You know you have become a third rate Air Force when....

[ICM]

Oh dear! It appears that things are not as once they were in 19xx (name your year) when we were younger ..... with our elders telling us how much better it was some 20 or 30 years earlier still. So, perhaps most respondents thus far would be content to see the '100 Year Experiment' end at midnight on 31 March 2018, with the seemingly lamentable assets that remain returned to the RN and the Army whence they came? If so, there are plenty of folk out there who will be happy to assist ... and that would ease everyone's minds on the issue of Air Power league tables.

[TEEEJ]

Roland Pulfrew wrote

You know you have become a third rate Air Force when....

Your shiny new fighter aircraft have to be trailed around the work by someone else's tanker force. (RAF News Friday 12 Apr 13. Italian AF KC-767 trail 1 (F) Sqn to Malaysia)

We signed up to MCCE so why not use it?

https://www.mcce-mil.com/Pages/default.aspx

https://www.mcce-mil.com/SiteAssets/...%20Article.pdf

The Italian KC-767s were recently cleared so it is an excellent work out for the crews.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) will in the next months organise a European-wide collective air-to-air refuelling (AAR) clearance trial for Italy’s Boeing KC-767 military aerial refuelling and strategic tanker aircraft. The trial is part of EDA’s efforts to address Europe’s AAR capability shortfall.

Aerial Refuelling Clearance for Italian KC-767

[ACW599]

When the language of middle-management stakeholder capitalism (what BEagle memorably referred to as "wankwords") is persistently used instead of clear, simple and direct English.

For instance, I was advised by a squadron leader admin the other day that a small item of works services which would take one man with a screwdriver about ten minutes could not be carried out because "...Stakeholders have not agreed a budget going forward and consequently a timeframe and workscale cannot be identified at this point in time".

I rest my case.

[Melchett01]

When the only section on your Station that hasn't had its manpower slashed because of financial restrictions is J8 / Finance.

[Onceapilot]

When we NEED MCCE to achieve (small) core tasks.

How can we have mission statements with BIG targets when there are few assets.

OAP

[Onceapilot]

I used to think how embarrassing it must have been to our allies when helping them out with capability

OAP

[oxenos]

You know you have become a third rate Air Force when....

Military Aircrew appears in Pprune below French, Spanish, Italian, Freight,Biz Jets, Ag Flying etc. etc etc.

[Pontius Navigator]

Originally Posted by ACW599

When the language of middle-management stakeholder capitalism (what BEagle memorably referred to as "wankwords") is persistently used instead of clear, simple and direct English.

For instance, I was advised by a squadron leader admin the other day that a small item of works services which would take one man with a screwdriver about ten minutes could not be carried out because "...Stakeholders have not agreed a budget going forward and consequently a timeframe and workscale cannot be identified at this point in time".

Clearly there was no service level agreement with Prime for your unscheduled infrastructure modification. You hadn't prepared an acceptable business case nor considered the need for a risk assessment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of the last things I did before first retiring was to modify some consoles in Ops. "You can't do that, you need RAFSEE approval" "Watch me."

I got out my power drill and cut neat holes large enough to accept the 13 amp plugs rather than seek RAFSEE approval to dismantle the cabinets first.

[ACW599]

>Clearly there was no service level agreement with Prime for your unscheduled infrastructure modification. You hadn't prepared an acceptable business case nor considered the need for a risk assessment.<

Indeed I had not. Neither had I made a responsive asset projection or scoped out a methodological relative matrix approach going forward.

In view of my omission I shall of course sign out the mess revolver, go behind the hangar and do the decent thing.

[BEagle]

Back in 1980, the sqn boss at Chiv told me to provide a storage system for all the briefing slides.

This was clearly a 'student for a job' approach to an ad hoc non-funded infrastructural improvement.

"Bugger that for a game of soldiers", thought I - and sourced (I think) a Form 6 'Construction Work Order', then off to General Engineering Flight. They agreed they would do the work when they'd finished a couple of other more pressing tasks.

A week later and nothing seemed to be going on. "Why hasn't the slide storage been built yet?", demanded the boss.

"No idea, sir - but I'll chase up workshops and get their estimate", I replied....

Nothing to do with administrivial bull$hit, everything to do with not being used as a slave to the boss's whim.

Sorry Buckers, but at least they did come and build your shelving a week or so later....

[Courtney Mil]

Originally Posted by ACW559

In view of my omission I shall of course sign out the mess revolver, go behind the hangar and do the decent thing.

You will find that it's been withdrawn as a cost saving measure.

[Pontius Navigator]

Originally Posted by BEagle

sourced (I think) a Form 6 'Construction Work Order', then off to General Engineering Flight. They agreed they would do the work when they'd finished a couple of other more pressing tasks.

I bet they only agreed to repair the slide storage system albeit from a plank of wood.

I needed a pair or counters in the vault. Workshops were not allowed to make them as that was an MPBW job (plus 49% departmental expenses). They did agree to repair them though.

They repaired the 8x4 hardboard beautifully and finished them in shellac to resist bored aircrew boot scuffs.

I suppose in those days we used our own 'code' words incomprehensible to the civvies. The latter now have their revenge in earth extraction equipments.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To the other list we can add:

No gash hands to do gash jobs.

No GEF to do professional gash jobs.

[BEagle]

You will find that it's been withdrawn as a cost saving measure.

Not so much withdrawn as replaced by a H&S-approved alternative:

[ACW599]

>You will find that it's been withdrawn as a cost saving measure.<

Indeed; the mess revolver is now only supported on a self-help self-provision basis and ammunition is only available via LPO.

I don't want to hijack the thread but when did the RAF succumb to the massive over-use of wankwordage and why? Did it creep in with civilianisation? Is it formally taught as part of what used to be called "Service Writing" at IOT nowadays? If so, why? Does the RN and Army have the same problem?

[cokecan]

oh god yes, bollockspeak is rampant in the Army.

when you talk of going behind a hangar with the mess Webley and 'doing the decent thing', i hope by 'decent thing' you mean shooting the S/L involved...

[Pontius Navigator]

I think it was around 1989 with the NMS and Cost Centre Codes. Followed around 1993-4 with service Level Agreements* (small 'S' though that was not apparent at the time').

*SLA, wtf. If we requested another section to provide a new Simulator tape they agreed that they would produce said tape in normal process in 21 working days. For our part we had to agree to provide the tape script, error free, whereupon they would agree to accept the work.

[E L Whisty]

I always thought it started with the graduate entrant scheme. This was swiftly followed by the perception that military service is a career.

One of the consequences of the pay rises, it seemed, in 79 / 80s, was that people started getting ambitious.

I am sure that I am in a small minority in thinking that ambition is a corrosive influence in a military service.

Happy to have served in something pretty mighty and with some mighty good people.

[NutLoose]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ACW559
In view of my omission I shall of course sign out the mess revolver, go behind the hangar and do the decent thing.


One hopes you did a risk assessment before commencing.

[Cows getting bigger]

Yes, early 1990s. OCC (or whatever it was called) just after GW1. Lots of us sat around after having defeated ol' Saddam. Some WAAF sqn ldr (we were allowed to be politically-incorrect then) stood up on a Friday afternoon and started telling us all about NMS. I should have read the writing on the wall - it took another 15 years before I woke up.

[Pontius Navigator]

Originally Posted by E L Whisty

I always thought it started with the graduate entrant scheme. This was swiftly followed by the perception that military service is a career.

One of the consequences of the pay rises, it seemed, in 79 / 80s, was that people started getting ambitious.

You have point, so I would put it at about 1970, single list, spec aircrew, overborne sqn ldrs, the latter thus becoming the de facto base rank with the need to provide meaningful executive posts and the smell of roses.

How could a V-bomber sqn in 1963, with two sqn ldr flt cdrs, 55 aircrew, 8 aircraft, and I don't know how many groundcrew, in 1973 need 5 sqn ldrs, 50 aircrew, one sgt and no aircraft?