You mean like this guy?
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Maybe if they were polished to within an inch of their being (just like we used to polish our Kings crown RAF beret badges), the letters will just merge into that ‘amorphous blob’.
Levity aside, I find that the RAFAC pins certainly look gash, cheap and badly made. No matter how smartly CFAV’s turn out in No.1’s, those pins will always let the standard down.
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I’ve heard of these “No1’” are they like No5’s for those who don’t go to enough dinners?
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He certainly looks like a fun guy to be with…
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I bet he has lots of stories to tell you.
About himself…
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I find this incredibly irritating and don’t understand why. I do the same job now as a new Plt Off as what I did as a CI for four years from 20-24. I didn’t go for my commission at 20 because I was in the middle of a nursing degree, so that took precedent. Nevertheless, I continued my exec role on squadron throughout that time.
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Unless the total time served as a CFAV starts to be the system, you can do whatever you, like for as long as you like regardless of reason and it makes no difference, outside the sqn. Because of the type of blinkered organisation we are it’s all about the uniform, which ignores the fact that the non-uniformed staff do as much if not more than their uniformed uncles and aunties.
As I understand it “Scouts” buy their own uniform and the size range seems to more accommodating from some of the ladies and gentlemen I have seen.
I’m not sure about that, to be honest. On one hand, I do think it’s unfair that CIs are not eligible for the CFM (I guess it could be worn as a miniature in civvies, like the Nijmegan medal). On the other hand, it is currently a ‘military’ medal, and I think it’s good that those that choose to wear a uniform, and accept all of the hassle that comes with it, get some recognition.
If I were to rewrite the rules, I think I would accept up to 4 years CI service towards the qualifying service - just to bring it in line with the 4 years that cadets could accrue.
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I would accept 3 years CI Service, that way Cadet A who is a CI for 3 years after leaving Cadet Service is ahead of Cadet B who has 3 years totally out of the organisation.
Cadets can only accrue 2 years.
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God. No.
He’s wearing a sash … the uniform “gods” would have a pink fit.
There are many out there who were cadets could stay until they were 22.
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All of whom would already have their medal by now, so there would be no point in hanging the lies to be in line with them.
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I’ve been in the organisation for nearly 2 decades, including my time as a cadet – but because I chose to focus on my degree and volunteered as a CI for 3.5 years before commissioning, I don’t get the same recognition as I would have done for going straight into uniform: even though I made the choice that was right for me at the time. The irony of the situation is, as a CI, I was committing the same number of annual hours as many uniformed staff, but across multiple camps over the holidays. And I wonder why some staff feel less valued than others…
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I was a cadet to my 22nd Birthday - and as much as I worked hard, and organised weekends away and such, I never had the ultimate responsibility that staff members did.
It seems odd that the old AP1919 (and maybe the new one does too?) made it very clear that cadets were civillians who happened to wear uniform, but allowed their “service” to count, but CIs, who held the same civilian status, but held much more responsibility, could not count at least some of their service.
I wonder if the Armband had been mandatory, we could claim that it was a sort of uniform, and where therefore entitled to count CI service towards the CFM… 
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I was a Cadet to 22 as well, went straight into uniform, got my CFM at 30, but only after that did I realise that it wasn’t the organisation giving us any recognition, but my then CO finding out the dates, filling in the paperwork etc.
Since then, I’ve decide that as the ACO/RAFAC don’t actually give a damn enough to have a system that can count 12/8/6yrs etc as appropriate, then any bars don’t count as ‘valued service’ so aren’t worth the bother. (to be fair, I probably would have still applied for the medal back then, but the bars - meh)
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Snap! Oh well only 1 month now before I can put the paperwork in requesting my CFM lol…
I’m not even sure it’s “recognition” that concerns me in terms of ‘having a medal’-- it’s more an acknowledgement of experience: I do sometimes wonder if I’d be less frequently talked down to by older wing staff if there was a clear indication to them that my opinions are formed from experience (most of our wing didn’t know me as either a cadet or CI – I moved around a bit in my 20s).
But I think that’s a rather naive hope on my part 
Even without Covid I wouldn’t hold your breath…