On the flip side I do think it would be good if senior volunteers (Sqn OC, WSO & Wg Cdrs) did a weeks work experience at HQAC helping with the admin & seeing from their side how much a pain volunteers could be & getting to understand why things are they way they are.
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Absolutely, both sides would benefit.
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An idea to discuss as a new CFAV looking in at the bigger picture. Our Squadron doesn’t have probs with volunteers, less so on the unformed front which isn’t a problem for me.
Could the TOR’s for the Sqn roles be better placed at Sector level rather than at Sqn level. Meaning where you have a large number of squadrons within say a 25 mile radius of a big town, the “big town squadron” becomes the Sector command centre. At the moment our Wing has the standard 6 Sqns in a Sector however concentrating on one large town in the area, there are 9 Squadrons within a 25 mile radius. Fair enough from a CI point of view I can see that they may not wish to travel far from their local Squadron but if we pooled just the officers together from the 9 Squadrons we have 19 officers + 1 Sqn Ldr Sector commander. The “Sector base” (main town) could host the Sector commander, 3 adjs, and 2 training officers for the 9 Squadrons - leaving the other 14 officers to run the other squadrons and not be weighed down with as much paperwork and the main centre be used for training courses etc. The numbers of Squadrons in a developed sector could be moved as needed.
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I don’t think this would quite work due to the ebb & flow of squadrons
but what you could have is the deputy sector Cdr or the sector Cdr themselves be one of the Sqn Cdrs.
Effectively they can lead as a sector coordinator & to develiver the joint working.
I do think that some of the WSO 6monthly visits should be done by two other OCs as a peer review rather than a WSO who may not remember what happens at Sqn level.
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1 month seems a tad short to really achieve anything… Should be volunteer for at least one parade night a week for a YEAR.
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The quote is from a sea cadet job advert - I think they vary it from role to role as I have seen one that stated 3months.
I think the units we currently call sqns should mostly be flts, grouped into sqns around towns or areas, with a small group of sqns organised into wings at roughly county level, then groups at RFCA regional level, all under its own Command.
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It depends on how well we are using tech/want to adapt to change.
SMS can be very repetitive, you can guarantee on 12th November each of the sector Squadrons will be doing the exact same event, probably at the same time with the exact same RA and same SMS entry still the same even bringing it down to the traditional 6 it will be the same.
If it was dropped to 6 Squadrons in a sector
1 x Sector Commander
2 x Adj
1 x Training officer
1 x Sector Warrant Officer
Sector level Adj’s could take that part on rotation. A training programme is easy especially at sector level as you have your core syllabus and then could easily add in, inter sector events/competitions. With SME’s floating around the sector as needed. You need to have some stability so it would be a fixed OC post on each Sqn however everything else could easily be delivered by SME’s and Sector posts. Rather than trying to recruit more we are streamlining the processes and cutting Admin demand.
There would need to be the requirement to tweak parade nights so they align with the sector however with a Sector WO you will be getting a visit around twice a month and should be the same for the other SME’s
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Quick reply as I’m about to dive off somewhere but while a combined PME would work, you would need a specific RA for each parade as each parade will be be different & have different risks (some March on roads, some are stationing in park, some have banners some don’t)
I agree with you there we in my earlier post the “main town squadron” has a civilian town population of circa 90,000 with a cadet attendance of approx 75. Some of the smaller towns are in the region of populations of circa 25,000 with cadet attendances of 25-30. The total strength cadets wise of the above proposal would be in the region of 350 for the “town Squadron”
Very true! However the template is there and in most cases (i appreciate not all) they have done the exact same parade the previous year so the RA’s for us at the moment is check last years… all good and the same submit and PME sent off. This could easily be done through SMS where the signing off of the event is done by the OC once the RA’s and docs have been uploaded onto the event, sent to the OC to review before Wing/Region depending on the event type -
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In those circumstances, I’d suggest it should be a ‘town wing’.
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That is on the high side as based on 9 squadrons in a 25 mile radius but if that was 6 be more like 250
These are great examples but as in everything in RAFAC one size does not fit all.
Plus I know staff that wont leave the threshold of the unit - let alone rotate around various units even if within a stones throw of each other - it will still be dependent upon individuals and what they wish to do as a VOLUNTEER
We need to make what we have work as best we can with what we have - if you want to break it and rebuild it thats fine but then you have to accept the pain you will get along the way
CFC/Covid made serious inroads into our experience base - numbers may be only slightly down but total service years/experience are seriously short
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We have tried Sectors…
…Apart from the Sector Cdr doing the H&S rounds nothing else ever happened. (I am not even sure of the name of one OC in my sector) so will take a major shift to make anything like that happen and will rattle a lot of individuals feathers.
Sqns run based on the cadets they have, staff interests/quals and what facilities they have
Thats why we have Drill Sqns, AT Sqns, DofE Sqns, Shooting Sqns, Radio Sqns etc
No two are the same.
Take the individual skills and try to deliver at Sector level (however you define it) and it either dilutes the input (more with the same time) or increases the workload/complexity of delivery. This potentially leads to loss of enjoyment for the individual and subsequent exit from the organisation
Lets face it, how many different Wg activities are run by the same small pool of devoted staff who work every weekend going.
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I have commanded squadrons for the past 29 years… and am still stuck as a Flt Lt !
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Talking to my ACF oppo earlier. They need to do 6 years and a course and be appointed to a role for promotion to Cpt.