You know what really grinds my gears? The Gears Strike Back

But it’s just so fun to say.

Ahh but they turn up for a parade not expecting to do it and we get asked to help. Ho hum.
The other thing is the cotton gloves last no time compared to leather gauntlets.

No I was curious about other parades and scrolling through the Sqn’s social media to share the ATC love around.

Gauntlets don’t look good, and the white cotton gloves last perfectly fine for the one or two times per year they’re needed. You can replace them for pocket change if you need to.

this is not a RBL “thing” - so if it is done locally, certainly done wrong.

I have a RAFA Standard on one of our parades and they informed me it is the “RAFA way” to be thumb pointing down - not knowing any better i accepted it and moved on.

My cadets carry the RAFA and RBL banner the RAFAC way not theirs… its caused a few opinionated conversations but I won

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Yeah, but, look at what else they wear - they aren’t exactly a typical example unit for ceremonial wear, all borne out of tradition and history.

I can’t find an image of the RAF Colour or a Sqn Standard being carried with Gauntlets, although I did turn up an image of a RAF Cpl in gauntlets with the RAFA Standard.

Nevertheless, when offered gauntlets to carry another’s standard, we turn them down. I too don’t teach an alternative carry.

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I never allow cadets to wear them, and I have had many cadets carry the RBL standards. I also ensure they do Army drill rather than RBL drill.

Being a drill instructor I think its imperative that we dont teach them alternatives from AP818. If they want to learn it in there own time they can.

Allowing the teaching will create confusion and bad habits which are harder to remove than actually teaching the movement it self…although the standard dip everyone uses isnt in AP818

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there is a difference??

i always assume the differences between RBL and RAF (well as I know it being ATC) was because the RBL was based on Army drill!

Yes, quite a few differences when it comes to banner drill.

ahh likewise its the banner drill that differs between the ATC book

seems the RBL do their own thing!

The RBL make up everything as they go along in my experience.

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image

Great, now I need a new irony meter… :roll_eyes:

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Getting a text message from a sector NCO asking about something that will be happening on the new year on Christmas eve. Why???

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Things don’t just stop over Christmas and you are free not to respond to the message.

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Sad I know, but when the outside world closes for xmas, new year or Easter, I tend to use the time to catch up on whatever admin is outstanding - life on the farm continues, I was out with the cattle at 8am this Christmas morning, but I can’t talk to DEFRA or go to a livestock market, so I may as well do some ATC stuff if I’ve got 10 minutes spare.

The stats say that a huge amount of internet shopping gets done on Christmas day, as well a significant amount of surfing Rightmove - so it’s probably incorrect to assume that people are entirely immersed in Christmas Day stuff…

That may well just be people spending gift cards they’ve been given - I did it last year.

Oh so it’s not just my credit card that takes a hit!

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Indeed. My christmas day stuff was done by about 3pm so I’ve come in to work to look at processing some cadet photos while they are just about still relevant :slight_smile:

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The inability of my cousins to roll a few dice on a table while avoiding a game board. That was an awful game of Risk.

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