This is where i’m an advocate of centralised training for both basic cadet training and NCO ranks. Standards vary from Sqn to Sqn and Wg to Wg but if we dared to standardise our training, then we could teach and promote the skills that Angus suggests.
I’ve seen too many 13yr old JNCO’s that don’t even have a First-Class star on their brassards and when I ask their staff why, I get ‘oh, he\she\it has got potential so we’re developing that’ when in fact at that age and level, you’re setting the poor kid up to fail. They haven’t even mastered the basics of being an Air Cadet. Take that kid out of their Sqn and put them into a Wg or Rgn camp or other activity and watch them crumble…
We should have strict minimum age and classification levels for each cadet rank and once achieved, they have to have attended an intense standardised course (and I’m not talking about the out-of-date 1996 ACP 48 & 49) to give them the skills and knowledge necessary to operate outside of their comfort zone on their Sqns, BEFORE they get promoted to the next rank.
It’s called structured development and will produce a far better standard of cadet NCO.
And yes, end cadet service at 18 at a maximum of CdtFS. Give them a uniform and PI slides (a la ACF) for 2 years so that they can learn the ropes sufficiently and obtain the qualifications that they need to properly function as CFAV’s. Then appoint them as A\Sgt’s for a further period of 2yrs followed by substantive Sgt for a minimum of 5yrs and they’ll be 27 before being eligible - and trained - to be FS.
A further 5yrs to WO at a minimum age of 32 and maybe, just maybe, others will begin to take them seriously, rather than having a 20yr old ex-CWO poncing about 10mins into being an adult Sgt giving it large and telling everyone that they know it all.
I think the position of CI is ideal for new adults who have never experienced the Air Cadets (fresh off the street) or those that have been in uniform but cant commit as much as they once could or have decided to come out of uniform because they wish to because of age, but they want to stay in the organisation
Unfortunately, while this approach works in the forces, in industry, in jobs too numerous to mention, they all have one uniting characteristic - selective application. They’re able to pick the people who make up the team.
We don’t have that luxury.
This system could see bigger units with only one or two acceptable candidates, smaller units with none. It doesn’t take into account units with so few members of staff that the extra training needed to help those borderline candidates can’t be given.
It creates a two tier experience when we really should be doing all we can to remove barriers, not increase them.
It’s sound in theory, but not in reality, to a volunteer organisation.
See, I have some sympathy with @Gunner’s principle of centralised selection and training for cadet NCO’s in order to meet a centrally mandated standard.
But here’s the problem with it in the ACO.
Organisations who do it successfully do it successfully in large part because they promote/post their best people into the higher structures of their organisation - they are the people who do the selection, the doctrine, the training.
The ACO on the other hand…
I have, in my long association with the ACO, known some absolutely first class wing staff. But in truth, does anyone here really believe that the centre of gravity of the talent in this organisation is in the above Sqn level?
Also if we are talking about those who’ve recently turned 18, many will still be in education or newly into the world of work. The minimum time commitment for uniformed roles isn’t always compatible with that.
This tends to be my justification for/against promotion.
They might do well in a Sqn environment but on a Wg weekend course or camp do they measure up?
Agreed although I think sectors could be used better here. With us we have the typical 6 Squadrons in a sector all within a max 18 mile radius from one side of the sector to the other. The 2 closest squadrons are 5 & 11 miles. more inter staff sector work should be encouraged in the early years of development
I absolutely agree with more inter-squadron working across sectors, but our geography doesn’t lend itself well to it.
There are 6 squadrons in our sector. The nearest is a 30-minute drive away along windy country roads, the furthest is over an hour away along even worse roads. Those times assuming you don’t get stuck behind a tractor, of which there is a real risk.
If we drop O18 cadets too, and new CIs join at 18, I’d be uncomfortable pushing them to make those journeys on high fatality roads as newer drivers.
I wonder how we can maintain the idea of those stepping up spending more time with other units in a safer way?
It’s been nearly 30 years, but from what I remember the ACF spend a lot more time training together at coy (technically equivalent to sqns, but practically more akin to sectors) or county / battalion (wing) level. I was a student at the time, without a car, so some form of collective transport must have been provided.
Edit: I’ve just remembered all the hours in the back of Bedford 4-tonners with no seatbelts. Almost certainly not allowed now.
I can remember the smell of the Bedfords to this day (I think my subconscious has blocked out the smell of my fellow cadets especially after a week’s FTX)
Heard today that we are apparently getting some changes here in the next few months, sounds like it will no longer be an “application” and that it won’t be able to act as an exit point for OCs
Do the powers that be consult in any meaningful way?
It’s likely we don’t see or understand the full picture here, but it might help us come to useful conclusions if we understood all the background thought processes.
It’s a pretty big thing to not be asking the input of those on the coal face.
The last time this was consulted on, they spoke to staff cadets them selves who all agreed they’d prefer to be able to stay until 20 because of the extra opportunities. Except they only spoke to the very very senior cadets at a CWO conference, so only got an opinion from a minority of staff cadets.
So if they do consult, it’s not normally meaningful.
