RAF Regiment Lance Corporals.
I think we've got about as far off topic as it's possible to get. This is about RAF Regiment and the rank of Lance Corporal, and not what it was like to be various techie grades in the 1950s, yet many seem determined to keep it about the hallowed and rather rubbish rank of J/T.
Jackanory this is not.
Can someone put this out of it's misery?
Jackanory this is not.
Can someone put this out of it's misery?
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I think we've got about as far off topic as it's possible to get. This is about RAF Regiment and the rank of Lance Corporal, and not what it was like to be various techie grades in the 1950s, yet many seem determined to keep it about the hallowed and rather rubbish rank of J/T.
Jackanory this is not.
Can someone put this out of it's misery?
Jackanory this is not.
Can someone put this out of it's misery?
Can someone put this out of it's misery?
I've waited years to vent my spleen and nows my chance...
Time promotion? Time promotion? What was that.... Oh yes I was on it too - or so I thought.
5 years to get fitters courses that had 250 mechs fighting for 24 places a year.. 3 years as a J/T, now i'm late 20's. Nothing happens. Pop's down to SHQ... Where's my tapes? Hang on a minuite please replies the Admin fella, and pulls out my file.
Admin: Ah.... You know when you extended in May 1986? Well that was post Revised Engagement Scheme.
Me: Ok... so what?
Admin: You lost your rights to time promotion.
Me: So now what?
Admin: When theres a vacancy in the rank of Corporal you will be considered on Merit.
Me: Vacancy??? Vacancy?? (my face turns red as the full horror of the situation hits me) The Airforce is full of DE J/T's who, on that basis if they signed on before April 86 get promoted after 3 years.. I'm screwed 28 years old with 6 years left as a J/T!
Admin: Looks that way.
But I'm not bitter.
(And thanks to whoever at Innsworth picked this up a number of years later, was outraged on my behalf, took it to the powers that be, who reinstated the whole thing, backpaid me to '88 and signed me on to 22. That was one helluva Christmas present
There is a god)But back to the original point... Given the job that they do, I'm suprised that the REGT never had the rank earlier. The absence of JT probably makes it easier to implement.
RAF Regiment and the rank of Lance Corporal
Red On, Green On
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I heard they were considering introducing the rank of Lance-Corporal into the RAFP, until it was realised that more canines than people would deserve the stripe 
If the Regt understand the need for L/Cpls as they work in a similar way to the Army, then shouldn't they also introduce the WO2 rank and reduce all their sqn WOs to match army CSMs?
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is going to make the Regiments transfer to the Army a whole lot easier
The reason for the birth of the Regiment, during WWII, was that the Army didn't want the job.
Of course, if they take on the RAF as an entity........
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If the Regt understand the need for L/Cpls as they work in a similar way to the Army, then shouldn't they also introduce the WO2 rank and reduce all their sqn WOs to match army CSMs?
I heard they were considering introducing the rank of Lance-Corporal into the RAFP, until it was realised that more canines than people would deserve the stripe
Last edited by minigundiplomat; 8th Sep 2010 at 19:01.
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In the mid sixties the RAF's recruiting slogan was 'Become a Technocrat'.
A can of paint and a couple of bedsheets found plod's office at Cottesmore one morning draped with 'Become a Plutocrat'. It stayed up longer than I expected.
A can of paint and a couple of bedsheets found plod's office at Cottesmore one morning draped with 'Become a Plutocrat'. It stayed up longer than I expected.
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While occasionally there has been some thread shift, basically this has turned out to a rather lively little topic. What is also interesting is it suggests there are more than a few serving/ex military techies and grunts etc. who are visitors to PPrune and which has prompted me to wonder if more topics with a slant on issues impacting or of interest to present/former ground based types would be well received ? Any thoughts out there ?
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AR1
I had the good fortune to work with a couple of guys in the same situation. Brilliant guys! Bit of as downer when I came into the section and then got promoted to CPL. These guys had no chance of obtaining the lofty heights of CPL. In my trade it wasn’t uncommon to stay in that rank for 15+ years. It was a case of dead man shoes or if you knew the right people
Learnt my lesson then, that's it's not what you know, but whom...
No chance....
I've waited years to vent my spleen and nows my chance...
I've waited years to vent my spleen and nows my chance...
Learnt my lesson then, that's it's not what you know, but whom...
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In my trade it wasn’t uncommon to stay in that rank for 15+ years.
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Then you should have joined the Regiment. If you were good at your trade then you wold have got your FT1 and FT2 had you wanted it. Nothing to do with "who you know".
As for the “who you know” principle – it has a lot to do with it. Even nowadays! If your face doesn’t fit, well...
