Would there be any actual reason for the lack of the big bold word CADET on RAFAC rank slides? Staff have them but why not cadets? (Aside from STAFF CADETS) Ofcourse yes we have the different beret badge,TRF,Brassards but there is times where it can be hard to tell the difference between a cadet and a reg at times, just a general question why our corps hasn’t bothered with it but the other 2 corps have (ACF,SCC)
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You’ve already answered your own question…
Why pay for more printing on the slides when we already have other identifiers that they aren’t a regular.
For our CFAVs it can be more confusing as we wear the same cap badge and no brassard. The change to staff TRF is new as well so having someone on the rank slides, especially in blue was essential.
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It’s not needed? It only might be confusing with o18s and they have STAFF CADET printed but really you can see the cap badge is so different AND they have a brassard on OR in greens the trf is quite obviously different
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I think it would be beneficial, but I don’t think it should be a current priority given the financial investment.
To the layperson, neither the ATC Cap Badge (nor the CCF(RAF) capbadge), Brassard or TRF explicitly state that the individual is a Cadet.
Whilst these items might imply membership to the ATC or RAFAC, it’s not quite as clear as ‘CADET’ written in red text across the individuals chest (or SCC equivalent).
In the ACF/CCF (A), our rank slide identifier is the only mandatory bit of uniform that defines them as a Cadet.
- County/Contingent flashes can be worn by both CFAVs and Cadets
- Berets and Cap Badges are typically the same as regular units
- Right Arm Blanking plates do not automatically gain qualification badges.
We also have unique Staff Identifier flashes (red for ACF, purple for CCF)
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To the lay person why does it even matter?
If they are just a big standard member of the public they will probably ask and it’s very rare that Cadets will experience members of the public where all of the Cadets present look like Sergeant Rock of the SAS, there will always be a Cadet that looks 12 even if they are all Staff Cadets.
If it’s a Terrorist (which is usually the reason people dredge up for this sort of thing), they aren’t going to care, in fact if you want shock value an argument t could be made that Cadets are a better target.
Then we have non-lay people and they should know the difference, I think you would struggle to find a member of the RAF outside of recruit training who can’t identify a Cadet.
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Yes but what about their egos & that you have 15 year olds wearing Sgt stripes but they still haven’t been promoted from Cpl? 
I personally think we should have CADET on the rank slide, but as @bluethengreen says, it shouldn’t be a priority.
There was a good example on Facebook recently where @Cab was doing a tour of somewhere, and even to those of us in the know it was pretty confusing working out who was a cadet, who was a CFAV and who was a regular.
As for the cost argument. We’re already getting Staff Cadet and RAF Air Cadet rank slides made. I really can’t see it being a massive cost to get cadet ones made too. Yes, some cost, but not millions of pounds. I’ve seen business cases for 10s of thousands of pounds for things much less useful.
(FWIW I think we should also have had two TRFs too, one for staff and one for cadets. Similar ones, but varying slightly)
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So with the ones without anything we just use the RAF ones so we don’t really pay for them - it comes out the RAF budget.
The embroidery ones have to come from RAFAC budget rather than RAF so it’s not cost effective
The staff cadet ones will probably be going when 18+ cadets final get binned off to bring us into line with the other cadet forces.
Which is part of the reason the original suggestion from the LaSER review was to link staying over 18 with age.
The proposal was that to stay over 18 you had to be an FS and that you couldn’t have that rank until you turned 18. So there was never going to be a need for a bespoke rank slide, this was then changed at the implementation stage by HQAC.
Since the Laser review, we don’t seem to know what we want with regards to age range: all but bin O-18, O-18 for all, drop the minima, be what you want O-18.
Will someone in Handbrake House make a decision and stick to it? 
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Knowing a couple of peeps who sell / embroider clothing items, etc, as a job…
Adding a word onto a rank slide when it already has to embroidered with the main design would add pennies to the cost, a little extra thread & another minute of wear / tear on the machine. Negligible overall for a big order.
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Or just use backing as we do for officers but without rank. Cadets wear them and add RAF rank slide on promotion.
Staff cadets, as ever, will need their own thing.
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Except the bold bit isn’t the case for those who are simply “cadets”.
Thank would an interesting pie chart - cadet numbers broken down by rank.
Would probably put the cost into perspective particularly as you would need 80,000 of the cadet ones from scratch.
Assume each one costs £1.50, you are looking at expending £120,000 for a consumable which is a large chunk of the budget.
From an MOD approved supplier, so whatever you think it would cost, go for the most expensive and triple it.
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Look at it from another POV. If these were paid for out of non-public funds, they could be purchased from the cadet’s first month’s subs payment.
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This is the situation with the PTS badges which are not supported by the RAF so have to come from the GP fund.
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I don’t really see it as an issue. What is the total cost of a full brassard and 2 pairs of every rank slide. ie, everything a cadet should need during the time that isn’t issued? Surely a few months of subs would cover it? And I’m only talking amount the amount that makes it to HQ.
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RAF Regt NCOs did this when wearing blues until a few ago. They had a blue-grey or Wedgwood slide with RAF REGIMENT on it and slipped the blue and silver rank slide over the top (LACs and SACs wore it without a rank slide).
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what do the staff TRF badges look like any link or pics? As first ive heard of staff having different ones.