RAF recruitment chief quits amid row over ‘pause on hiring white men’

[lucklucky]

Ben Wallace have been quiet...

[Yama]

On 8/18/2022 at 9:37 AM, Stuart Galbraith said:

Just recouping the reward of freeing ourselves from European Bureaucracy, just as the Brexiters promised.

I know you meant that in jest, but with all the crazy shit coming out from Brussels recently...consider yourself lucky.

[Stuart Galbraith]

We don't need no stinking European bureaucratic cluelessness. This is Britain, and by jingo, we can do it ourselves!

Meanwhile the RAFs glorious death spiral continues, rather like an an aflame and uncontrolled bombed up Lancaster over Nuremburg.

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Stuart Galbraith

[lucklucky]

That woman needs to be promoted to the top of the RAF. By merit. And the cretin man that is the RAF head to step down. By demerit. 

Ben Wallace continues to stay silent...nothing to do with him it seems.

[DB]

The Defence Secretary has never been directly responsible for personnel management, and that's even more clear since the Levene reforms which gave the individual services much greater autonomy over finances and procurement as well. The underlying problem with all three services is that they continually rob the operational budget, including salaries, and the infrastructure budget in favour of big ticket procurements. They pay poorly, the lower ranks accommodation is sub standard and as a result they can't recruit and even those they get don't stay.

It's easy to accommodate diversity policies if you have a broad spectrum of, and many, people applying. Not so much if nobody wants the job in the first place.

Not to mention the elephant, of course, which is that diversity targets are inherently discriminatory at best and dilute capabilities at worst.

[lucklucky]

For this to happen has to have been political direction to the RAF.

 

[DB]

No reason to believe that it comes from the Defence Secretary, though.

Or even that the RAF's implementation of any such instruction was in line with the intent of any such instruction.

The UK does have a history of looking for the least advantageous implementation of directives, after all. UK regulations implementing EU Directives are notorious for it, for example.

[Stuart Galbraith]

 

There does seem to be a remarkable lack of focus, with the RAF lacking enough aircrew to keep all its Typhoon force operational, and they are farting around with things like this. Maybe they figure that diversity is a promotable goal, but actually achieving operational availablity targets isnt.

[DB]

If you've managed to spend a billion on Wedgetails without a proper contract, then you'll look to steal money from elsewhere. Without adults in the room, the procurement top-up comes straight out of operations, infrastructure and training. As I said above.

There are signs that, under Wallace, Main Building bureaucrats are finally getting used to the idea that their jobs are in part at least to keep the services on the ball - the defence framework is a good part of that in that it sets a loose strategy and ROM cost budgets for each part. Whether Wallace survives the Sunak/Truss battle is a big question.

To some extent I agree with LuckyLucky for once - although the day-to-day personnel affairs are devolved to each service, when something like this happens then there should be a God-like voice from above telling them to sort their shit out, or else. Maybe Wallace is content with whatever internal discussion is going on - maybe your faith in CGS is not misplaced and he's handling it.

[lucklucky]

Very Damaging article to the RAF and all Armed Forces. Ben Wallace continue to be silent.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11150873/GUY-ADAMS-Did-RAF-break-law-pursuit-diversity.html

Quote

 

Fast forward to this year, and the pool of potential recruits appears to have been emptied of almost all of its female and BAME members after the bid to hit last year's target.

But rather than fill training courses with white men (which would have meant missing the target next year), they decided to cancel the courses altogether. This fact emerged on August 17, when Group Captain Nicholl's resignation was first reported.

 

Quote

 

Be that as it may, the RAF is hardly alone, in today's military, in its woke obsession with diversity.

Two years ago it emerged that the Ministry of Defence actually employs more diversity and equality officers than the Royal Navy has warships — 44 of them, in fact.

At the time, the ministry was looking to recruit a diversity and inclusion director on a £110,000 annual salary. That's more than the total earned by an army colonel, who commands a battalion of 800 soldiers.

The job went to Samantha des Forges. Her LinkedIn profile styles her as 'Samantha des Forges she/her/hers'.

Meanwhile, in November, it emerged that all three Armed Forces were signed up to Stonewall's 'diversity champions programme,'

 

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by lucklucky

[DB]

Sky news is reporting that the head of the RAF has kicked it upstairs.

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/royal-air-force-head-requests-rapid-review-of-its-recruiting-policies-practices-and-direction-12682238

[Stuart Galbraith]

Meaning if they are to be directed to do something official, they want someone senior to take the flak for them.

Im not sure why we even have a separate training scheme anymore. The RAF is so small, we may as well send them to America or Australia for training. At least they wouldnt be subject to our politicians meddling there, in uniform or otherwise.

[Yama]

'tis funny as one time militaries were criticized for targeting minorities in recruitment, with perception that minorities were encouraged to be cannon fodder.

[DB]

1 hour ago, Yama said:

'tis funny as one time militaries were criticized for targeting minorities in recruitment, with perception that minorities were encouraged to be cannon fodder.

It's fair to kick the problem upstairs - the diversity directives will have come from government. I still believe that they've been turned into orders by some dickhead in the chain of command and then interpreted by idiotic ideologues to show that the RAF is "failing" something they should never be subject to. Someone who fits into the demographic of people who find a "cause" and bleat about it to make them feel important - this type in fact.

I have no problem with the maintenance of diversity metrics - it can be a sign of underlying problems in some areas, like racist recruiters passing up perfectly good candidates - but setting targets for percentages is now, and always has been, bollocks.

[seahawk]

3 hours ago, DB said:

Sky news is reporting that the head of the RAF has kicked it upstairs.

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/royal-air-force-head-requests-rapid-review-of-its-recruiting-policies-practices-and-direction-12682238

Obviously this is the only way to not be the fall guy. Miss recruitment targets or miss diversity targets, both could cost him his job.

[lucklucky]

14 hours ago, DB said:

It's fair to kick the problem upstairs - the diversity directives will have come from government. I still believe that they've been turned into orders by some dickhead in the chain of command and then interpreted by idiotic ideologues to show that the RAF is "failing" something they should never be subject to. Someone who fits into the demographic of people who find a "cause" and bleat about it to make them feel important - this type in fact.

I have no problem with the maintenance of diversity metrics - it can be a sign of underlying problems in some areas, like racist recruiters passing up perfectly good candidates - but setting targets for percentages is now, and always has been, bollocks.

It is not bollocks it is racist. In the Dailymail article, it says the head of the RAF got the job by presenting himself as woke above all other things in the RAF. For that to happen had to have the yes from the so called "conservative" government...

Quote

 

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston.

Can that confidence survive the coming months? Who knows. For Wigston turns out to be a key figure in recent developments.

Indeed, to understand exactly how the RAF has ended up in this mess, one must wind the clock back to the summer of 2019, when he was given the top job.

His appointment surprised insiders. They had expected the role to go to Sir Stuart Atha, the RAF's Deputy Commander Operations. However as then-Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson mulled things, Wigston played a canny political hand, persuading the minister to give him the important task of carrying out an 'urgent review' into a string of high-profile scandals involving 'inappropriate behaviour' in the ArmedForces.

Wigston published a 41-page document that concluded there was a 'white, middle-aged pack mentality' in the forces.

The 'Wigston review' called for all military recruits to 'receive immersive culture and behaviour training' and alleged that 'micro-aggressions' occur 'daily' in the services.

Once hired as Chief of Air Staff, and seemingly inspired by his experience producing the document, its author decided to devote much of his reign to a crusade to make the RAF 'properly reflect' modern society.

 

 

 

[DB]

I think you've misunderstood what I meant by "bollocks". I didn't mean that claims that diversity targets had been set was bollocks, but that setting diversity targets is bollocks.

In other words - I disagree strongly with diversity targets.

[lucklucky]

I understood your meaning. I just think is dismissive of issue seriousness. When woke started i warned  this is a serious threat to our civilization and not just something happening in a small progressive corner of an university that the "real world" will not accept.

 

[lucklucky]

Quote

 

RAF told to ‘stop choosing useless white male pilots’, leak reveals

Leaked email emerges after claims service had been put under ‘intolerable pressure’ to hit diversity targets

ByDanielle Sheridan, DEFENCE EDITOR31 May 2023 • 1:16pm

The RAF instructed staff to stop choosing “useless white male pilots” for training courses in a leaked email seen by The Telegraph.     

In an email dated Jan 19, 2021, Squadron Leader Andrew Harwin, who worked in the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre, discussed the boarding process where candidates are chosen to pursue certain training courses. He wrote: “I noted that the boards have recently been predominantly white male heavy. 

“If we don’t have enough BAME and female to board then we need to make the decision to pause boarding and seek more BAME and female from the RAF.

“I don’t really need to see loads of useless white male pilots, let’s get as focused as possible, I am more than happy to reduce boarding if needed to have a balanced BAME/female/male board.”

 

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/31/stop-hiring-useless-white-male-pilots-raf-told/

The only question that remains, when RAF will be disbanded.

Edited May 31 by lucklucky

[Ivanhoe]

DEI goals are hamstrung by the tyranny of Anglo demographics (near 90% white, apparently). Want proportionately fewer white pilots? The solution is easy; reconquer India. Ginormous numbers of BAME to choose from, they already speak English, and are renowned for math skills. 

 

 

[lucklucky]

Good one Ivanhoe, Great Britain should get the Empire back to be racially equal.

Edited June 1 by lucklucky