I’ve been told both sides of the fence.
I’ve been told I am “only” acting so should put that.
But also been told I pay mess fees and am wearing the rank, so roll with it.
Standard lack of consistency then!
Did a “war game” exercise for a week in the depths of MoD once - stayed at one of the Lunnon barracks (Wellington?). Went to pay my mess bill - nearly had a heart attack!! Apologies sir, mess clerk made a mistake - you are a visitor on duty & therefore a guest of the mess. Phew!
Oh I’m sleeping on the floor of a HAS at the minute so thankfully my only mess bill right now is Xmas draw tickets.
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Luxury - you have a roof (& maybe heating?)! 
You could even say that you have a (big!) room door…
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instant trigger of the four Yorkshiremen sketch
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Nope. No reliable running water for showers either.
So no change from the Sgts mess at Cranwell then 
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And last year, CHOM + other locations at Cranditz!
Normal jogging then?
Not even that.
Haven’t been able to drink or cook with it due to the chlorine content, then it was turned off. Then it was cold, this morning I got about 45s of water before it turned off.
Acting rank is only a reference to its temporary nature.
While you hold it, you’re as pucker as the rest of them (even though technically junior for that rare situation where your peers start getting picked off and you need to work out who’s now in charge).
But that’s the same as a reservist technically being junior to everyone else of the same rank in the regular service.
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I had to pay for a round at Centre Parcs.
I dont think im going to financially recover from this.
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If we ignore the politics around immigrations for a second; This will be a profound loss of facilities used by the Cadet Forces. During Covid the site became unusable by us. That may well be set to happen again!
Interestingly, the article also implies they may be using Pippingford Park too, as people have been told they need to leave.
Oh just great! Especially bad news if true as Brunswick camp is about to close for a couple of years.
Again taking politics out of it, large swathes of DTE have been absorbed for housing not only ‘boat people’, but also Afghans. Therefore this reduces the overall capacity for the AFs to use, UKR personnel to train, leaving the various CFs to fight over what is left.
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Probably the right move in the grand scheme of things though.
Im hoping the recent survey thats out long term will indicate that the RAF need to provide an accom solution like the ACF have with cadet training centres.
But i know im being gullable there
They need to consider the overall basing and training capacity.
Selling off airfields or barracks for housing might make short term sense but reduces the training and expansion potential of the AF and reduces the contingency options (pandemics, refugees, potentially the need to rehouse civpop following a natural disaster etc)
For us in the near term making it easier to train on public land will help, including a simpler TOPL system.
Locally we have a fair few parks that are suitable, and could even have areas sectioned off for reserve or CF training, but the government agency that manages them charges groups for their use.
Given what’s happening in the East of the continent right now, it makes sense for the military to retain ownership and control of the estate they currently have.
That doesn’t mean it can’t be reused for other purposes, but it’s much simpler to scale-up if necessary when you don’t have to either buy back former land and facilities, or purchase new ones.
When it comes to housing asylum seekers, military facilities actually make a lot of sense logically (although many people argue against it emotionally). There’s the potential for the sites to be completely self-contained away from other areas of the population until suitability of the person’s claim is assessed. Once their claim has been seen to have merit, and once the person has been seen to posses no threat (99.99% don’t), then they can be housed in a community setting to aid integration.
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If only there was a definitive document that could give guidance, they could call it something like Defence Writing Guide, make it a JSP with an easily remembered number like 101!
If it existed it might say something along the lines of:
Signature block
- Always use a signature block to identify the person signing a document:
a. Show the initials and name of the person signing, using upper-case and lower-case letters (for example ‘T Allardyce’). Do not include post-nominal letters.
b. For military staff, show the rank of the person signing. Where appropriate, such as on correspondence at a multinational HQ, give the Service or nationality. Write military ranks with initial capitals only. Civil servants do not normally include their grade.
c. Always include the job title of the person signing, ‘SO1 J3’ unless the appointment is already included in the detail of headed notepaper. You may add the job title or department the person represents, (for example ‘For Policy Director’). Check on the local practice.
But I’m just a crusty old retired shiney so what would I know.
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