PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - If you disapprove of the beard policy do not read further....
Old 8th Nov 2020, 13:15
  #64 (permalink)  
Lima Juliet
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 4,336
Received 82 Likes on 34 Posts
pr00ne
Have a read of Air Cdre Dr Fin Monahan’s doctorate thesis on RAF Culture: https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint...nahan18PhD.pdf

Fascinating stuff, I agree to some extent with what you are saying, but some things need to endure too - ie. the blue in our uniform, the rank structure, the roundel, the flying badges, the squadrons, the flights, the station ethos, the Messes, etc... etc... Granted they can take a modern twist, but the basis of them endure. It is the very “Air Force Spirit” that Trenchard saw as so very important; it is that feeling of collectively belonging to something that is so very important. Read Fin’s fascinating research to see what he found.

Air Cdre Fin is also leading some cultural research with 2 Wg Cdrs and an academic Dr (2 males, 2 females) to report on what Astra should do for the “Air Force Spirit” or its culture by mid 2021. I would hope that there is something in his previous research that will shine through - yes, the RAF adapts but it does so by bringing with it artefacts, practices and processes that it subtly changes. That is a good thing.
Lima Juliet is offline