Reach for the Skies (what could we be doing better)

Adult Staff The Staff Mess
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Instead of bemoaning all the pauses and recounting the onerous admin overloads… or my personal, recent favourite (sorry @Hercules) “What is the RAFAC doing well?”… how about

“What should RAFAC be doing to improve the cadet and volunteer experience…?”

(Preferably concise answers to make it easy for HQAC types to take notes…)

I’ll kick off…

Recognise BGA as an approved provider of training - allowing MUCH greater access to gliding up and down the country

Anything that is approved for ACF, should be approvable for RAFAC…

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Listen to the volunteers.

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For all activities -

KISS

so we can optimise the local cadet experience and not discriminate against those that can’t travel for courses

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Have truly modular training, supported by up to date self study materials, so cadets who miss parade nights don’t fall behind.

(This could equally be used to cut length of some courses, so they can focus on consolidation and a test phase).

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Digitisation of TGs 21/22/23. These should be a case of ticking a box on the SMS activity rather than printing off a paper form.

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for Parent ‘signature’, cadet applying via CP to attend triggers a link for Authorised signatory e.g. parent to approve.

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At the moment, I’d say there’s an incongruence between the organisation’s missions and the actions taken by HQ. This gives the impression of an organisation that, at the highest levels, doesn’t really know why it exists.

For me fixing this issue, whether by amending the mission or ensuring that actions align with the current mission, will allow all of the other improvements to fall into place like dominos.

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It’s as @WhiskeyNovember says - the ethos of the wider org is Venture Adventure, but the culture, attitude and policy of the CoC is the very opposite of that.

Everything we achieve - which, imv, is a great deal - is in spite of the org, and not because of it. That’s both a huge achievement, and pretty devastating.

And we have the superb RC(N), I can’t imagine what it must be like elsewhere…

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I second approving civilian gliding sites.

It’s all well and good @Cab talking about capitalising on your internal flying and gliding offer, but even if the money exists to develop that to the point where all cadets get regular flying, it isn’t going to happen for a while. It’s a noble aim, but not practical.

Over the last few years, thousands of cadets have missed the air USP of your organisation, with many not flying a single time.

If cadets join this organisation and don’t fly regularly, the organisation has failed. It’s the USP.

It’d be like joining the Sea Cadet Corps and not getting onto the water, or the Fire Cadets and not playing with the hoses regularly.

The average cadet career was fairly short back when I was in, so the window for getting a typical cadet in the air is short.

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I second all that

To add, we need to do more to retain and develop older cadets.

Not all can (or want to be) NCOs. But could we have a senior cadre with its own programme? Maybe based on attending once a week (for non NCOs).

It could have a bit more autonomy, in the way that Explorer Scouts take on more running of their units.

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There’s a TINY part of me, that sympathises with the decision to focus on the air rifle and service weapon - in terms of availability and ease of delivery.

In theory, money “saved” could be used to increase availability of air rifles - thereby increasing the frequency that untrained cadets get to shoot - and frankly become more competent…

…but, why not facilitate / approve use of local clubs to enable access to target rifles.

While I realise not everyone has access to a shooting club - at least it’s “something” that can be achieved by many.

In the same reason access to BGA clubs for gliding…

There’s too much reliance on keeping things “in-house” for control purposes, that core activity is being hampered at every opportunity - instead of building on local relationships.

This is where a set of minimum safe standards are required for 3rd party providers to meet - and then make it clear to cadets / families, that a 3rd party organisation is delivering the activity.

Quite simply, despite the cutting of costs - more has to be done to get our cadets “doing stuff” instead of just “studying stuff”.

Form filling and paperwork is fine, if you have a large enough team of administrative staff, whose salaries need to be justified - but volunteers need to be able to deliver activities - whether it’s practical, theoretical or technical…

I can’t imagine there are many (any?) CFAVs that excitedly thought to themselves “ooh, I love admin, I’ll go volunteer for RAFAC because of al the exciting opportunities to complete admin…”

In the private sector, every effort is made to be as efficient as possible - smart companies do this by making sure their staff have the best kit and simplest work procedures possible.

Exploitative companies will slash costs, use inferior kit and practices and expect employees to shoulder the burden.

Notice how curbs are in place to minimise Volunteer Allowance - but no such restrictions are placed on how much time a volunteer can spend doing their hobby.

Because the volunteer’s free time is an intangible asset, no one at HQAC (and more frequently, based on reports from friends, Region and even Wing) is that bothered about doing anything about it.

In the same way that employers look to increase loyalty and reduce churn of employees - and therefore increase job satisfaction and maintain / improve corporate knowledge - HQAC need to recognise this and apply the same doctrines - before it’s too late…

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The comparison of RAFAC to business is a good one; as @Dad2james says, organisations are looking at becoming more efficient in terms of admin but RAFAC appears to be the complete opposite. Now, I’m comfortable with admin (i do it as my “other” job), and the differences are marked. Whereas my day job is concentrating on ways to make things easier, RAFAC appears to be going backwards…

“You want to do an activity? Fine, but here are the dozen hoops you need to jump through, and the reams of paperwork/forms you have to complete”.

Reaching for the Stars? Digitize as much as possible. TG forms needed? Get the system to genrate one (in as much detail as possible), mail to those concerned for completion. VA/Travel approved? Link to the F80/1771 and complete with details from SMS.

And we all wonder why it’s known as badmin???

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@Dad2james

but, why not facilitate / approve use of local clubs to enable access to target rifles.

You might find rifle clubs not as enthusiastic as you think. They are competitive sports clubs, and were they asked to provide an activity for young people would require proper remuneration, that’s if they have the resource available. Anyway, cadets can already access clubs, all they have to do is apply for membership.

The problem with anything of this nature is, as @theAdj alludes to, the administrative burden that accompanies cadet involvement. I have personal experience of this when a club I was associated with was approached about hiring out their facilities for cadet use. The conditions that had to be complied with were totally unnecessary and out of proportion. The club decided that it just wasn’t worth the trouble and declined the request.

In addition, anything involving clubs and cadets would have to comply with the club’s Home Office approval :

17.47 Cadets are regarded as Crown Servants for the purposes of the Firearms Acts and are exempt from the requirement to possess a firearm certificate when shooting as a member of the corps. Furthermore, firearms may be acquired for the corps by a responsible officer duly authorised in writing by the unit’s commanding officer without the need for a firearm certificate (section 54(2)(a) of the 1968 Act).

The paragraph above is intended to allow cadets to shoot under the auspices of their own organisations. Once you involve rifle clubs it’s a different ball game. Any change in the interpretation of the guidance would require Home Office agreement; good luck with that!

In the same reason access to BGA clubs for gliding…

Just the same, but probably even more complicated. In any event, I doubt very much that the training capacity exists. I have a strong affection for the ATC gliding scheme. Shortly after my 16th birthday I went on a 5 day course culminating in 3 solo flights. I felt 10 feet tall walking into school following Monday. Unfortunately that’s gone along with the air force I joined. Priorities are different now and requirements have changed. It’s regrettable and one may disagree but it’s not coming back.

Just for the record:
I was captain of the RAF Smallbore rifle team
I won the RAF Smallbore championship
I am still an active NSRA County Coach
I was a Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI) and plied my trade at BFTS, OCU and squadron standards level.
My flying career lasted another 20 years after leaving the RAF.

exmpa

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…and the MOD wonders why they struggle to recruit….

HQAC wonders why they struggle to retain staff…

CFAVs struggle to justify why they stay…,

This isn’t rocket science…

Use of local clubs they shooting, gliding, flying, climbing, canoeing whatever it is… provided they have Public Liability Insurance and meet their national body’s standards to train young people should be accepted as suitable providers…

Let’s be honest - not every club is going to leap at the chance of being approached by their local squadron, begging for a group rate… but… there is every chance that they too are looking for new members… or even new students for buddying trainers to practice on.

Just sensors rhe event is clearly marked as being provided by XX group - here’s their insurance etc - it’s absolutely no different than if the families of those cadets took their little poppets along themselves privately.,

HQAC are too caught up in their own importance, thinking that they are responsible for EVERYTHING - for pity’s sake, Risk Assessments have to factor in how to cross a road safely… or to keep non swimmers away from the water’s edge of walking besides a canal…

Let’s get on an “DO”, rather than worry about “what if”…. Have safe standards that can be summarised by a series of basic principles…,

For example… much of AVIP can be summarised as “don’t be alone with a cadet; always have a witness with you - preferably of the same gender as the cadet; consider personal security; don’t touch the cadets, don’t touch the cadets don’t touch the cadets… assume any situation could lead to an investigation - so always have a witness…

It was explained to me by a sector commander, that they couldn’t arrange to take cadets from their squadron to their local Odeon to watch the premiere of Maverick, without getting a copy of the cinema’s PLI certificate…

So instead, they mentioned that instead of making it a squadron “activity”, they said “well, I don’t know about you lot, but I happen to be going to watch Maverick on XX date for the yy performance., maybe I’ll see you there…

By making a things needlessly difficult you either cancel opportunities or encourage people to find ways round…

The car parking situation is a disgrace to everyone involved with the decision. A local squadron had lost £30,000 worth of annual income (YES I did type that correctly) because they’ve lost the agreement to help at a local racetrack… and that’s JUST ONE squadron…

Instead of saying “NO, you can’t do that” - banning cadets from participating and becoming a national joke, why not set some simple minimum requirements for how to conduct the activity safely…?

Again - this is not rocket science… start making life simpler and let’s DO more.

Cadets that do more, want to go on and do more… whether that’s stay on as staff or progress into the services…

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Er, ACTO10,

Public Liability Cover

  1.     Physical proof of Public Liability Insurance (PLI) for lower risk events is no longer required and shall not be requested for authorisation to be achieved
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For me the new joiners process for cadets needs improving, we have just had an intake of 15 last week. 15, 3822As to manually process to create a Bader account and scan and store the paperwork along with trying to then get an uniform order in.

Resolution - Online application form, (saves data breach probs from paper records for a starter and “carbon footprint”) filled out by cadet with MFA to the parent on e-mail and phone for sign off (don’t need “wet signatures” anymore) that creates a SMS “pending cadet” application that goes to their nearest squadron. The OC/Adj approves it to join and sends an e-mail via the newly created Cadet portal about joining instructions. As part of the form, they have to enter their measurements which creates a separate workflow through to stores to start the uniform order later.

If you work on intake nights you could invite the “pending” cadets and parents on x night, if they still want to join after seeing the system all we need to do is change the status from “pending” to “Active”, they are on the books which fires off the uniform order, to stores on night 1.

On 15 cadets that genuinely would save me at least 2 hr 30 mins worth of volunteering time on data entry and measuring , that for most is a full parade evening of solid work however with the natural distractions you get it turns into 2 parade evenings.

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Amen to this

Just had an intake of 35. We have made the forms fillable pdfs to at least get the parents to do and send electronically so we can then add to sms but still have to manually input into sms.
Also, whilst SMS has a Uniform facility it spits out old codes and does not do all items - shirts are all mens. Have to trawl individuals and work out from measurements what we should be ordering.

We have staff Join facility - need for cadets asap before my work finds out how much time I spend on this and fires me!!

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That’s the rub, a lot of staff do this outside normal parade nights (me included), and have to shoehorn this in alongside work family etc…

If we have a Staff join process, why not one for cadets?

Not looking forward to the end of the month; new intake…

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You add cadets all in one go (if possible with time)

We add cadets after 3-4 parade nights to make sure they have an interest and are looking like they may stay longer than a parade night or 2, and if some don’t return then we don’t add them.

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We adopt this approach too, we always have some who leave and reducing the number of accounts to create is a godsend - its such a laborious task! (we have 20+ to do this time).

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