Staffing levels
let's have some more examples of 'rank creep'
However, the Rear Admiral's Technical Advisor (Captain) knew his new boss was V busy, had a look at the agenda and asked who knew most about the items. The answer was a civilian PTO (Grade D) - as you'd expect actually - and he was sent off to London.
The PTO quickly realised everyone was in civvies and the other Services hadn't a clue who to expect from the RN, so just assumed he was a senior RN officer, if not the new Admiral. He kept quiet. The RAF 2 Star started with a good old moan about SAR avionics support. The DGA(N) reply went along the lines of "What do you expect when your maintenace policy relies on an RN establishment that closed 10 years ago". This went on for a while and eventually the RN was invited to give a presentation on the detailed support issues, where of course the Devil lies. At the end, while quaffing vino collapso, he was praised on remembering so much from what must have been many promotions ago. He replied no, in a few weeks my tour ends and I return to being a diag on the sonics bench at Fleetlands. Priceless. They took it in good part and the Admiral received a nice letter of commendation from the Junior services. But wasn't overly pleased that some junior..........
Nothing to do with the topic (I wonder) but I really couldn't resist this.
Elementary
Oxford University researchers have discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called pillocks. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.
A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.
In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as a critical morass. When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many pillocks but twice as many morons.
Elementary
Oxford University researchers have discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called pillocks. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.
A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.
In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as a critical morass. When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many pillocks but twice as many morons.
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Mini, I am sure things re number of staff officers are different now but they weren't back in the late '90s. The RAF was vastly overmanned compared to the RN. However, the real issue is that Jointery can increase the rank loading on a Service rather than reduce it. The MAA is another case in point - what is the size of this 3* led organisation compared to what went before? I am not debating its necessity just the manpower burden it has imposed on Defence.
The MAA is another case in point - what is the size of this 3* led organisation compared to what went before? I am not debating its necessity just the manpower burden it has imposed on Defence.
PPRuNe is becoming like the "Six Degrees of Separation" in that, however random a thread may be on the Military Aviation Board, it will mention MAA or airworthiness within 6 pages!
Edit to add - bu88er - just noticed this thread has slipped into page 7....
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Guys,
I don't want to join in any MAA bashing - there are plenty of threads for that. But Pheasant's post raises a good point about the tendency to throw numbers of people at an issue, generate jobs, and the 'service politics' angle.
The MAA is now a very substantial organisation. That's due in large part to the original decision to make it headed by a three-star, so as to signify the importance of what we now call 'air safety'. (By the way, overall defence safety managed fine with a two star lead for years, and the excellent naval nuclear safety record was due to a well managed team led by a one star).
But three star it was, and so a large pyramid has been created to justify and feed the resulting two and one star posts. The 'ripple down' effect was clearly shown in the AAIU, where the outstanding RN AIU (commended by Haddon-Cave), which was headed for many, many years by a suitably experienced and trained (I will not use the 'SQEP' 'word') SO2, became the MAAIB, which now apparently required a full Colonel to head it up. Plus other SO1s and SO2s. Oh, and the Colonel (plus many of the new SO1s and SO2s) had zero practical experience of accident investigation.
But there is more. The MAA was formed in large part by 'sweeping up' as many experienced DE&S staffs as possible. Unfortunately, that led to a massive gap in DE&S's ability to manage its own air safety issues. So, presto, the DE&S (Defence?) Airworthiness Team (DAT) was formed. The Deputy Head is a Group Captain, so that makes the head CS approximately a one star. DAT apparently exists to:
Provide help to Project Teams and Operating Centres in DE&S manage airworthiness
Drive consistency and good practice across the DE&S
Provide confidence to CoM(Air) that the organisation is doing so
A one star. To head a support department. See the problem? By the way, I have absolutely no doubt that the people in the DAT are working their bums off - but I'll take a decent bet that a lot of the 'stuff' is firmly of the 'self licking lollipop' sort. It's not the fault of the SO1s and below.
This is my last input to this thread - I just hope that somewhere, someone is reading this and using the examples we've all highlighted to take a sharp sword to the MoD's staff organisations.
Best regards as ever to those SO2s and SO1s doing real jobs,
Engines
I don't want to join in any MAA bashing - there are plenty of threads for that. But Pheasant's post raises a good point about the tendency to throw numbers of people at an issue, generate jobs, and the 'service politics' angle.
The MAA is now a very substantial organisation. That's due in large part to the original decision to make it headed by a three-star, so as to signify the importance of what we now call 'air safety'. (By the way, overall defence safety managed fine with a two star lead for years, and the excellent naval nuclear safety record was due to a well managed team led by a one star).
But three star it was, and so a large pyramid has been created to justify and feed the resulting two and one star posts. The 'ripple down' effect was clearly shown in the AAIU, where the outstanding RN AIU (commended by Haddon-Cave), which was headed for many, many years by a suitably experienced and trained (I will not use the 'SQEP' 'word') SO2, became the MAAIB, which now apparently required a full Colonel to head it up. Plus other SO1s and SO2s. Oh, and the Colonel (plus many of the new SO1s and SO2s) had zero practical experience of accident investigation.
But there is more. The MAA was formed in large part by 'sweeping up' as many experienced DE&S staffs as possible. Unfortunately, that led to a massive gap in DE&S's ability to manage its own air safety issues. So, presto, the DE&S (Defence?) Airworthiness Team (DAT) was formed. The Deputy Head is a Group Captain, so that makes the head CS approximately a one star. DAT apparently exists to:
Provide help to Project Teams and Operating Centres in DE&S manage airworthiness
Drive consistency and good practice across the DE&S
Provide confidence to CoM(Air) that the organisation is doing so
A one star. To head a support department. See the problem? By the way, I have absolutely no doubt that the people in the DAT are working their bums off - but I'll take a decent bet that a lot of the 'stuff' is firmly of the 'self licking lollipop' sort. It's not the fault of the SO1s and below.
This is my last input to this thread - I just hope that somewhere, someone is reading this and using the examples we've all highlighted to take a sharp sword to the MoD's staff organisations.
Best regards as ever to those SO2s and SO1s doing real jobs,
Engines
Last edited by Engines; 29th Jan 2015 at 16:37.
