How to wear the poppy

Hello all, it’s that time of the year when we all get together to sell poppies on behalf of the Royal British Legion to raise money for veterans and wounded soldiers. This is a quick guide covering how to wear the poppy and other hints and tips.

The poppy has been a very important symbol for the armed forces and it’s important we wear it with pride. Make sure each year you get a new poppy so there are no creases; it looks smarter than the one from last year.

In the Air Cadets we wear the poppy on the right side of the body because the Royal Air Force's short involvement during World War 1. (The rule here is what’s yours is worn on the left, thus why you wear your own medals on the left and what is not yours on the right, thus family medals are worn on the right side.)

If you’re wearing a shirt it is stated in AP1358c version 1.07 that the poppy is to be fixed directly above the right breast pocket or inserted into the button hole. If you pin it above the pocket I would shorten the stem to just before the barb so it’s not showing.

If you’re wearing your jumper you can use the barb on the stem of the poppy to your advantage, push the stem through the jumper and it shouldn't fall out. Like the shirt it should be in a similar position on the jumper. After remembrance Sunday make sure you cut off the barb so you can take the poppy out without damaging your jumper.

Finally make sure the leaf on the poppy is pointing at 11 o'clock like in the image on this blog.

Followship

In the Air Cadets we are always teaching and improving cadets leadership skills. But we never really talk about followship. Followship is a skill that all leaders need to have and everyone that isn't a leader needs also (specially if you want to get promoted).

Another word used often for follower is subordinate.

Followship is a skill we will all use at some point, whether it's in the forces or civi street it's an important skill we all need. There's a fair few people that struggle with being a follower, they are the ones that are very unlikely to get promoted (unfortunately for them), but it's a basic skill all leaders need.

To become a good follower you need the following skills:

• Listening
• Communication
• Discipline
• Respect
• Sense of urgency

Listening skills are required, as a follower you need to be able to listen to what your leaders are telling you and take on board as much as possible.

Communication skills also include listening skills but its also how a follower should talk their leaders. Make sure you talk to your leader firstly, many cadets are to afraid to talk to their leader, if you do have any problems talk to the first rank above your own in the chain of command. Make sure your opinions/ideas are heard as they may be better than your leaders and they may chose your own (make sure its communicated as a suggestion).

Discipline is also a vital skill, as a follower you are on most occasions asked or told or even ordered to carry out a task set by the leader, if you have discipline then you will carry out the task straight away with no questions asked (obviously don't do a task which is unrealistic and seriously dangerous). A good follower will do as they are told!

Discipline isn't only punishment it is also self control.

Respect is a skill you should have learnt in life already from your parents but many people struggle to listen to someone in a more superior position and in some situations answer back. This is showing little respect for your superiors, followers need to show respect even if you don't like the person or disagree with a decision. Show some respect, accept that they are in that position and follow them!

Sense of urgency is a skill I learnt while on Junior leaders more than at the squadron, its very difficult at first but I see many cadets being told to do something and they take a few seconds to think about it. Then take a few minutes to get sorted, by the time they come around to actually do the task, about 5 minutes has gone already. As a follower just get on with the task as fast as possible and with no affect on the quality.

I hope this has helped any cadets out there, it is also good advice if your looking to get promoted as these are skills required of a leader. Remember to become a leader you must be a good follower first!!!

Expectations of a SNCO

The expectations for a SNCO (senior non-commissioned officer) compared to a JNCO (junior non-commissioned officer) are very different, there's even different expectations of the 3 ranks that come under the SNCO.

If you didn't know already there's 3 SNCO ranks in the Air Training Corps, they are:

Cadet Warrant Officer (CWO)

Flight Sergeant (FS)

Sergeant (SGT)

Sergeant:
                Many people stereotype the SGT positions as the 'lazy rank' I personally think you should not live up to this. If you're a SGT and now you think you can coast it, your not doing what a good leader should. At my squadron the SGT's are in charge of a flight each this gives you a small amount of responsibility, your flight is your baby you need to nurse it, look after it and develop it.
                I would expect my SNCO's to be doing homework, when I say homework I mean doing work outside parade hours to improve their flight, "what work?" your probably thinking, well its down to you what needs to be done at your squadron, suggestion your own flight inspection sheets etc. A SGT also needs to keep on top of the JNCO's making sure their doing their job and checking that the cadets are up to the expected standard.

Flight Sergeant:
                  Firstly if you got to this stage, very well done you have clearly worked really hard. For those you have made FS recently your going to find that things are going to get harder, so far you have had little amounts of responsibility, now you most likely have the whole squadron under your belt, its a lot of responsibility but you will get use to it. Just keep going and work hard! As long as your doing everything you were doing before and remember to continue to lead by example.

                  With FS you will find you will be doing a lot of running around compared to SGT and even more homework than before. Looking back my parade nights went so quickly because I practically never sat down.
                    I would say the difference with FS than any other rank so far is the fact now you can implement any actions, Like I changed the way we called the cadence out, I turned it into a call and response whereas before it use to be just the markers. So you can now put your own personal stamp on the squadron.

Cadet Warrant Officer:
                  Now i'm struggling to think of expectations for this rank its very similar to FS, what I would expect here is CWO's to have a bigger presence at wing level and helping staff other than that I can't really add any more advice here.

Really at this level you should be on point with everything! haha

The final point is your squadron is a reflection of you, if your not inspiring cadets by going on events i'm sure they wont either. Many of the cadets look up to you so show them the rewards you can get out of this great organisation. And don't stop leading by example.

If any one has any questions feel free to comment or if you would like me to add any thing to expectations let me know.