6 VR(T)s appointed in Dec and Jan 
Must be Bi-winged Wonder Race !!
Still waiting for the issue with the mass removal and reappointments in - should be a heavy tome
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Must be as they need to remain VRT
All police officers hold the appointment of Constable irrespective of any rank they are promoted too, therefore they are the same as an airman, not a commisioned officer.
All Police Officers are Warranted Officers holding the Office of Constable. Even though Officers above the rank of Inspector have outward signs of Military Officers (peaked caps instead of helmets, brown gloves instead of white for ceremonial and being called sir or maâam) there is no culture of saluting.
Except I think at ceremonial funerals? and graduations? Iâve definitely seen photos of police officers in full dress uniform saluting.
Have now received the official âAppointment to a Cadet Forces Commissionâ letter from CRAFAC which is pretty matter of fact with a reminder that âYou are now to wear rank slides with the RAF Air Cadet (RAFAC) insignia, and when wearing No1 and No5 Service Dress you are to wear the new RAFAC insignia on the collars.â as if we needed telling !
Not sure if anyone proof read this for the CRAFAC before it was sent out but if I follow her instructions to the letter, I can now officially:
- Wear rank slides with RAFAC on as opposed to RAF Air Cadets.
- Wear my lovely merged RAFAC metal pins on my shirt collar US style (as opposed to my uniform lapels).
Lapel (noun): the part on each side of a coat or jacket immediately below the collar which is folded back on either side of the front opening.
Could they not have used the supplier of the pinned VRTs or was that too obvious ?
Any official update on GPJ blue ranks slides as everyone I know is buying them of Cadet Direct to wear locally irrespective of the official line ? I get it that HQAC did the rank slides on the cheap suggesting a grey rank slide clearly meant for a jumper looks okay on a GPG (?), but they look absolutely awful.
Having never been issued with officer rank slides (ignoring uniform allowance), I have always had to buy/make my own, so whatâs the issue buying a GPJ blue rank slide ourselves if only HQAC could admit they did this on the cheap issuing just the pale blue and grey ? Everyone is buying and now wearing MTP rank slides as they have official status if not scaled/issued.
HQAC need to sort this out
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There is minimum culture of calling Sir or Maâam these days!
Who has been given the contract to produce those poor quality RAFAC lapel insignia?
I canât comment on RAFAC pins yet as I have not had them issued. Still have VRT on No1s and 5s. The next time I wear them I will be waiting for the Twitteraty to have apoplexy,
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Pins arrived on Monday.
Has anyone got a proper photo of correctly positioned RAFAC pins? Iâve done it by eye where the VRT pins were but it would be good to be consistent with everyone else. AP1358C no help.
Iâll almost certainly be wearing VRT embroidered still on my no 5s for a dinner in a couple of weeks, as thereâs no sign of Snaith doing the embroidered RAFAC ones yet.
Just going as VRT retired?
@Bobthebuilder I didnât think anyone was able to use the VRT RTD anymore. Since everyone was transferred over to the new Commission, meaning no-one would have technically retired from the VRT in the last few months.
Am I mistaken?
Have to say the RAFAC pins are absolutely gopping. They are beyond cheap and nasty.
RCN said that if you meet the usual criteria then you can use it.
AIUI, nobody technically retired from it anyway; they relinquished.
I thought AP1358Câs illustrations on page 129 (para 0432) were pretty good as a guide, even though they show VRT and ATC pins.
Do you mean Yr1 at Primary?
Someone could have done a better job blindfolded and hands tied behind their back.
When you look at them next to VRTs all you want to do is weep. The VRTs look like at some point a proper tradesman with tool making skills was involved in the process. But given they probably came about just after WW2, the originals would have been made when we had proper skilled artisans who took pride in what they produced and produced things to last. Not cobbled together after a heavy Friday lunch using âscribbleâ mode on drawing software when youâve got beer goggles.
When I did metal casting at school, the teacher would have given you a look and told to do it again, thatâs you didnât look at it, think thatâs crap and start again.
Relinquished â1. To give up or abandon 2. To put aside or desist from 3. To let go or surrenderâ doesnât sound like the experience that I had.
sounds exactly like your experience!