Squadron Issues Effecting Cadets Enjoyment Of The ATC

Evening,

i am the sqn’s senior NCO most experienced within the squadron, i run most sqn nights and pick up alot of the problems and fix them without much support from the staff.

however i have recently had a numerous amount of cadets come to me with concerns and rather upsetting stories as to how they are no longer enjoying coming to cadets because of events that have happened.

this is a long list of incidents however ill try to summarise what i have.

-many of the cadets feel that it is the staff then the cadets with very little interaction from any member of staff with the cadets the only time they tend to interact is to shout at the them for menial things

-we have a co who has been in the ATC since he was 13 now being late 60’s who never leaves the office to speak to the cadets other than final parade, he also has made previously poor choices regarding promotions and demotions (method of demotions and reasonings behind these) which effects the cadets motivation

-another SNCO Staff member is often seen to bully cadets with verbal abuse (swearing) and shouting at them, we have a mainly young sqn with around 20 13-14 year olds so i find this kind of behaviour rather inappropriate and i feel many of the parents would too. he has previously been warned about such behaviour by wing and moved sqn as a result of this.

-alot of processes that i am aware should be followed don’t, including of reporting incidents to wing where things have gone worryingly wrong, it is often seen that actions are covered up to protect the staff

-the worst is, all the staff are close friends as you’d expect when working together for so long however this prevents an issue that when cadets complain or raise concerns to staff regarding other staff it is never followed up as the CLIQUE protects each other.

I have managed to alienate myself from the staff by sticking up for the cadets and trying to make the sqn enjoyable for the cadets, however I’m now running out of ways to fix what is being chucked at me, what would people suggest is the way to fix this?

Thanks

Regardless to what you have said, it sounds like you need help.

I can only suggest you speak with your sector officer in confidence first, and take some council on a plan of action.

[quote=“lead balloon” post=18441]Regardless to what you have said, it sounds like you need help.

I can only suggest you speak with your sector officer in confidence first, and take some council on a plan of action.[/quote]

Do you mean wso? What would be the best way of contacting them?

Yes. Contact the Wing Staff Officer who looks after your Squadron. If you don’t know who this is, then phone your Wing Headquarters, and ask them for their contact details. You may just be given their email address.
Follow the Chain of command. Speak with or email the WSO in confidence.
Stick to the Facts. What you have seen personally.
I hope you manage to get things in motion to help your squadron. You personally cannot fix everything. Thats why we have WSO in place. It may take some time to get sorted so don’t get disheartend if something doesn’t happen tomorrow.