I am in the lucky position of having a few parents interested in volunteering as CIs. They have no military or cadet experience so what I was wondering is that if anyone had a decent training program for brand new staff?
I had to start afresh with staff when I took over a squadron, with only one other staff member remaining.
Their heads will likely be spinning from the cultural change to being a part of a military youth organisation. What worked for me was (once their mandatory training was completed) just giving them the time to find their feet, allowing them to absorb the cultural differences, then approaching me with any questions, concerns etc.
Also worth bearing in mind that some parents will come on board with the sole purpose of trying to help their cadet get favours/privilege. I found that those CIs can be really helpful to start with, but can soon become single-track minded and a bit of a nuisance.
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I would suggest some element of First Class, perhaps putting on a couple of âcrash courseâ evenings over a month or so.
Doesnât neccissarily have to be all subjects of First Class, but certainly the RAF, ATC and Flying Ops.
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Donât worry about the military experience bit. Focus on creating great youth leaders. The âmilitaryâ bit just comes with time.
I think the best initial thing to do is run an evening with just the staff explaining what we do. That tag line gets used for our publicity stuff, but doesnât engage properly with what we actually do. Sit the new staff down and do an overview of the PTS as a nice start. It allows new staff to see what bits of our syllabus might interest them. Some might already know a lot about map and compass so can look at beginning to teach that. Some might be keen to get involved with comms, then you can get them on the next wing course. Some might like the sound of delivering AT, so again, you can signpost to the WATTO assuming they run Wing stuff for staff.
I really think a good overview of what we deliver is really important early on so new staff can see potential activities they can get involved with delivering.
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To be fair most of the basics are in the AVIP workbook. Itâs quite a good starting point, you can tailor sessions around the various topics and run talks on them, get them to do research, etc.
The Senior / Master Air Power course is also a good one to get them up to speed on how airforces do what they do, and why.
Agreed that there is a need for something a bit more in depth.
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