Monday 16th March 2020
Read the Foreword from the Spring edition of Envoy magazine by WO Jake Alpert MBE, Chief of the Air Staff’s Warrant Officer (CASWO):
It is a privilege to serve in the Royal Air Force as the Chief of the Air Staff’s Warrant Officer and an honour to support the Chief of the Air Staff in the direction he is taking the RAF, building the ‘Next Generation Air Force’. To work amongst the Whole Force offers a variety of opportunities, and every day comes with a different challenge from across the RAF and Defence itself.
Throughout 2019 many changes were made across Defence to improve our way of living. The Forces Help to Buy scheme has lent over £280 million to over 18,000 armed forces applicants since its introduction in 2014 and has now received a 3-year extension taking this offer until the end of December 2022. The RAF Families Federation were strong advocates of continuing this opportunity for service personnel, and lobbied Ministers extensively on your behalf. Further advances have been made across DIO to improve Amey’s service delivery to Service Families Accommodation and Single Living Accommodation with 90% of repairs achieving a ‘First Time Fix’. As always, people are at the forefront of our business with a sustained focus on our offer. We are now reaping the benefits of the positive changes we have made across our Service Career Management system with Flexible Service and Enhanced Career Management. Diversity and Inclusion are at the forefront of business to ensure we promote what we value allowing us to reach The Stonewall Top 100 Employers list for 2019.
Over 2020 we will continue to celebrate our Service achievements, two of which being rather momentous – The Centenary celebration of the RAF Aircraft Apprenticeships, and RAF College Cranwell will celebrate its Centenary with a significant technological change under Project MERCURY. You can read more about these initiatives here in this issue of Envoy.
At the forefront of our excellent Service, is the RAF family. Our success comes with your constant commitment and the vital support we receive from our families both at home and overseas. On this note, I look forward to travelling far and wide to meet as many of you as I can during my tenure as CASWO which will afford me the opportunity to not only meet you in person, but most importantly, to personally thank you for the support you give to the RAF and the Whole Force. Please also remember to make use of the RAF FF – they are there for all of you – whether you are married, have children or not – to provide an independent voice and confidential advice. Emerging themes are then anonymised and used to lobby government to influence positive changes for the future.
This Foreword is included in the Spring edition of Envoy magazine – the free magazine for RAF personnel and your families too. You can sign up online to have your own copy sent to your home (quarterly).
Top image: WO Jake Alpert MBE, Chief of the Air Staff’s Warrant Officer (CASWO) ©Crown Copyright
