I am a cadet who is 10 days off starting the process to become a staff cadet. And the main reason I want to become a staff cadet is because I can organise and be the sole, “staff” member on cadet events. The sort of stuff I’d do are trips to theme parks, the tough mudder, charity stuff.
So can anyone give me some insite on what it’s like? As I don’t want to set myself up for a bunch of stress.
To be clear… you think you can have only 1 staff member on trips to theme parks…
Massive faff, tones of paperwork, immense oversight, unhelpful senior officers.
And no, you won’t be doing things alone.
So yeah, lots of stress.
But that’s not too say it’s not worth it.
I am trying to use some wishful thinking XD
So just so I know, if I did an event I take it I’d need a 20+ staff member at least. As I was hoping I’d be able to do stuff without them because I only work 6 hours a day (and have an extreme flexi time policy) so have more time than them to do stuff, so would be able to grind out events for the cadets.
You need 2 staff members for every event. That could be 2 staff cadets (except for parade nights), but sometimes the extra set of eyes/hands, and extra experience of a CFAV is useful. Just because the radios are 1 staff to 10 cadets doesn’t mean that’s always the best idea. You can run activities, but don’t underestimate the work that goes into organising them.
This is good to know, as there is a girl who’ll become a staff cadet a couple of months after me, and if I’m really good I might be able to get this other staff cadet from another squadron to team up.
But I do get that having actual CFAV’s helping is ideal.
Absolutely not! You may want to peruse some of the basic policy ACPs before becoming a Staff Cadet…
Staff Cadets can count towards supervision ratios but a CFAV must be in attendance also. That goes for all things ever. I am 98% sure that nothing can be run purely by Staff Cadets. This comes down to Staff Cadets being of age to be given a level of responsibility etc etc but not being legally fully covered under RAFAC Insurance.
I’m not sure this is the case any more. I think staff cadets can take sole responsibility of some activities. The times they can’t be solely responsible is over night duties and parade nights.
With that said however, a brand new staff cadet with no activity leadership experience will be expected to prove they’re capable so at least the first few activities I’d expect someone more experienced to be with them.
(As an example, if two staff cadets have got LLA I’d see no problem with them running a DofE training day with just the two of them and no CFAV)
This is wrong and outdated by a few years.
This is what I’ve seen in other places. So in theory if I get another staff cadet I could trundle up to Thorpe Park or whatever with 15 or so cadets?
You’d have to think about how to get there, but yes.
In theory, yes, in practise, maybe. If you’re already both SNCOs with a proven track record of running activities with CFAVs etc then it’s more likely. If you’ve never really been involved in running or managing an activity then likely the answer will be no. The same as a brand new CI likely wouldn’t be allowed to do it without proving then selves as safe and sensible first.
I would possibly question if taking cadets to Thorpe Park is a good use of volunteering time. As a one off per year maybe, but you can’t just be going out on jollies every weekend.
Well, in my head it’s sounds as simple as just get a coach, but I presume its not that easy.
You’d have to pay for a coach.
I would highly reccomend speaking to your OC about all of this.
It is they after all, who will be the first signatory to any such ventures.
Ha, no. It isn’t that easy I’m afraid. A lot of this will depend on your OC. I have some staff cadets suitably experienced to run these sorts of things themselves. Some are newer and lack that experience. I wouldn’t, in good faith, let someone just turned 18 with no experience of actually leading and managing a whole trip run that on their own straight away. Get more involved with things you already run and get some experience and then you’ll pick up lots of ways to work and do things that are good practice and will help you longer term.
I have in the past tasked my Staff Cadets with organising this sort of thing (although generally it was things like the RAF Museum).
I would then get someone to Mentor them through the process and I would get a Staff Member to go with. The Staff Cadet would be responsible for the planning a DJ the delivery and the CI or whoever would just be there in case things started to go sideways.
Given that I know I won’t be allowed to do stuff alone. As my OC is very sensible and would probably have an aneurysm at the thought of me and another staff cadet merely plod down a theme park.
Also, I take it the tough mudder would be classed as AT and a paperwork death wish and not practically possible for a staff cadets.