Absolutely not.
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the point i was making here was when I was a Scout leader everyone was allowed to get involved and play a part.
in some of our activities, and I am thinking more the weekend based stuff, be that courses the RAFAC delivery or activities it requires significant hoops to jump through. Be that being an approved trainer (first aid, or radio as examples) or committing to weekends out of area for shooting (visiting the SATT
things may have changed since my Scout days but i recall the activities we did it wasnāt such a effort for other leaders to contribute.
perhaps a result of the RAFAC having so many specialist topics it is hard to be a jack of all trades and why 99% of CFAvs are useful on parade evenings but far less when it comes to weekend events/USP stuff
But we do need a far higher percentage of them to be. The aim should be that the vast majority are uniformed, with a scattering a CIs - special cases which really warrant special consideration.
A quick look at Bader shows more than 60% of staff (over 110) in my wing are CIs/RegCivCom versus less than 40% uniformed (approx 40 SNCO and 30 Officers). Looking at those names I know that at least 6 or 7 of those officers and at least 3 SNCO on Bader are not in attendance and weāre just waiting for Universe to catch up.
Bring that to Sqn level and itās not uncommon to find several units with one or two Uniformed staff and half a dozen or more CIs. Thatās mental.
We canāt feasibly force all the current CIs to don rig. Weāve let it go too far down the wrong road to bodily shunt everyone back to where it should be without running into difficulty. Our only option now is to stop making it worse, and maybe encourage some of those CIs to cross over voluntarily.
We need a āline in the sandā - new staff will go into uniform. Otherwise nothing will change and the increasing decline of volunteers for uniform will lead us even further away from the goal.
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The only way I would support the move for not accepting new CIs or converting current ones is when being in uniform, especially an OC, isnāt complete bonk.
I have often felt in the past that I work harder at the role than some of the paid staff, and definitely harder than 90% of some of our wing or region CFAVs.
The solution to a hole in your bucket is not to pour more water in. Fix the bucket and naturally youāll have more.
Get rid of 12 hours. Unlink a lot of our processes from the RAF. Make it easier to join us, easier to stay with us, easier to volunteer.
Remove the now unnecessary links to the MOD. Properly separate us from antiquated and inappropriate processes and procedures that do not fit us.
Do all of that and then, maybe, youāll not need CIs.
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I donāt think thatās peculiar to uniformed service though - that seems pretty common for volunteering in general.
As you know, Iām totally in support of ditching the 12 hour requirement (the only time it has been used to any advantage in my experience is as a tool to lever someone out who isnāt cutting the mustard - there are better ways to address that problem).
But Iād be against severing all the links. Without the RAF links we become the Air Scouts in a different rig. We lose our weapons, aircraft, accomodation, uniform supply, funding, annual campsā¦
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Spot on. If the organisation wants to change, it has to make the option of uniform more appealing. Iād say currently, being a CI is considerably more easier. No drill, no pressure to turn up each parade night, attend courses and camps. Well obviously not now ā¦
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Not all the links. Just the stupid ones. Like why, for example, we have to have FTRS regional commandants. You would get much more youth orientated decisions and policy if you open it up to external candidates.
The fact we are beholden to their safety standards is another which is stopping us flying and shooting to our potential capacity.
I know people will say ābut they pay our budgetsā and whilst that is true the longer I go on the less I think we would suffer from a organisational review. We spend a lot on transport and pay. I would give up those if it meant we were more self sufficient and could do things different to the RAF. Militaristic oversight and control is not designed for a well designed and run youth organisation. Hundreds of charities across the UK (some national, some local) manage to run run, safe and engaging activities for their members without needing the level of control we have and itās stifling.
Clear case in point - DBS checks. We have to jump through the MOD process which has stopped us doing them online for years. There is no tangible benefit to that, we havenāt challenged it effectively and we are stuck with it because āthe MOD say soā. Same with BPSS. Same with SC. Same with ACTO35. With armoury alarms. With lacking uniform to actually give people. I could go on.
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You are secretly Teflon and I claim my Ā£5.
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As far as I am aware the ACF use unpaid CFAVs in those roles. Col Dennison in LonDist worked a full time job in Border Force and did a better job as Col Cadets than any RC Iāve had to deal with. Thatās the best part of Ā£100k saved in each region.
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Weāve gone off on a tangent a touch, but if a volunteer is good enough for commanding a Wing, why isnāt one good enough for commanding a Region? Does anyone know the rational / legal reason that itās an FTRS position?
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On a similar note, I was about to ask who the equivalent DDH is in the ACF
I guess because they are the DDH and so need to be paid for that.
Who in their right mind would want all that responsibility if not being paid?
Take all that on, on top of a full time jobā¦
What? Just so someone can be a Gp Captā¦
Nope
No thanks
Now if it were open to external candidates and we could all apply for that paid position.
Thatās different
The reality is that it would be someone who had retired early.
Iām all for wearing a uniform as long as it distinguishes me from an officer/SNCO. As a CI I do not want extra stress and expectations thrown upon me. If that was to change and I had to get a commission of any type then you would lose me who gives every hour I have spare to give to Cadet life. Iām not interested in claiming back money from the organisation as I came back not knowing about that, I just wanted to get back into a hobby I enjoyed as a Cadet.
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I think that reflects the views of many such CI CFAVs.
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I suspect that those who are in favour of getting rid of CIs would say that, because the total number of staff should be about the same (in their idealised world), there would no extra pressure placed on those who donāt want the extra responsibility.
This would not be the case. As soon as youāre in uniform, and signed the paperwork, Wings would try and treat everybody equally. Too many staff at one Sqn? Oh, weāll move some around. Theyāve signed paperwork to say we can tell them where to goā¦
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Back in my day when you were going into uniform they would expect you to parade at the nearest Sqn to you. When I had my Sqn interview to become CI I remember them asking about going into uniform, I said I didnāt fancy having to parade at another Sqn and I would need time to see if uniform was for me and if I felt I could give anything to the uniform position.
I was told that they stopped making you go to another Sqn and they said there was no pressure about going into uniformā¦6 months or so after Iād been in and my probation was over Iād often be asked if I thought of going into uniform. My answer was nah, CI suits me with what I want to do. Iāve seen CIās go into uniform and they have got the grey wing tips growing slowly on their bonceā¦so far I have no grey.
I understand it is a uniformed organisation but I see people getting stressed with expectations from their uniform. They are less likely to be expected to say no where as I can say no.
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Iām not so sure how well this would fly any more. Maybe this is just a personal thing, but since the advent of the CFC commission Iām much more willing to tell someone where to go on things like this.
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Not known this to happen since the CFC, most Wongs seem to have gotten the ānot happeningā memo.
I think this reflects the general misconception around uniformed service which I mentioned earlier.
Especially in the ideal world where we are primarily and almost exclusively uniformed there should really be no reason for there to be any extra stress or expectation thrown on anyone.
As someone who āgives every hour you have to spareā Iād say that youāre probably already taking on more than would be expected of any uniformed staff.
Another common CI misconception. No CFAV can be moved without their consent. Being in uniform doesnāt mean youāve signed away your life.
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