CS branch to go

Well, the rumour is that the CS branch is to go. Soon. It never really worked and now everyone will go back to the old system of picking NCAGS etc. straight out of NE, and thus belong to an active branch with an FE etc., and share initial training with those in similar branches (e.g. AWNIS).

 

Haven't heard that but sounds like a good idea. Give everone a focus right from the start, and allows them to decide early on if its for them or not.

 

Bit like Comms branch going to GSSR then back to CIS.

I wonder how long it'll be before they realise binning the MSAs was probably a bad idea? Still, it's made for useful additions to other specs.

 

Binning the MSA's - or how to scrap a branch and cull numbers without admitting it.

the most scandalous act of mistreatment from DNRES that I've seen - heads should have rolled over that one.

 

To be fair, it wasn't the entire branch - it was "just" those MSAs whose civilian occupation was not in healthcare (IIRC this was about half of the branch - the QARRNS(R) & MO's are oten not particularly high profile due to the vagaries of NHS shift patterns). The given reason was that training them (and, as importantly, keeping them current) was not practical in 12 days ORT/12 days SA - the option of training them as healthcare assistants was considered, however in order to have a recognised qualification, they would have needed to do something like a months' NHS work a year, before any RNR training. It is DMS policy to provide as near-NHS standards of care as is possible (whether this is a good thing is another debate entirely) and it was felt that effectively unqualified/untrained medical personnel would be at odds with this intention (I note the TA field hospitals are going through a similar process of reducing numbers)

I agree that the way that some of the ratings were treated was, at best, shameful; however this in part seemed to be as a result of the (frequently ill-disguised) contempt the branch appeared to be held in by the RN MSO responsible for it in Portsmouth - fortunately there has been a recent regime change & things there seem to be improving.

 

the CS branch isnt going at all, its just being renamed Maritime Operations i think , watch this space

 

Maritime Ops is the 'top level' branch for all RNR Specs bar DIS, HumInt. Air Branch, Chaplains and Medical. See here for a diagram.

 

I think the whole CS/combined training was a bit of a joke - particularly from an Officer perspective. I wanted to be an NCAGS officer and we were told that up to five years seniority as Lt we would all be doing general training so we could do bits of NCAGS, AWNIS etc, and then after five years semiority you would specialise into either NCAGS or AWNIS. So we all waited with baited breath to see what the new training matrix looked like.... When it finally came out guess what - there is no cross-over in training between NCAGS and AWNIS at all ! So what was the point in all that????? They may as well not have bothered.

 

I think the five year seniority thing gave the powers that be a scare when they realised what the average age of a JO was in the RNR. I am sure not being able to mobilse an officer in their spec until mid-late thirties was no their intention.

 

CS is going to become Maritime Trade Operations, not Maritime Operations. Every one in it is going to be either in AWNIS or NCAGS and therefore will have a FE etc from Day 1. So farewell to CS(R) and CS(O). One of the better reasons for this name change is that the RN knows what Maritime Trade Operations means. Try telling someone in the RN that you are in the CS branch/specialisation/whatever and all you'll get is a blank look.