What I found in my very short time as a member of a Squadron Civilian Committee (1.5 years) was a basic lack of honesty from some of the uniformed staff as they rose up the promotion chain. Some of them think they are still in the RAF and are running a junior air force where everybody jumps at their rantings and don't actually like it when they are challenged by a civilian.
Conversely there are some very good people at Squadron level and I worked with them as a CI in the 80s and 90s. The cadets came first, flying, shooting etc if it was avaialble they got it, staff just enabled them too get there. Annual camps In the early 80s had cadets working on sections. We had cadets doing nights with the RAF police on patrol, marshalling Hawks at Valley and doing AF and BF checks under close supervision of the lineys, even cadets up out of bed at 05:00 on the dispersals at Waddington stood under Vulcans during start up and see off to go to the US.Going shooting at our local army training camp and booking out after training of SLRs and LMGs from our own now ARC and taking them there in a car at the height of the PIRA threat and teaching PARAs how to use a Lee Enfield .303. cadets at places like Lyneham moving from one aircraft to another to keep flying all day or Finningley in Dominies and Jetstream on nav exs.
Those sort of days will never return, the 'management' would never allow it. They were the good times.
Last edited by air pig; 15th Apr 2021 at 19:47.