Thread: Coops2558 - ITC

coops sorry to ask but i may have missed it, what is your position at catterick are you an NCO that trains recruits?

Originally Posted by nelford_safc

coops sorry to ask but i may have missed it, what is your position at catterick are you an NCO that trains recruits?

He is a museum curator.

No, sorry, it isn't a museum, is it: http://www.theadvertiserseries.co.uk...Army_recruits/

MSR

Originally Posted by msr

Originally Posted by nelford_safc

coops sorry to ask but i may have missed it, what is your position at catterick are you an NCO that trains recruits?

He is a museum curator.

No, sorry, it isn't a museum, is it: http://www.theadvertiserseries.co.uk...Army_recruits/

MSR

I do not understand what all your issues are with me and my Role in Recruit Training. I am the Curator of the Infantry Heritage Centre In ITC. My role is to Teach Values and Standards Based Infantry Training / Leadership. I am a specialist in Firearms and have been brought in by the Ministry Of Defence to ensure correct teaching of Foreign and Historic Firearms that recruits may encounter in theatre and to show military lessons learned in History. I have 23 years military experience unbroken. I teach recruits on a daily basis infact each recruit gets 11 lessons here and there are 3,000 recruits in training per year.You do the math........I also am part of the ITC welfare team.......So i do think my input is valid...If you have an issue please ffeel free to tell me what i'm doing so wrong.........Coops

Please also look at the input I have Given In this Forum, Parents Forum and the Female Forum ( To which I was invited).........And the feedback from those who have recieved aadvice I think it speaks for itself.......If anyone feels I have given incorrect advice please feel free to contact me. I do not comment on things i'm not sure on without first talking to someone who has first hand knowledge.........Basically i'm here to help. And give my time between lessons and lunch ansd other breaks to what I consider a good Cause....Making Happy informed potential rectuits and parents..... I think my army career and MOD career speak for themselves.......And if your jealous or an upset Walt....I'm sorry for putting your nose out.......Coops @ ITC

Originally Posted by coops2558

Please also look at the input I have Given In this Forum, Parents Forum and the Female Forum ( To which I was invited).........And the feedback from those who have recieved aadvice I think it speaks for itself.......If anyone feels I have given incorrect advice please feel free to contact me. I do not comment on things i'm not sure on without first talking to someone who has first hand knowledge.........Basically i'm here to help. And give my time between lessons and lunch ansd other breaks to what I consider a good Cause....Making Happy informed potential rectuits and parents..... I think my army career and MOD career speak for themselves.......And if your jealous or an upset Walt....I'm sorry for putting your nose out.......Coops @ ITC

OK Coops, I'll play a bit of devil's advocate, and with Disco's permission (as the mod of the JU forum - I mod other forums such as RLC, Int Cell, and OTC) I'll venture off-track from the purpose of the thread to attempt to address this a little, and hopefully do so in a constructive manner.

We moderators work as a team, but have distinct responibility for our own forums, so you need to understand we tend to discuss issues of site concern and your posting style has come up. note it is the posting style, not you per se.

Clearly you are passionate about what you do and you have a lot of extremely valuable contributions to give, and we thank you for that. The reason we started up the JU forum was to keep the numberous questions about recruiting and training in one place where it could be heavily moderated to achieve a couple of objectives: 1. ensure that potential recruits get straight answers and not have the urine extracted as would happen in other threads, 2. ensure the quality of advice given, and a 3rd implicit objective is to avoid the wrath of the CoC. The fact is that much as it would like to, the CoC cannot control the internet and it sees arrse as something to be tolerated, but only if it doesn't step out of line. You may not be fully aware, but there is actually a specialist tri-service unit that monitors internet security and keeps a close eye on what we do, not to mention those areas of the CoC and MoD with a direct interest in all of the aspects that get discussed in one way or another on this site. What I want you to appreciate from this comment is the fine line we tread given we are an anonymous forum.

In setting up the JU forum we intended for advice to be out in the open so that we could monitor what is said - incorrect or misleading advice can carry authority with niave youngsters and can do untold damage, something we would wish to avoid.

Now your public persona is known, you make no secret of who you are and what you have done in your career, and I wouldn't dream of calling you a walt, which you aren't. We have had them however. You probably won't recasll the nutter who went by the name of "Blondebint" and her recruiting advice site she set up claiming that the DS and CO of 22SAS had personally approached her to do. Her "Foxy's Bar" was a haven for walts and the depserately ignorant and became a laughing stock, but still, some people took her seriously, for a while at least.

At present there is no "official" recruiting guru for the site. If there is to be one, it will be someone that has the confidence and support of the CO's of this site and also the CoC. We would not wish to see anyone try and set themselves up as an "unofficial" guru either, irrespective of where they sit in the training hierarchy.

As I have said, I don't doubt that your intentions are genuine, but it is the methodology that is a concern. Firstly, there are concerns about the creation of a cult of personality and the dominance of any one individual on this forum. To put it mildly, your posting is "prolific" and is often an announcement of your presence online almost as if you are declaring your shop open. Secondly, any advice given must be in the open. Inviting people to PM you means that the quality of adv ice cannot be monitored, but actually just as importantly, where that advice is good it depreives the rest of the readership of its benefit if it is only sent to one person. Thirdly, arrse is not endorsing anyone in any capacity as an official recruiting advisor, that role rightly belongs to the ACA branches. Eventually we would hope to have official endorsement for a careers advisor who is part of that function and accountable via a CoC on this site. Having an yone set themselves up in this role unoficially jeapordises that because the ACA service is not going to want to have to compete with someone who establishes themselves with that reputation, and also it does our credibility no good.

So the issue, and advice is this: by all means offer the wealth of experience you have, but consider the tone in which it is given and the way in which you present yourself.

After Reading The above I do not feel I have overstepped any lines......... I have told my Friends in the Female forum when i'm on line as they do also( and as i have been requested)......... I offer Good advice ( I hope)
I do not claim to be the God Of Recruiting....But i do answer specific questions........ Some of which are not for public consumption I.e Parents asking about specific Recruits ie Sons Here at ITC........ If people do wish to PM me with queries that I would assume is their right as Free Citizens. If a Pm would be beneficial to everyone i place the coments in my posts.
I do not wish to cause unrest as some forums definately aim to do.... I try to give impartial advice.................I would not like to see people sit with simple questions that can be easily answered.
In all it feels as though i'm stepping on someones toes. that feels it should be their right to give info........Well go ahead........But i will give them a choice and let them use their judgement.......Please do not decide for the public we are a democracy....
I think ARRSE is Fantastic and a place where people can ask questions.....if you do not want the answers given then close up the site!
I hope you can see I am just wanting to help. Not wanting to take over.....I have my full time job and i'm very happy with it.........a little information goes along way
I'm sorry if you feel i'm doing wrong..........Coops

Originally Posted by coops2558

I do not claim to be the God Of Recruiting....But i do answer specific questions........ Some of which are not for public consumption I.e Parents asking about specific Recruits ie Sons Here at ITC........ If people do wish to PM me with queries that I would assume is their right as Free Citizens.

I think that this is the bit that is going to cause most concern, as there are official welfare channels to deal with this. Advice to parents shoulod be of a more generic nature, i.e. what their sons and daughters will be doing, what they will need, when they get leave etc. It shouldn't be an informal bush telegraph of how well little Johnny is progressing, how he's being treated by individual DS. I'm also not sure how your own CoC would view this, but I suspect they would be inclined to discourage it. The more you place yourself in the position of being an informal route to bypass welfare procedures the more you will be seen as the black marketeer of information. It only takes one error of judgement or for one thing to go wrong and that's you in deep, deep do-do.

Also, while informal netwoks exist on this site, it isn't Facebook. If you want to tell people what you are doing and when you are online, that's the place to do it.

If you feel as if you are stepping one someone's toes, let me assure you it is not any one individual's. It is more of a cultural/policy issue and as I have said, you are in a position to offer valuable advice and support, but what we want to aim to achieve is a way for you to do so that conforms to the way in which the site operates and which keeps the CoC happy and on-side.

I really don't intend to throw a spanner into the works, but coops' advice has been brilliant and he's answered some questions which in truth, I wasn't confident enough in asking my recruiter.

I just wanted the mods to know I appreciate coops' time and effort. Hopefully no dramas.

Originally Posted by nelford_safc

I really don't intend to throw a spanner into the works, but coops' advice has been brilliant and he's answered some questions which in truth, I wasn't confident enough in asking my recruiter.

I just wanted the mods to know I appreciate coops' time and effort. Hopefully no dramas.

Second that

Originally Posted by nelford_safc

I really don't intend to throw a spanner into the works, but coops' advice has been brilliant and he's answered some questions which in truth, I wasn't confident enough in asking my recruiter.

I just wanted the mods to know I appreciate coops' time and effort. Hopefully no dramas.

Guys:

To close the loop on this, we are aware of the valued advice coops has given. Frankly, it would be a loss if people with experience didn't feel they could contribute...

BUT!

This site is still very much "unofficial". The powers that be tolerate us because they have to, and we aim to work with the CoC and not against it. In the early days Dir Info A was all for having us closed down but the site had gathered momentum and that saw to our continued survival, but there are limits and recruiting, opsec, and persec are sacred cows to the CoC. Being RLC I know first hand the fall out of Deepcut, and that has been a watershed moment for the CoC and a real wake up call about the issue of recruit welfare. We have to not only be seen to be doing the right thing, but actively not being a conduit to circumventing correct procedures and our advice has to be 100% on the mark or we run the risk of having the wrath of the CoC coming down on us. It would be great to have official input, but trust has to be built and maintained on both sides for that to happen. Setting up, and heavily policing JU Forum is the first step. All these things take time.

Coops and I have been talking outside the forum, and he understands this and I hope feels he has a place here.

Now.... back to the original topic.

[/tangent]

i would also like to say that coops' advice has been invaluable and answered a lot of questions prior to my arrival at ITC...i really cant understand the issue here.

Originally Posted by Suedehead

i would also like to say that coops' advice has been invaluable and answered a lot of questions prior to my arrival at ITC...i really cant understand the issue here.

Pardon, but you havent arrived yet, have you?

Originally Posted by SmithsRail

Originally Posted by Suedehead

i would also like to say that coops' advice has been invaluable and answered a lot of questions prior to my arrival at ITC...i really cant understand the issue here.

Pardon, but you havent arrived yet, have you?

no i havent , i didnt say i had either....should i have said BEFORE my arrival at Catterick? hows my grammar?

Originally Posted by Suedehead

hows my grammar?

Fine if it's the Infantry that you're joining. :D

Thank you all for your concern......... The issue is being resolved so that everyone is happy. I am awaiting suggestions from the powers that be...........I'm very impressed by the support everyone has shown...Thank You ...............Coops