This assumes that they retain both staff and resources.
Everything we’ve heard suggests they have.
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Yeah, they haven’t dropped a huge amount of staff or Cadets. in fact they have had some more staff come in from other units to take advantage of some facilities hey have that others didn’t.
We will be still doing the same quantity of everything, particularly things like poppy selling.
To answer the question regards staff and resources, we have plenty of both, including 30 staff.
Until someone decides to move some around!
And it will be interesting to see where this Squadron is in six and twelve months time. Now they are one Squadron do they expect to get any bigger allocation of places for flying, camps etc?
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You can see it happening to strengthen the notion of the model, plus to keep cadets happy.
I would also like to see how it develops as the euphoria and general bon amie wears off. You’d like to think it wouldn’t but you know what life tells you otherwise. The only way to keep it on this initial high, is to chuck resources and support at it.
And not remove staff to support other units or the Wing.
Not just move around.
It would be difficult to keep 30 adults with their own egos coming to the fore on a squadron occupied on parade nights, especially between October and March. In the Spring/Summer
That as well. I suppose it depends on the individuals, but at another sqn they may feel better utilised and want to move.
Let’s see 18 months down the line as all social experiements need time to bed in. A concern is that idiots at HQAC see this, which has come about due to extraordinary set of circumstances, as working in the short term and try and roll it out nationwide, without the local financial one off.
I wonder, has CAC been along for a selfie?
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Already had 3 Squadrons worth of flying places this time round so it appears so.
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Not yet!
I’m afraid that like Teflon, I think the chances of keeping the all/most of staff happy is limited - being part of a big gang with lots of cover and resources is great fun, but I know few people who - while they enjoyed Regiment/Bn scale exercises and get together soon - didn’t actually prefer working and exercising at a Coy/Sqn/Bty level.
For lots of staff in the ACO, being on the Sqn gives them a chance to shine in a way that their jobs often don’t. They feel that they make a difference - it’s a great deal easier to shine and make a difference when you’re one of half-dozen as opposed to being one of 30.
Don’t be remotely surprised if a reasonable proportion drift away because they get submerged.
I also fear, like Teflon, that some witless bungler is looking at Stoke and seeing a silver bullet - it’s not, but that won’t stop them merging Sqn’s that are so far apart that no barely any cadets can get to the new location…
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I wonder who paid for the new sqn number badges?
What if the parents of said cadets that have to travel further, already struggle with the cost of transport?
What if the parents can’t afford the extra cost be it public transport or petrol or wear in their car?
What if the kids have to resort to using public transport in Uniform and with the current atmosphere in the UK, face some kind of backlash for appearing in military style uniform?
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in those cases we can all rest assured you’ll be the first to complain about it and raise resistance “to the man” for these innocent persons being forced against their will
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The kids should be put before bureaucracy.
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While joining the ATC is a personal choice and likewise where you go, there are factors like journey length, which impacts on the time staff and cadets start and finish journeys. I don’t live in a “city”/large town, but knowing people who do and use public transport the routes the buses take are sinuous and time consuming not to mention expensive. Where I live a bus journey of any length requires a packed lunch and good book.
It would be interesting to see on a map where these 3 squadrons were in relation to each other and the new squadron.
I am very conscious of the time we end a parade as not only have cadets got to get home so have staff. I haven’t stayed at the squadron for longer than the moment last cadet goes home for 7/8 years and don’t expect staff to either. I got fed up with feeling I almost had to be at the squadron until 2230-2300 and just stopped.
yes yes i know all that.
i was trolling (sorry pEp)
the decisions are not ours to make but personal to those who are in the situation - an we be sympathetic to those affected? yes
are we (the organisation) to blame? to a degree
but it doesn’t matter which Squadron you’re at there will always be one Cadet who travels an ungodly distance and they do so out of personal choice
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yes i get it - but if we did that we’d run the organisation into the ground in 18 months…
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What an odd thing to wonder…
The Squadron paid for them.