No More AirMEN!

[FD2]

I took a moment to check the date when I read this, in case I had somehow slipped through time and April Fools' day had come round again without me noticing. Before an internal war kicks off I must stress that it gives me no pleasure to post it and I realise that our light blue members sorry, 'participants' as that looks vulgar, will be as amazed and annoyed by it as I am.

RAF accused of 'needless wokery' after ditching gender-specific 'airmen' and 'airwomen' for 'aviators'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... women.html

The move was made by RAF chiefs in a bid to be 'more modern and appropriate'
But former Tory MP and ex-Armer colonel Patrick Mercer called it 'woke b*******'
New guidance was included in an article in the official RAF magazine, Air Clues

By Max Aitchison For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 13:03 AEDT, 28 November 2021 | Updated: 19:35 AEDT, 28 November 2021

RAF chiefs are facing accusations of 'needless wokery' after ditching the terms 'airmen' and 'airwomen', The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Now they have decided to replace the gender-specific titles with 'aviators' in a bid to be 'more modern and appropriate'.

But former Tory MP and ex-Army colonel Patrick Mercer last night blasted the plans as 'woke b*******.'

'For years I had airmen and airwomen under my command,' he said. 'You have two perfectly good, historic, tried and tested terms which have never caused any difficulties or problems. It is needless wokery.'

I agree with Mercer and think it's all bollocks. It will create more problems than it can possibly solve. If the RAF were thronged with woke twerps who think this is an important issue I'd be very surprised. A pathetic move on the part of the Air Staff and I have a horrible suspicion that the other two forces will feel the need to fall into line and do the same so look out for seapersons and other nonsense and, 'Oooh matron!' , isn't 'privates' a bit of a trigger term - where's my panic tent?

ps I used to get a lot of pleasure reading Air Clues but I never thought it was an 'official' RAF publication in a representative sense, merely an approved monthly flight safety magazine. I wonder what the real 'official' announcement will look like in a DCI and later amendment to QRRAF.

pps Will it now get harder to tell Pugwash jokes about Seaman Staines and co? Seaperson Staines just doesn't stick (in the mind) so well.

[k3k3]

They really are stupid, if they wanted gender neutral why did they use a gendered term?

Aviator: Male
Aviatrix: Female

[4mastacker]

I had to check the calendar when I read that. Total, utter, woke bollocks!! It's a job creation scheme for the scribblys; all those QRs/APs/JSPs/forms(various) don't amend themselves.

Does re-titling the name of the ranks make our people perform their jobs any better? No it doesn't!

All it proves is that assorted senior Airships are running out of ideas on how to "earn" their OBEs. CAS needs his arse kicked, he has far more urgent matters to deal with.

I'm bloody glad I got away from that kind of crap years ago.

[Pontius Navigator]

So how do the Brigade of Guards manage?
What do the Navy call a collected boat load of MEM, AB, PO, and miscellaneous rates?

RAF ranks always confuse civilians. Obviously all Pilot officers, and Flying officers Fly, Lieutenants command Flights and march them up an down. Similarly Squadrons are led by leaders, Wings commanded and Groups captained accordingly.

As for Air wotsits, they are amazed that they don't fly. Calling them Aviators will further confuse as it is a complete contradiction.

The rot started when they got rid of Wrens, Wracs and Waffs. Perhaps even when they prompted Section Officer Harvey.

[om15]

They will have to modify the SWO training, (do they still have a SWO?), one of the requirements was to have the bellow "AIRMAN" audible at two miles.

[Ex-Ascot]

Absolutely ridiculous. And as said they are not aviators. They are the folk who get airborne.

We had a female SWO at Benson she was ferocious. Not that she could do anything to us we were not in the Royal Air Force there.

[VP959]

Absolutely ridiculous. And as said they are not aviators. They are the folk who get airborne.

We had a female SWO at Benson she was ferocious. Not that she could do anything to us we were not in the Royal Air Force there.

Sounds like the SWO at Northolt in the early 1970s, except she was a he. I used to take a shortcut across the grass outside his office to get to the mess at lunchtime. I'd wear my issue foul weather jacket (same as the RAF chaps wore) just to get him to bite. Inevitably he would throw open the window and yell. Great fun (but perhaps childish) to turn around and poke two fingers at him, as I was a civvie, so beyond his jurisdiction.

[Ex-Ascot]

We had a very pleasant SWO at Northholt late 70s. Because I was fast tracked through pilot training I was a Pilot Officer when I arrived on the Squadron. At the Sergeant's mess for Christmas drinkies I was introduced to him as their new pilot. Until I arrived they were all Captains. He thought they were joking until I took off my raincoat and he saw the wings. He said that he had never seen wings on a Pilot Officer since WWII. Didn't have to buy any drinks that night.

[CharlieOneSix]

……. He said that he had never seen wings on a Pilot Officer since WWII…….

The RN got us young - along with three others on my course I was a Midshipman when I got my Wings at 19 years old. I think on equivalent ranks that was junior to a Pilot Officer. Midshipmen with Wings can never happen nowadays.

[om15]

I knew a Citation pilot who had once held the unusual rank of Corporal Pilot in the Army Air Corps, as a Cpl fitter he had completed his flying training and had been awarded his wings before being promoted to Sergeant.
Oddly enough I have just been reading about the post war RAF policy of training fitters to be pilots, selected fitters with abilities were trained to fly, spent six years as a Sgt pilot before reverting back to ground trade, the objective being to have a nucleus of SNCO ground trades that understood problems from a pilots view.

[Pontius Navigator]

ExA, I had the dubious pleasure of being flown in NZ by a pilot officer captain in a Dakota. On board with us were a number of A4 pilots.
Our intrepid aviator asked if we minded that he did a buzz and break on arrival.
I swear the wing bent. To a man the A4 guys went back by road.

[FD2]

There's little to relieve the 'boredom' for young men (and increasingly young women) here except to travel too fast in cars, do donuts, burnouts etc. I saw an extract from the 1930s in the local paper concerning a lady in Christchurch complaining about the number of young men who were 'hooning' up and down her road, so it's not a new phenomenon! I expect your young Dakota pilot had a souped up old car at home too PN.

[Pontius Navigator]

FD, home was probably the Officers Mess which was largely populated by young hooligans trained to fly by the RAF.
Very WW2ish with a number of MGAs etc outside the front and an EWS repurposed as the Officers and families swimming pool. OMQs off to one side of the Mess.

[Pontius Navigator]

How do you ball (sic) out an AVIATOR? Hard enough to bawl out AIRWOMAN, probably impossible. At least you could refer an offender to Advisor Airwomen

[Ex-Ascot]

……. He said that he had never seen wings on a Pilot Officer since WWII…….

The RN got us young - along with three others on my course I was a Midshipman when I got my Wings at 19 years old. I think on equivalent ranks that was junior to a Pilot Officer. Midshipmen with Wings can never happen nowadays.

I think that Midshipmen would be acting Plt Off?

We had a very young Capt on 10 Sqn made AVM actually. There was a Wg Cdr in the jump seat when someone made a flight deck visit. He said to the Wg Cdr I presume that you are going to get back in the LHS for landing. He said no, I am a doctor.

[Pontius Navigator]

A midshipman is treated as an officer but does not hold the Queen's Commission thus will rate lower even that an acting pilot officer.

[CharlieOneSix]

……..lower even that an acting pilot officer.

Midshipmen - or Snotties - were defined as “the lowest form of life”. To paraphrase Ronnie Corbett in that famous 1966 Frost Report sketch….we knew our place!

[Boac]

'Tis good to see that Mother Superior got it right in the site title

"A Convivial Discussion Forum for Aviators, Aviatrices...."

[FD2]

Continuing the bollox, it was reassuring to get a Navy man at the top again, at long last, then this indication of future wokery nonsense appears. Will this new approach to counteract the existing state of 'woefulness' win over boys and especially girls, like the horrified and frightened Durham University children, to 'take the shilling'? How will they react when someone shouts at them, or uses a rude word or two. Personally I preferred it when students spent their time off drinking or recovering from their hangovers and the rest attending lectures or tutorials!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/1 ... -language/


Armed forces to get new guidance on how to use 'inclusive language'

The new guide includes more inclusive ways to address disability, race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation and social mobility
By Dominic Nicholls, Defence and Security Editor 12 December 2021 • 4:16pm


The armed forces are to be given new guidance on “inclusive language” after the Defence Secretary said he is “unhappy” with the current advice.

Military personnel from all three services had been told to avoid using phrases such as "crippled with debt" or "blind drunk".

The MoD said its Inclusive Language Guide 2021 was a “practical toolkit” to help servicemen and women understand why “certain words or use of language is hurtful or non-inclusive”.

A senior defence source told the Telegraph: "The Defence Secretary and Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) have been clear that the UK armed forces must modernise to tackle the threats of the future. That includes our approach to our people who are critical to that task.

“The Defence Secretary is unhappy with the current approach set out in the guide. A revised version will be published in the coming weeks."

The guide will be taken down from the MoD website while changes are made.

The guide, produced by the MoD's Diversity and Inclusion Directorate, denies being "an attempt to police language" or "restrict your personal style of communication", but was created to help staff "speak more powerfully, precisely and respectfully", according to the Mail on Sunday.

It recommended avoiding phrases such as "deaf to our pleas" in case it offended the disabled.

The 30-page pamphlet said the words "woman" and "female" “mean different things but are often used interchangeably”, adding: “Referring to women as females is perceived by many as reducing a woman to her reproductive parts and abilities.

“Not all women are biologically female, and the conflation of ‘female’ to ‘woman’ erases gender nonconforming people and members of the trans community.”

“The women in the platoon” is said to be a more inclusive phrase than “the females in the platoon”.

The guide includes more inclusive ways to address disability, race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation and social mobility.

The MoD wants personnel to put the “person first” when speaking to others, only referencing characteristics when they are relevant and doing so in specific ways.

References to race or disability should only be used when relevant to the context of any discussion, the guide states, adding it is important to ask how others self-identify.

As far as possible neutral language should be used at all times.

The recommendations aim to be non-confrontational. The guide advises personnel challenging others on their language to be polite and prepared to “explain the logic” behind their views.

Equally, those being challenged should not "take it personally" and should support junior peers to raise challenges with more senior colleagues, according to the guide.

Dom Fairlie, chair of the Civilian LGBT+ Network shOUT, told ForcesNet: “We need to normalise that it's OK to get it wrong sometimes, as long as it's not done with intent.

"Those within the LGBT+ community are really not offended if you genuinely stumble, we all do from time to time, so it's okay to correct yourself and not be embarrassed by it."

Push for greater diversity

The Telegraph understands there are no plans to disband or redirect the MoD’s Diversity and Inclusion Directorate, which was responsible for the guide.

The news came as the new CDS, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, said the push for greater diversity in the military is not about being “woke”, but addressing the “woeful” lack of women and ethnic minorities in the forces.

In his first speech in the post, Adm Radakin said: “This is not about wokefulness. It is about woefulness. The woefulness of too few women.

“The woefulness of not reflecting the ethnic, religious and cognitive diversity of our nation.

“And the woefulness of not following our own values, whether respect for each other or the simple integrity of claiming expenses.”

[PHXPhlyer]

Women or Females?
Can anyone be ignorant or stupid?
I'm sure there are more.

PP