I think it’s Ordnance Munitions & explosives, or Arms & Ammo as we use to call it.
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Thank you for replying/adding to the discussion it is good to get wider thoughts & it’s appreciated that you’re trying to change things from top down perspective.
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I think Dan has covered this with better words than me. There is lots of great stuff in the pipeline but there are also lots of blockers that need working through.
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I agree entirely.
Also stop any pretense of being able to do FT with weapons at all, at Sqn level, let alone M qual blank, pyro etc.
It is just a bridge too far to get it arranged meaningfully and reguarly enough.
Especially if your parent station is 150 miles away!
Units who are lucky enough to be within 10 miles of parent station. Have DTE near by and instructors are rarer than hens teeth.
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And yet we’re not allowed to use dummy /rubber guns but the other CF do
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I think if we are serious about running fieldcraft then we need to drop the ego and humble ask the other cadet forces to provide the initial training & the train the trainer bits.
Unfortunately we are not going to succeed just working within our closed system as it’s just an echo chamber & there no new thought to take things further.
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Indeed.
If a standard dummy weapon was selected for all cadet forces which could be used on sqn it would be a huge boost.
Ideally.
Based on l98a2
Doesnt need working parts, just outline.
Sling loops fitted.
Weighted correctly or within 10%
Lumimesent, so cannot be confused for a real weapon.
Make it an item sqns could purchase.
Could be used for FT and a bit of basic arms drill practice.
Would really give something back to Sqns.
Afterall it wasnt until recently that we had weapons on sqns, drill rifles on sqn etc.
Everything that enabled, now gone.
HQ / RAF giving up control? Never going to happen.
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Not the subject, but personally . . . Can we get HQAC to focus on delivering flying better first?
Most cadets will never attend an AEF more than one or two times in their ~6 years as a cadet.
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I think that links back to trying to have every cadet do everything.
Every cadet should go flying at least once - it’s our unique selling point so it should happen. Twice should be the minimum I tension.
Fieldcraft isn’t our area of expertise - as such we can’t expect that the model we use for flying or other topics to adequately support it especially when as a subject area it is large enough to have an entire cadet force built around its delievery.
HQ don’t have to give up control, they just need to sub-contract it (something the RAF is very good at). The harder bit will be convincing the volunteers to let go and humbly let the Marine cadets & Army Cadets lead & give us instruction, telling us when we are going wrong.
Having a RAFRegC within the RAFAC would allow a bit of franchising so that “wing” of the organisation could focus on the field aspects allowing the core HQ to concentrate on the flying.
Otherwise you have two complex training areas that divert resources away from each other preventing you from delivering either of the areas effectively,
We already have separate organisational structures for flying, in the form of 2FTS and the AEFs.
We have a separate organisational structure for shooting, in the form of the SATTs.
So there is a precedent for separating out complex areas.
Rather than reinvent the wheel though, or hand everything over to the ACF (who might not want or have capacity to support, they have their own challenges) perhaps the way forward is to add Fieldcraft to the SATTs.
That way CFAV who want to specialise have a berth, there is an existing structure and there is already overlap between the two areas. But it stays under our governance.
If the ACF, the Reg or whoever can support then they can be on the SATTs or MilSkills Teams as instructors.
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TBH just delivering a practical weekend of Chap1 stuff is hard enough - had to cancel 2 this year for various reasons
Apart from a few potential Ninja Turtles most find a weekend of aggressive camping having to wear webbing all the time fun but don’t really want to progress beyond that - add in carrying a weighted dummy weapon for 36 hrs and that will really put them off!
Lets make the basics as easy as possible to give the taster at a local level and leave the flash and bangs to those that are in a position to do across a wider area where the logistics are more sensible.
As much fun as a 36hr scripted exercise is, they take a hell of a lot of planning and staff, plus logistics. However, finding enough interested/trained cadets across a Wing is difficult.
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Sorry state the Corps finds itself in. When I was part of the ATC, a Cadet at my Squadron could go flying once every year if they so pleased.
I went to AEF 11 times in 6 years. Strange to think that’s 11 Cadets’ entire Cadet career’s worth of flying in 2022…
We were located an hour drive away so wasn’t even that we were located on base.
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…a year.
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I love how this is often considered ‘in an ideal world’. I consider it the minimum we should be aiming for.
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In fairness, the Cmdt agrees. Although his idea also includes muster days.
Somewhat agree that fieldcraft will eventually be sub-contracted out to the ACF. I’d like to see the RAFAC move over to Westminster so that CFAVs can more easily volunteer across all branches of the CFs.
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We have RCs moaning ACF are coming on RAFAC courses, there is little chance they will work tri-service until budgets are unified.
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Do they need to be?
Surely some internal billing could be agreed?