We keep getting told DE SNCOs will be expanded into other professions as well, but I’m not sure which or when.
Don’t they graduate from Cranwell as acting sergeants before posting to Shawbury into the training system.
Would UAS count here?
Its the right age bracket
IIRC the youngest Vulcan bomber captain was only 21 and a flying officer, questions were raised in Parliament about someone so young at such a low rank could be in command of an aircraft with nuclear weapons. So the RAF raised the minimum rank to Flight Lieutenant and promoted him. The youngest Group Captain in RAF history was the late Lord Cheshire at 25, dropped rank to Wing Commander to take command of 617 Squadron.
1 Like
The DE SNCO course is at Halton now.
Yes, but I think APOs are usually final year students aren’t they?
I thought that they were moving all training to Cranwell?
Yes, eventually, but in the meantime they asked ACS (which is still at Halton) to redesign and run the DE SNCO course.
1 Like
I wonder what will happen to Halton house, such a shame NOM went years ago, nice place to live when I was there.
Yeh, but everyone knows, because of the eagles.
Less obvious with the air traffic lot, but that’s a relatively recent bolt-on, where they also do Cranwell to justify the rank so early.
1 Like
Final year students, I think.
1 Like
You put your left leg in, your left leg out…
There seems to be a lot of concern around who people are going to invite to the pub afterwards or not?
18/19 year old Plt Off’s not really an issue, exist in RAF world.
18-20 year old cadets, not really an issue (already exist).
The SNCO piece is a RAFAC’ism that both RAFAC and the RAF appear to be comfortable with (having Sgts at 20+.
And remember, all are at the OCs discretion, they are the gateway.
What happens if you go to the pub & you’re served by one of your cadets? Are you still allowed to drink there?
What if it’s private members club & the cadet is on the committee so technically outranks you?
TBH trying to get my staff to spend any time together & socialise is like pulling teeth.
4 Likes
Or two cadets have beaten you to the pub after a parade night.
2 Likes
Email out this morning Confirming update to ACP 20 expected start of September. Removal of PVG and BPSS unless FSC/CWO/Fulfilling CFAV role
So we’re going backwards?
Currently all Staff Cadets should have the capacity to act in a CFAV role. So I assume the removal of BPSS for staff cadets also means they won’t be able to use any Bader systems either anymore, as BPSS is require as per the SyOps.
1 Like
Bloody hell this is going to get confusing! So we’re going to have a complete mix up of staff cadets, some of whom we can treat as staff and others who we can’t? Yet the ones we are treating as staff, we still need to treat like children in the evenings as they can’t go to the bar still?
2 Likes
I’d like to think a different term will be used for O18 non-staff cadets.
Hopefully, but that needs to be implemented form the get-go, and that doesn’t appear to be the case here.
If I’m at a Wing/Region event, I may now have two Cdt Sgts both staff cadets that have two very different levels of responsibility? One is essentially a cadet, but happens to be over 18, and one is essentially a CFAV, but happens to still be a cadet? Is that what this change is doing?
We need to get a lot better at using the Cdt prefix for NCO ranks, then have a different prefix for the new staff cadets with CFAV responsibilities.
Edit: e.g. one remains Cdt Sgt X, the other becomes Staff Cdt Sgt Y (and they appear as such in SMS, etc.)