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Can Wigston survive the onslaught?

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Can Wigston survive the onslaught?

Old 3rd Feb 2023, 10:01
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True, but he is at the top of the greasy pole. What has he got to lose by saying, “Yes we are too small”, “yes I would have preferred 5 E7” etc
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 10:23
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Surely the question now needs to be Should Wigston survive the onslaught?
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 11:36
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I’ve worked with him twice, once when he was OC 12(Bomber) Squadron and the second time when he was OC 903 Expeditionary Air Wing and Sergeant Duane 'Baz' Barwood was tragically killed. He was respected, he worked hard and he looked after his troops.
Anyone else here know him directly?
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 12:28
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Originally Posted by WillNorris81
I’ve worked with him twice, once when he was OC 12(Bomber) Squadron and the second time when he was OC 903 Expeditionary Air Wing and Sergeant Duane 'Baz' Barwood was tragically killed. He was respected, he worked hard and he looked after his troops.
Anyone else here know him directly?
Yes, I did at around the same period, and as I have said earlier in this thread, at that level he was good value. Sad to say though he has not done a good job at the top. His time spend writing “The Wigston Report” on diversity etc seems to have caused him to forget, or at least not publicly talk about actual, you know, fighting,
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 12:37
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Originally Posted by Nigerian Expat Outlaw
As a former Pongo pilot may I say that was the most dismal, unprepared, dithering and embarrassing performance I've ever seen from anyone of Staff rank, let alone a service chief. He clearly hadn't read his briefing notes.

NEO
This was the Royal Navy facing the same committee the day before. Compare and contrast.

Defence Select Committee 31st January
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 12:44
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Originally Posted by Timelord
Yes, I did at around the same period, and as I have said earlier in this thread, at that level he was good value. Sad to say though he has not done a good job at the top. His time spend writing “The Wigston Report” on diversity etc seems to have caused him to forget, or at least not publicly talk about actual, you know, fighting,
I agree, I was very disappointed when I watched him grilled at the Select Committee, he is a clever man, what on earth was he thinking trying to bluff them.
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 13:32
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Originally Posted by 4mastacker
This was the Royal Navy facing the same committee the day before. Compare and contrast.

Defence Select Committee 31st January
Indeed.

Type 32. Admiral understands Defence funding and the Acquisition Cycle, most of the committee don't. He seems incredulous, and rightly so, that anyone would ask such a question on expenditure. It's very difficult for him to pitch his replies at the correct level. It's like asking him to brief a class of 5-year olds.

Francois and Spellar confirm their status as complete to$$ers, who haven't been paying attention to anything said on defence in all their years trousering expenses. But Doogan asks a good question on T31/32 (and gets a decent answer) as you'd expect from someone who has actually been an MoD employee and been exposed to these things as a sprog.
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 16:49
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Originally Posted by WillNorris81
I’ve worked with him twice, once when he was OC 12(Bomber) Squadron and the second time when he was OC 903 Expeditionary Air Wing and Sergeant Duane 'Baz' Barwood was tragically killed. He was respected, he worked hard and he looked after his troops.
Anyone else here know him directly?
I am glad to hear that he was good at that. It sounds like he has got out of his depth since - either by being promoted into - and accepting - a post the needs of which he does not really understand or by presuming himself to be capable at a level he is not. It happens. A shame,because I think his service desperately needs better right now - the quickest solution would be for one of his peers to mentor him, ASAP and strongly. That's what would have happened in my outfit. Does the military system allow for that?
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 17:52
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Originally Posted by biscuit74
Dear me. Having just seen that, I am appalled. The Air Chief Marshall was nervous, uncertain in his answers and clearly out of his depth
But he can probably spell his rank correctly 🙄
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 17:55
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Originally Posted by WillNorris81
I’ve worked with him twice, once when he was OC 12(Bomber) Squadron and the second time when he was OC 903 Expeditionary Air Wing and Sergeant Duane 'Baz' Barwood was tragically killed. He was respected, he worked hard and he looked after his troops.
Anyone else here know him directly?
‘was respected’…..I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there!
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 19:14
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Come on Chaps - non Wings here - what the hell is going on?

Time for a bally clean out, what?

What's all this equality nonsense.
Fast Jet Jockeys need to have the Stuff.
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 20:21
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Originally Posted by WillNorris81
I’ve worked with him twice, once when he was OC 12(Bomber) Squadron and the second time when he was OC 903 Expeditionary Air Wing and Sergeant Duane 'Baz' Barwood was tragically killed. He was respected, he worked hard and he looked after his troops.
Anyone else here know him directly?
No, never met him but from everything i can see he is now operating at least 4 levels above his ability. If he will not do the right and fall upon his sword he should be fired..
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Old 3rd Feb 2023, 22:44
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Originally Posted by snapper41
But he can probably spell his rank correctly 🙄
Is that really the best you can come up with? He was totally out of his depth and should be removed.
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Old 4th Feb 2023, 07:57
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Originally Posted by On_The_Top_Bunk
Is that really the best you can come up with? He was totally out of his depth and should be removed.
I assume you actually read the post Snapper replied to?
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Old 4th Feb 2023, 09:37
  #375 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by 1771 DELETE
No, never met him but from everything i can see he is now operating at least 4 levels above his ability. If he will not do the right and fall upon his sword he should be fired..
Sounds like the Peter Principle in action:

The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
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Old 4th Feb 2023, 16:41
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Originally Posted by snapper41
But he can probably spell his rank correctly 🙄
True snapper, well spotted. Though I'd hope we get more for the very considerable salary he gets paid by us than the ability to spell his own title. On that showing, I'm not convinced !

The Navy staff in a similar situation seemed better prepared, more inclined to push back at off-topic and silly questions.
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Old 5th Feb 2023, 08:04
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Article by Allison Pearson in the Telegraph this week is well worth a read:
(and my name is not Jonny. Close, but not Jonny!)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...g-woke-defend/
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Old 5th Feb 2023, 09:03
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Originally Posted by Tigger_Too
Article by Allison Pearson in the Telegraph this week is well worth a read:
(and my name is not Jonny. Close, but not Jonny!)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...g-woke-defend/
Can't really argue with the thrust of the article and I agree 100% with the last line.
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Old 5th Feb 2023, 09:46
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Originally Posted by Tigger_Too
Article by Allison Pearson in the Telegraph this week is well worth a read:
(and my name is not Jonny. Close, but not Jonny!)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...g-woke-defend/
For those who don't have a subscription to the Daily Telegraph, here is the linked article :-

Britain is becoming too woke to defend itself

The RAF stands accused of discriminating against white men. It makes you want to cry with shame

  • The Daily Telegraph
  • 3 Feb 2023
  • ALLISON PEARSON FOLLOW Allison Pearson on Twitter @Allisonpearson READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion
Not much of my youth was misspent, although I did for a time go out with Jonny, a trainee pilot at RAF Cranwell. If you want to know what a near-death experience feels like, try riding pillion on a motorbike behind a man who will soon be in command of a jet that can reach 1,100 mph in a little over two minutes from take-off.

Going into a corner, we went so low I could have picked up the cigarette butts lying on the road. I’m not sure what centripetal or gyroscopic forces kept us aloft; I do know that I had complete confidence in the reflexes of my RAF chap.

Actually, there weren’t many corners. Just miles of arrow-straight Lincolnshire roads, ideal for Jonny to get some practice breaking the motorbike land-speed record with a squealing blonde in tow.

All of the guys in his Cranwell intake were from the same breed. Truth is, you could probably have picked them out at junior school. They have a different relationship with fear than most mortals – respectful, but undaunted – and their hand-eye co-ordination is second to none.

It needed to be. Soon they would be up above the clouds, learning how to eliminate the enemy while creating a sonic boom. Mach the Knife.

Would Jonny and his flying band of brothers be picked to serve their country today? They would still have all the necessary attributes except, that is, two X chromosomes and non-indigenous origins.

I guess if Jonny were prepared to say that he self-identified as Joanne and started wearing heels and a frock then he might still make the cut. Trouble is, Jonny and his kind would rather cut off their own balls with a breadknife than pander to such progressive idiocy.

Nature’s warriors are physically strong, clear-sighted, usually male and, therefore, unlikely to be badly shaken by the news that the British Armed Forces are “predominantly made up of white men”.

Seriously, who thinks that’s a bad thing? Well, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston for one. Under his command, the RAF disgracefully stands accused of discriminating against 160 white men in an attempt to meet “aspirational diversity targets”.

In November 2020, Group Capt Elizabeth Nicholl was placed in charge of recruiting more women and ethnic minorities into the service. She quit after finding “around 160 cases of positive discrimination”. Good for her.

When the defence of our nation is actively undermined by the wishfulthinking and woke priorities of Human Resources, you know we are in big trouble. A 5ft 4in female may speak Gujarati and tick a box, but she simply does not have the aerobic capacity or the weight necessary to be a fighter pilot. If you think that’s unfair, take it up with God.

Plus, you don’t give someone an £88.8million piece of kit to fly because they’ll look diverse in a recruitment poster.

In the Oscar-nominated Top Gun: Maverick, the squadron has acquired one female member, Phoenix, but women fighter pilots are still rare. They probably always will be.

It is outrageous to try to fix what Sir Mike calls “a woeful gender diversity” problem in the RAF by excluding all the Oscars and Alexanders who have dreamt of being pilots since they were small boys.

On summer evenings, Jonny used to take me on the bike to a pub in the Wolds. On the wall behind the bar was a montage of black-and-white photographs grown sepia-toned with age: wonderful faces of pilots and air-crew who had drained their last pint there before heading to the nearby airfield to take off and do battle with Hitler’s Luftwaffe.

They were white and male, but Death did not discriminate against them. A pilot considered himself old if he made it to 25.

Eighty years later, the RAF is accused of discriminating against the great-grandsons of those men. How dare they?

The country for which so many gave their lives has lost its mind and busily enfeebles itself to the delight of its enemies. It makes you want to cry with shame.

Air Chief Marshal Wigston should resign with immediate effect.
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Old 5th Feb 2023, 11:06
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Utter trash from the DT worthy of the Mail or Express.
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