Sky,
I heartily agree with your comments. It's close to three years since I left after 40+ years as an instructor, along with close to seven years as a cadet. When the ATC scribblers discovered Risk Assessments and other forms of admin, that was the beginning of the end. Of course any organisation responsible for the safety and well being of children must operate safely. What happened was that the pendulum swung way too far the other way. Example: a risk assessment to cover a cadet making the tea(?) Taking cadets on training visits needed a health form for each cadet, and every staff member. These had to be kept for five years after each visit. A new set had to be produced for every visit. When I asked why the answer was that you couldn't rely on parents telling us if their child had developed anything since the last trip. Whole empires were built on this stuff, as Wings needed dedicated officers to police the units.
An old friend who is still in the Corps has told me that recently all their buildings have been inspected by those that manage them. Ominously, in his wing, all the locks on the buildings were changed....
Please don't dismiss this as the rants of a grumpy old ex-instructor. The ATC was for most of it's history the best youth organisation in the country, and possibly the world. Many of the cadets we had the privilege to work with. went on the do great things. Those that didn't still earned useful skills and that, given guidance and encouragement, they too could excel. What happens when COCID ends it's stranglehold on us i something I dread to think about.