Good evening all- I’ve tried reading & re-reading what looks to be the relevant paragraph within ACP20, but I’m still unclear as to exactly when the period of one year’s service as a CI commences prior to being eligible for boarding as an Offr or SNCO candidate.
Is it:
-
the first anniversary of the recorded date of commenced service with the force?
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the first anniversary of the completion of probation?
-
the first anniversary of formal appointment date?
In an ideal world the earliest anniversary eligibility point for being boarded would be one year from the recorded service commencement date, but I’m assuming that’s me just being far too optimistic.
And apologies if this is universally-clear to the universe, apart to me (but in my defence, there’s been vanishingly-few occasions in the last few years when I’ve ever had a conjunction of circumstances to require me to get an exact understanding on this).
Thanks in advance (and since I’ve typed this in my sleep, sorry for any typos or factual gaffs!)
I would say it depends on your individual circumstances and wing
Its recommended a year but you can also in some circumstances go straight into uniform, I’ve got one at the moment whose already sorted out the prep and keen to go into uniform - we’ve decided in our conversation that we’ll wait until her 6 month probationary period (although the wing are happy for it to go in now)
For starters, there is no time limit for SNCO. You can join directly as an SNCO with no prior experience. To quote ACP 20:
SNCOs may also be appointed as direct entrants and it is not necessary for an applicant to have previously served in any capacity before their appointment.
As for officer, that’s where your question really applies. It would be my opinion that the 12 months will be from the appointment date, so their time as a probationer should count too. This should be the date that is recorded on SMS as their starting date. If you look on volunteer portal, this would surely be the ‘from’ date for your unit history.
But, it isn’t specific in policy. It just says
Be serving in the RAFAC, and served at least 12 months, as a Civilian Instructor (CI) [Or as an SNCO]
It is worth noting that the wording says applicants must fill one of the criteria. So by my logic that would also mean the paperwork application can’t actually start until the 12 months is up either.
Well, that level of flexibility (or might one say ‘regional variation’) could well apply in practice…
[Offr_Appn]This was what I thought, from trying to identify exactly which starting-point was officially relevant [/Offr_Appn]
Interesting…
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As always, it’s clear as mud and open to local rules inferring different things from the same policy book.
And there’s the rule about previous cadet senior NCO experience, no?
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