Yeah, it was.
That makes no sense - surely the person being addressed is the person who gave the order âNumber!â, in which case the reply is the rank of that person?
In the same way as a rollcall - if a Cpl is calling the names, surely you reply âYes, Corporalâ? Or generally when you give an order (âSweep up that mess!â âYes, Sergeantâ.)
I tend to be in the âjust call the numberâ camp, but if pressed to call a rank I would suggest that it should be the rank of the person you are talking to: the person who gave the order to number.
I agree,
AP818 specifies nothing, which we need to assume was the intention. Everything else is either obsolete information or personal opinion.
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Youâll just get another bunch of differing opinions and a dumb decision 
There is some real nonsense going about which people have become accustomed to becuase thatâs how they have always done it.
There are various drilly things that it would be worth deciding to standardise and writing into an ACP somewhere, elaborating on stuff that AP818 omits (or doesnât care about) but which can cause confusion when units from across the country come together. The applause stuff is one prime example.
The fallback is to not get bent out of shape where it doesnât really matter, and to brief just beforehand if there is a chance of confusion.
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Ah, well now actually you see⌠That one is specifically addressed.
The logic being that if either the WO or Officer are present then the NCO IC is calling the roll âon their behalfâ.
The logic to numbering is similar.
The biggest issue that people seem to have with AP 818 is in accepting the fact that not everything is written in there and that much of the RAFâs adjustments are to do with passing down current practice by training rather than by releasing a new version of AP 818 every time something is tweaked.
When we had our own drill manual - ACP 19 - you can see that the practice was clearly written into it.
We donât have our own drill manual any more.
This is specifically why our DIs need to be able to trust the people training them and keeping them updated, and everyone else needs to trust the DIs instead of quibbling about what it says in AP 818.
The difficulty with that is that we do have some wallies who go off piste.
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I can mention it at my RWO conference for discussion
When I was a cadet it was the rank of the person taking the squad for the last man. This is what we still do.
Drill seems to be one of those areas where there has always been a general way of doing things with some local idiosyncrasies but it has worked and people havenât given much of a jot. I would say that outside the QCS and basic training the RAF donât really care, which makes you wonder why we seem to or have started to. Donât people in the ATC have better things to do, or, is it someone seems to have over inflated the role of RWO and WWO, they need to prove why they exist?
Or is it because part of what we do is drill & ceremonial?
Youâre absolutely right that outside recruit training/QCS (I would also add specific ceremonial occasions) RAF people donât worry about drill⌠But thatâs because itâs not part of their role.
Of course you wouldnât expect a techie to care much about drill⌠Any more than youâd expect a dog handler to care about servicing a turbofan.
Whilst there are some things about drill where ATC personnel seem to be unnecessary concerned the idea that we shouldnât give a toss about drill at all is just nonsense. Like it or not it is part of our core activity.
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As a cadet we were incredibly proud of our drill and i can see as a staff member that the passion for it has not gone down at all. The amount of cadets wanting to go to D&C camp is unreal.
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Aye. Itâs always popular with us too. Iâm always getting asked can we do âx,y,zââŚ
It helps that itâs cheap⌠
Weâre lucky to have a DI on the squadron whoâs not only brilliant at it, but engages the kids in a remarkable way. Weâve had staggering success at Wing, Region and Corps level and have a waiting list of cadets wanting to be on the drill team.
One of the things thatâs so great about it is that the cadets can tell straightaway if theyâre doing well at it, how theyâre improving, and what they can work on.
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Hi one of the flight sergeants has been promoted to cadet warrent office, when we do first parade and size the squad do I say marm or cadet warrent officers as that is the highest ranking person in the vicinity
The correct way to refer to a CWO is âWarrant Officerâ. At a push, âCadet Warrant Officerâ.
It is never âSirâ or âMaâamâ.
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What incubus says is correct however, before the debate kicks off about addressing as CWO or WO, if in doubt then ask her and go with that. Itâll avoid unnecessary hassle for you.
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My question is, why is this still magically active after 2 years 
Or why arent cadets taught this on Sqn. This question they brought this back active is first class material
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Can anyone advise where on earth â[number] cadets on parade [rank]â comes from?
Not the manual, but itâs been around at least 30 years
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Old drill comp maybeâŚ
Never heard that.
Our lot dropped the bit recently, since itâs not in the book.