There is an elephant in the room......

Perhaps your mate is a Tw@t and no officers liked him/were glad to see the back of him?

Not saying this is the case as I have no idea to whom you refer, but it's a possibility.

Gents,

Hanger obviously has a major chip on his shoulder. I vote we move on. Nothing to see here.

:ugh:

Let's not forget that the full name of the FAA is the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force and from what Hangar has said I think the two organisations have much in common at the top. Given how many VSOs we have can they really be too busy to spare a little time for those who have given a lifetime's service? All I got was a grip and grin on a cold and windy flightline after 30 years!

It's not just the FAA. If you piss the AOC off in your final days of serving out redundancy whilst at HQ1 Gp you may find you don't get dined out or taken to the pub.

Kintyred

Erm, no.
The FAA is most certainly not "of the Royal Air Force"
I got a little bit of sick in my mouth just thinking about it.

Right of Reply
 

I post very rarely these days but as a serving FAA Officer with 36+ years' service I feel duty bound to comment. I have attended many Leaving Runs, Top Tables and Runs Ashore for Officers, SRs and JRs, some as the GoH with a speaking part (at least 2 in the Seniors Mess of HMS Victory, a rare honour for a Commissioned Officer), some not. I will continue to do so as long as I am invited and this is my main point, most Officers, Senior or not would, I am sure, be delighted to attend if they were invited.

A secondary point if I may - establishments deal with Service leavers in different ways; whilst at a certain training establishment in the South I always made sure that the WOs were invited to a TTL in the Wardroom Mess and given a leaving dit if they were indeed leaving the Service, which was the minimum they deserved imho. In my current unit, an Army WO left after 30 years' and we had a few beers in downtown Bristol as his only goodbye, but at least it was something.

So in summary, no, I don't think Senior FAA Officers lack something.

Get a grip!

Your WO 'mate' was recognised through promotion.

He leaves with skills he did not have when he joined.

I daresay he leaves with many happy memories and many good friends.

He leaves with a gratuity.

He leaves with an index linked pension.

If he really is that upset because no Officer(s) came to his farewell bash then he has been promoted (way) above his ability.

I would never have dreamt of turning up, uninvited, for a farewell bash as I would probably have been shown the door.

Had I been invited, personal or 'open' I would always go along.

In my experience of WOs (the good ones that is).
they do not need to be patronised by some Officer, senior or otherwise.

from OP

Maybe you are the problem...

The OP is living in cloud cuckoo land. Does he honestly believe officers (or anyone for that matter) should attend everyone's leaving do? Really? How many do's is that every year then??

Get real - leaving do's are for close friends and family - simples. A week after you leave they don't even remember your name. Consider himself lucky that you are bigging him up.

Culdrose: What a sign ofthe times. I was there for a colleagues funeral several weeks ago and previously - a tech refresher course. The place is a dump of the first order. It wouldn't get an AA rose never mind a 3 star rating. Civvy staff are few and far between and completely untrained to run such a place. The building needs painting and is a sad enditement of what it stood for all those years before. Couldn't wait to get out of the hovel.:mad:

Thomas, while your point is well made and has some grounding, I think the OP's point is that it would have been nice if someone senoir to the guy leaving had dropped in for a pint. I know I certainly made the effort, not for everyone, but certainly for those I knew and those that had devoted a fair chunk of their life to the Service - whichever one.

Apologies for thread drift....

Sorry Tourist, did that piece of history not get passed on during your naval training?!

I suspect that after the final round of cuts the last units left in each of the services will be

Army. An infantry regiment
Air Force. An SH squadron
Navy. PR Department

Ok, I wouldn't generally do this, but I feel compelled to do so.

Hangar - what I get from you is a sweeping generalisation based upon personal experience of FAA Officers. Without getting into a p**sing contest, I am a serving FAA Officer who has served at all of the establishments you mention and many more. I came from the ranks, some 23 years ago....and before you mention it, no, that has no bearing on whether I attend a leaving do or not. I would make every effort to attend either through a sense of duty or because I genuinely like the bloke, as I am sure most officers would.

Your scathing comments about the leadership, manners and approach of current executive officers at our 2 Air Stations mark you out as someone who has neither the intelligence or perspective to comment accurately. I know both COs very well, and trust me, there is absolutely no way either of them would have ignored this had they been invited. Which is of course the key point. Had they? Trust me, had they been invited and could not make it (this may come as a shock but they are quite busy), they would have at least sent their apologies.

So in essence, the answer to your question is no, they are not missing something, other than your mates leaving do.

And if you feel strongly about my response, do some digging, find out who I am then contact any current or past member of my division, squadron, or flight and ask them if I'm missing something. I look forward to your findings.

Cenzo

May I say what a refreshing, articulate and factually rich riposte to some of the bitter nonsense posted on here.:D

I only had a brief interface with FAA officers during Op Corporate (might have met the WO at the crux of all this?!) and I found them to be as good as any of my fellow officers down there.

It's a shame you have to even divert any of your time to respond to such ridiculous statements - I hope your sentiments have buried the prospects of anyone actually agreeing with the question which started this thread!

Hear Hear
 

:DCENZO - couldn't agree more.

What Wyler Said! PS How are the trains mate? CB

The question was:

Do the current generation of Senior FAA Officers lack something?

Well, yes...aircraft carriers and aircraft to name but two...;)

Sorry chaps, been off for 12 months having cancer, so feeling a bit mischievous now that I'm recovering

Cenzo

Did say as much in my comment a couple of weeks ago......

Most people would either attend or make an apology, even if they disliked the person.......... someone moving on then nowt achieved in being uncivil, no matter what personal opinion you may hold.

Sadly as originally figured it may have been a case that everyone assumed someone had invited Senior officers but nobody had, que embarassment all round and a feeling that someone had been snubbed.