Unofficial Air Cadets Society

Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>

Scroll to see replies

Now that the society is (un)official on TSR, I would like to make it more widely known of its existence. Current topic I would like to put forward for discussion: has anyone experienced the issue where a cadet's parent(s) are adult staff at the squadron and what, if anything, they thought was wrong i.e. anyone had anyone promoted because their mum/dad was a staff member of the squadron??

Reply 21

Rach87

I was the cadet that had a parent as a member of staff. Although, my dad was AWO and our CO hated him. No-one thought I was promoted because of my dad... I watched everyone who joined the same time as me (some over a year later) get promoted over me. Then again, while the CO hated my dad... most of our squadron hated our CO.

I don't care though, I got Cpl eventually and had a good time... although there were definately times when I wished my dad wasn't the AWO. He had a rule - cadets stays at cadets; home stays at home. In other words, if he annoyed me at cadets I wasn't allowed to mention it when we got home, but if I made a mistake at cadets or anything got picked up on my uniform, I wouldn't hear the end of it for the next month - at home or cadets.

Reply 22

Captain Biggles

Rach87

...but if I made a mistake at cadets or anything got picked up on my uniform, I wouldn't hear the end of it for the next month - at home or cadets.

Good rule, but only when it doesn't turn out like that!!

We have a girl at the squadron who is so sh** it's actually unbelievable; she is immature, can't take herself let alone anyone else seriously, 'messes around' when she should be setting an example (especially now that she just got Sergeant), and is generally just a pillock! I'm seriously thinking about writing in to our CO and expressing how shocked and horrified I am that he sees things in her that no-one in the squadron see. Either that or that I don't like the fact that her dad is making up the promotions for the CO to sign-off.

However, when I went for the interview at AFCO Carlisle, having the interviewer being assessed, the assessor picked up on the fact that I made the impression of my squadron being sh**. But the Flt Lt taking my interview said he knew about the situation at my squadron :s-smilie:

We must be awful. :rolleyes:

Reply 23

rosie_scallon

Rank - left as sergeant
Squadron - 2132 Sedgley
Length of Service - Approx 4 years (left in 2005)

i loved the atc, best thing ive ever pursued and made friends im still in close contact with today. straightened me out when i was at a pretty messed up time in my life!

Reply 24

Captain Biggles

Rach87

Do your cadets actually listen to her?

Touche. My cadets listen to her because they respect her rank, just they absolutely hate who she is out of uniform (and sadly, in many cases, who she is in uniform). She even said to me that she didn't want to apply for Sergeant (only one spot was going, then I'm sure her dad pushed it to two) and I just hope that our AWO will use his infinite influence to get our CO sorted - he was in the RAF Regiment and got to Warrant Officer (I think) so everyone respects/are **** scared of him. :p:

A wise word to any potential cadets: Don't listen to any orders from an NCO you don't like! Rebel! Rebel! Rebel!! :biggrin:

Reply 25

Rach87

Captain Biggles

I just hope that our AWO will use his infinite influence to get our CO sorted - he was in the RAF Regiment and got to Warrant Officer (I think) so everyone respects/are **** scared of him. :p:

Don't count on it. Our AWO was an ex-para and one of our CIs (who had been CO of our Sqn many moons ago) was a retired RAF Officer. Our CO didn't care. She went from Pilot Officer to acting Flt Lt. and CO in less than 5 months and had no interest in listening to those with more experience than her. I think she felt intimidated by them and felt she had to prove her authority... she make me think of Frank Burns in M*A*S*H*.

M*A*S*H is awsome.

Yup. I've got most of the eps on DVD... problem with that is I can't just watch one ep... I end up watching the whole DVD full of eps.

Same, lol

Rach87

Our CO is a pushover. :p:

Reply 30

Rach87

Lol. Fair enough. Hey, at your camps did you ever notice the AWO/Officer split. You know? Where you could just look at a group of adult staff, out of uniform and instantly know whether they were officers or AWOs? In my old wing we had one officer who fitted in the AWO group and one AWO who fitted in the Officer group.

Reply 31

Captain Biggles

Rach87

Aw yeah, definitely!! :rolleyes:

The AWO's were always the best dressed, always '5 minutes before the 5 minutes before' and would keep you in check 24 hours a day. We have an ex-para AWO in our wing who give me some 'instruction' before my L98 WHT - I swear he taught me the 'last resort' methods! I've never felt safe on a range since!! :biggrin:

Reply 32

Rach87

Captain Biggles

Aw yeah, definitely!! :rolleyes:

Lol. Sounds about right. In my old Wing it was always the AWOs that the cadets respected/looked up to. Officers were just the pencil pushers.

Did you pass your WHT using those last minute instructions?

Reply 33

Captain Biggles

Rach87

Did you pass your WHT using those last minute instructions?

Well, according to him, I did. That's only because he was the one conducting it and didn't really care that much. :wink:

Had it been my squadron's Pilot Officer (such an arsehole), then I'm pretty sure I would've failed. :rolleyes:

It's probably because I'm working a lot on the weekends and don't get to go shooting, flying, gliding, etc. as much as I used to (in the good ol' days :cool:

Reply 34

Rach87

Lol. As long as the dude taking the test passes you then I guess it's all good. I didn't do much flying/gliding in cadets but I managed to need another page for my L98 shooting part of my 3822... bear in mind, I had the old style 3822 which was much bigger than those silly little things they have now. Then again I needed several extra pages for the other activities section too.

Reply 35

Captain Biggles

Lucky. To be honest I've taken part in a decent amount of activities with the cadets, my only regret being I've been working weekends for over a year and a half thus far. But for my final months I'm looking into getting a job with hours through the week so I can do much more with them. I miss getting up at 0500hrs (military timing, eh?? :p:

) to go shooting or flying; or doing an all-nighter with a camp the next day. :frown:

If any new cadets learn one thing, let it be this: put everything in and you'll get everything out; and don't let work commitments get in the way of cadet activities - like me, you'll regret it. :wink:

Reply 36

babes_and_bootnecks

I used to be in the Army Cadets - I say we meet at the parade square after last parade and we can sort out who is better! :cool:

Reply 37

Rach87

Captain Biggles

) to go shooting or flying; or doing an all-nighter with a camp the next day. :frown:

You still got luckier than me. When I had no choice but to get a job, the only job I could get meant I had to quit cadets.

Reply 38

Rach87

babes_and_bootnecks

I used to be in the Army Cadets - I say we meet at the parade square after last parade and we can sort out who is better! :cool:

I'd take you up on that but Scotland is a little far for me to travel. :p:

Reply 39

Captain Biggles

Rach87

You still got luckier than me. When I had no choice but to get a job, the only job I could get meant I had to quit cadets.

I personally would've chosen Cadets over a job, however I can appreciate why you had to make that decision. I think I've done my time at Cadets and should be ready to go forward and join Glasgow UAS. That will be fun. :wink: