are our specific unit identifiers - good for when you’re at the bar and you’re trying to decide whether the girl stood next to you is worth talking to or not.
Also, many APOs are told not to wear VR pins on their No.1s. Solely to prevent a set of 1s being ruined by having pins stuck in them as effectively they’ll be handed back in after one year and can be re-used.
Standby for pictures of the new UAS rank slides (they’re currently at my station).
They’re the height of nouveau fashion don’t you know.
The OG slides are provided for both MTP and flying suits…which has caused problems whereby you have a field weekend and get one slide a little bit muddy then come in to fly in the week with one clean and one dirty slide!
I for one am really pleased that the UAS are re-embracing their RAFVR identity.
Now lets have a VRT version for No.3/14 SD please HQAC/2FTS …One could even stand to have “Air Training Corps” or “Combined Cadet Force” under the rank slide
Or, more controversially, lets drop the “T” and all go “VR” and help to preserve the history and heritage of the Reserve Air Forces. Since none of the remaining branches of the RAFVR have a call-out liability any more; there would no longer be any confusion, such as would have been possible pre-1997.
[quote]Stand Out wrote:
Also, many APOs are told not to wear VR pins on their No.1s. Solely to prevent a set of 1s being ruined by having pins stuck in them as effectively they’ll be handed back in after one year and can be re-used.[/quote]
Don’t really get that, personally - surely the VR pins could stay on?
I don’t think the UAS system ever disregarded its VR status, most (hopefully all!) students are aware we’re part of the RAFVR and are different from the standard RAFR. That said, with these new rank slides it’s definitely more obvious!
Well I must say I agree, but the sentiment is that most APOs go on to join the regular RAF and as such they keep their APO 1s; therefore if they have them still “non-pinned” by the time they graduate IOT (which is, of course, a case of when rather than if as we all know everyone in the UAS system is super duper good, handsome, charming and witty - I digress), there’s no need to get any re-issued. Also the actual number of times an APO usually has to wear their 1s can be counted on one hand.
All APOs are actually told to keep their 1s even after they graduate university, so that if they do go on to join the regulars, they’ve have a nice tailored set with no hassle. God knows what the length of time is before they’re recalled if you don’t join up…
You’re right for Officer Cadets, but APOs are tailored for Officers 1s…I wouldn’t know the technical name for them, I don’t like to get bogged down in dress regs…
[quote]thetopcat69 wrote:
I was under the impression that UAS students were only issued PWS airmans No1 [/quote]
As Stand Out says - Bursars/scholars (and a limited number of Offr Cdts, promoted from the ranks) are appointed as an A/Plt Off RAFVR(UAS)and are issued kit accordingly.
Offr Cdts are also RAFVR(UAS), but as non-commissioned ORs are issued Airman’s No.1s (and wear an Airman’s cap badge). They also wear the identifying badges for their UAS in a similar position to “mudguards”, like ATC cadets wear the ATC “mudguard” in No.1 (e.g. LL’s Cadet)
[quote=“juliet mike” post=17960][quote=“Leeroy” post=17947]of course every self-respecting VR(T) Officer who is worth their mettle should be cutting around wearing a set of these…
and don’t get me started on those nasty issued beret badges for officers!!![/quote]
They look great! I’ll get myself a pair to wear when I’n not wearing these:
[attachment=161]fltlt.jpg[/attachment]
These are much better[/quote]
It just amuses me that there are some ACO staff members who put a whole lot of unnecessary energy into worrying themselves stupid over the colour\pattern of the rank slides we wear. The organization and those same staff really need to find something more worthwhile to worry about!
I know this has been done to death in other threads but whatever happened to the AP1358C statement that rank slide backing should match the colour of the host garment (up to and incl Fg Off) and what’s the problem with having embroidered VRT as opposed to gilt pins? Embroidered insignia still denote the branch of the wearer after all, doesn’t it?
Have gold embroidered VRT by all means but lets see how long they stay gold once the wearer has been face-down in the mud.
Now, I’m off to look through the latest Rip-Off Direct catalogue to find out how much a slack handful of MTP rank slides will set me back. If I order them tomorrow, they could be here by Thursday…
:dry: [quote=“Gunner” post=17979]It just amuses me that there are some ACO staff members who put a whole lot of unnecessary energy into worrying themselves stupid over the colour\pattern of the rank slides we wear. The organization and those same staff really need to find something more worthwhile to worry about!
I know this has been done to death in other threads but whatever happened to the AP1358C statement that rank slide backing should match the colour of the host garment (up to and incl Fg Off) and what’s the problem with having embroidered VRT as opposed to gilt pins? Embroidered insignia still denote the branch of the wearer after all, doesn’t it?
Have gold embroidered VRT by all means but lets see how long they stay gold once the wearer has been face-down in the mud.
Now, I’m off to look through the latest Rip-Off Direct catalogue to find out how much a slack handful of MTP rank slides will set me back. If I order them tomorrow, they could be here by Thursday…[/quote]
I made my own, it only took me 10 minutes on a sewing machine with some material I got from a station tailors.
yup, i’d agree - black on MTP, gold/straw on Green…
like Gunner, i just stand in bemused amazement that any organisation, let alone anyone who has to juggle a job, family, the ACO and sanity, could possibly consider devoting the time and effort to giving the faintest, mouse-sized poo about whether someone on a range or a freezing training area wears gilt pins or embroidered rank slides on their already filthy uniform.
to nod in the direction of a very, very old thread, its probably a good thing for all involved that the VR(T) has no war role…
Although it is a minor issue, what’s the point of having regulations if we aren’t going to stick to them? What sort of example do we set to the cadets if we pick and choose which rules to follow?
i was thinking specifically about the regulation itself - however, if we’re playing hardball the truth is that some regulations matter, and some don’t: it matters that cadets only travel in vehicles that are roadworthy, it matters that aircraft are kept airworthy by strict adherance to a deep-rooted system of airworthiness regulations, it matters that people do not leave briefcases full of nuclear war plans on the tube, and it even matters that CFAV’s don’t ‘big themselves up’ by wearing wings/daggers that don’t belong to them - it does not, however, at anytime, become important that a CFAV looking after 30 kids on a windswept mountain in mid-wales is wearing little gilt pins on his rank slide rather than embroided little VR(T) signifiers.
an individual, and indeed an organisation, that cannot distinguish between what is important and what is not is heading for a spectacular fall - indeed one could argue that the whole aim of the ACO is to produce clear-thinking, mature young adults who can grip situations and make good decisions about what needs to be done and what does not, which is the complete, absolute antithesis of blind obedience or complete inaction until told what to do. the very reason we have officers is for odfficers to make decisions, rather than just have CDS send everyone a text message…
pinicity dress codes about this or that button, this or that rank badge, this or that hat, have a place - parade grounds and the ‘normal’ working environment. they have no place whatsoever on a training area in the middle of nowhere where the two main objectives are firstly avoiding hypothermia and secondly not being seen.
The mantra I think we should apply to most things is “What do the RAF do?”.
Specifically where it comes to minor details we should regularly be asking “Do the RAF worry about this? No? Then why do we?”
Great examples would be getting bent out of shape because someone has two chin straps on an SD hat; or because someone’s spotted a DI wearing ammo boots; or because someone’s not wearing gilt pins on a training area…
In this particular case… Gilt pins were intended for Officers to wear on No 1 SD.
It’s about time the ACO join the real world in this respect and adopted a more appropriate approach.
You talk about training areas as if this is the only time and place we wear No3 dress, but it isn’t. We often wear greens for public facing events, does it look good when you then have a mixture of dress amongst the staff because some people decide that dress regulations don’t matter? Quite frankly on training area I don’t care what people wear, you are out of the public view and as stated above you are generally more worried about hyperthermia and not being seen.
I conceed that at the end of the day it is a minor issue and I’ve generally got far more important things to be worrying about, but if we as an organisation expect our cadets to be smartly dressed and to conform to dress regulations then we as staff should do the same.
