InsideAir Podcasts

[Talk Wrench]

Worth a listen to....

EP 42: TRADES AND BRANCHES OUT, PROFESSIONS IN​

For more than half its existence, the RAF has organised its officers into Branches and enlisted personnel into Trades. However, it has now been decided a new approach is needed for the Next Generation RAF. In this episode, we speak with the team leader responsible for coming up with the replacement - Professions.

 

[Tin basher]

68 trade groups and branches into 11 professions. Not a name change exercise apparently. Also "Not designed to save a penny" said Gp Capt sound bite, really that would be a first. The next Gen RAF of 2040 will be flexibilty, agile, homogenous, blah blah 6 minutes in the shutters came down.

 

[Talk Wrench]

68 trade groups and branches into 11 professions. Not a name change exercise apparently. Also "Not designed to save a penny" said Gp Capt sound bite, really that would be a first. The next Gen RAF of 2040 will be flexibilty, agile, homogenous, blah blah 6 minutes in the shutters came down.

In 1989, we were still pretty much in Cold War mode. Less than 2 years later we went into quick smart desert mode, complete with sending personnel into the sandy zone with kit designed for temperate, green, scrub and forest areas.

Since then, we have constantly faced kit reductions and retirements without replacement. We've tried to make Swiss Army knives out of people and planes and to cover up the reductions, we call the new people and whatever is left of our deployable fleets, "Force Multipliers" (Irony?)

Soundbites and buzzwords pervade the halls of Whitehall and the MoD and glossy presentations persuade the politicians that we can still do everything despite being manned and kitted at historic lows. This at a time when Ivan is prepping his next moves in the knowledge that the peace dividend, subsequent expeditions into the Gulf and Afghanistan whilst still honouring our commitments elsewhere, left our Armed forces severely weakened.

What have we had since 1989?

Options for Change, the Leonard study, the Bett report, the SDR of 1998, SDSR after SDSR and subsequent other reviews have only only ever had one thing in common. Reductions, reductions, reductions and more reductions.

Botched procurement and misspent money usually leads to reorganizations and inevitable reductions. Messing with pay, conditions and pensions leads to loss of knowledge as the smart make their move away to more lucrative work leading to skill defects and reducing effectiveness where it matters.

Whatever Group Captain Podcast says now matters not a jot because by 2040, agile will refer to the skills of that oft quoted "Last man in the Air Force", but why should he care? His pension is alright, right?

Edited to add....the last man in the RAF still won't have the proper kit for the job.

 

[Oldstacker]

In 1989, we were still pretty much in Cold War mode. Less than 2 years later we went into quick smart desert mode, complete with sending personnel into the sandy zone with kit designed for temperate, green, scrub and forest areas.

Since then, we have constantly faced kit reductions and retirements without replacement. We've tried to make Swiss Army knives out of people and planes and to cover up the reductions, we call the new people and whatever is left of our deployable fleets, "Force Multipliers" (Irony?)

Soundbites and buzzwords pervade the halls of Whitehall and the MoD and glossy presentations persuade the politicians that we can still do everything despite being manned and kitted at historic lows. This at a time when Ivan is prepping his next moves in the knowledge that the peace dividend, subsequent expeditions into the Gulf and Afghanistan whilst still honouring our commitments elsewhere, left our Armed forces severely weakened.

What have we had since 1989?

Options for Change, the Leonard study, the Bett report, the SDR of 1998, SDSR after SDSR and subsequent other reviews have only only ever had one thing in common. Reductions, reductions, reductions and more reductions.

Botched procurement and misspent money usually leads to reorganizations and inevitable reductions. Messing with pay, conditions and pensions leads to loss of knowledge as the smart make their move away to more lucrative work leading to skill defects and reducing effectiveness where it matters.

Whatever Group Captain Podcast says now matters not a jot because by then, agile will mean the skills of that oft quoted "Last man in the Air Force", but why should he care? His pension is alright, right?

Nope.... Not finding anything worth disagreeing with in any of that....

 

[4everAD]

Nope.... Not finding anything worth disagreeing with in any of that....

Apart from it being presumptuous that the last human being in the RAF will be a man and not a transgender lesbian with a beard.

 

[Tin basher]

Just a thought. If the RAF moves from trades and branches into professions one must surely be the first to have been formed.
Therefore the first to be formed will be the oldest profession.

 

[4mastacker]

68 trade groups and branches into 11 professions. Not a name change exercise apparently. Also "Not designed to save a penny" said Gp Capt sound bite, really that would be a first. The next Gen RAF of 2040 will be flexibilty, agile, homogenous, blah blah 6 minutes in the shutters came down.

I only lasted about 3 minutes. When he came out with the "Not designed to save a penny" I thought "Do you really believe what you are saying?" and switched off.

That phrase has been bandied about so many times over the years, to expect people to believe it is naive in the extreme.

 

[Cornish_Pikey]

Listened to most of it. They want to have the ability to shuffle people about at will and send them out of profession (ahem trade) at a whim.

Seems the lords and masters believe that a couple of years doing a job to gain experience is enough to progress. Sounds like an officer designed the new system based upon their non specialist career progression path.

Quite how that would work in a technical trade where it takes a couple of years to get trained before you then start doing the job to become competent needs to be seen.

 

[Oldstacker]

Also I wonder how that will fit with those trades where the trade training is tri-service in nature with a common syllabus and assumed training/career path...

 

[Cornish_Pikey]

Also I wonder how that will fit with those trades where the trade training is tri-service in nature with a common syllabus and assumed training/career path...

It was suggested in the chat that training would be to civilian industry standards to save having to convert everything to a civilian equivalent upon leaving.

There was mention of going out to industry for placements during peoples careers.,e.g. sending techies to work at BAE for a year or two.

Seems a little bit of a difficult scheme to operate I think.

 

[Talk Wrench]

It was suggested in the chat that training would be to civilian industry standards to save having to convert everything to a civilian equivalent upon leaving.

There was mention of going out to industry for placements during peoples careers.,e.g. sending techies to work at BAE for a year or two.

Seems a little bit of a difficult scheme to operate I think.

It also means it's easier to get people in as sponsored reservists too one would guess?

 

[Spearmint]

Listened to most of it. They want to have the ability to shuffle people about at will and send them out of profession (ahem trade) at a whim.

Seems the lords and masters believe that a couple of years doing a job to gain experience is enough to progress. Sounds like an officer designed the new system based upon their non specialist career progression path.

Quite how that would work in a technical trade where it takes a couple of years to get trained before you then start doing the job to become competent needs to be seen.

I was hearing mumblings like this a couple of years ago before I left the mob. Remember that RN Advert (complete with pedal on the wrong way) featuring 'If you can fix a bike you can fix a Lynx'?

So dumb down the entry requirements to a point where even door slammers could be stood next to you lowering in an F35B Lift Fan depending on whatever colour socks the 'Career' 'Manager' (separate quotes on purpose) is wearing. Got it.

 

[StickyFingers]

All acting like this sort of shit is new. They will bring this in service, nice set of promotions for the peeps doing it. It won't work, we'll go back to the old way (Watered down and cost-effective mind), and those peeps will get promoted. Then they will do something new and the beat goes on.