Originally Posted by Cadet Chief Robot

I think we just need to stop at C/CMSGT. Because, every officer wishes they were still a chief. Every cadet wishes they were a chief. And every Chief wishes they were the only Chief.

Well thats your opinion. I wish i could be a MSgt again, without getting demoted.

Didn't know about the cadet drum major thing, only ever came across a cadet pipe major while a cadet.

The ATC also has Adult NCO ranks which are a bit of a no-brainer:
Adult Sergeant (where I am at the moment)
Adult Flight Sergeant (where I could be in a couple of years)
Adult Warrant Officer (never going to happen)

These are adult members of the ATC, one of the better ways of explaining this I was told is that the ATC can be considered a Corps within the overall RAF structure although all it's members are civillians (cadets and adults) with the adults being considered uniformed civilian employees of the MoD (that's one version at least)

The officers that run the Corps hold commssions in the RAFVR(T), that is the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Training branch. Sqn commanders, sqn officers, wing commanders and staff are almost all VR(T)s- one interesting point is that they can ony hold the substantive rank of Flying Officer with all ranks above that (Flight Lieutenant, Sqn Leader and Wing Commander) being acting ranks.

The position of Commandant Air Cadets is held by a regular Air Commodore, typically on his last tour (not had a lady in the job yet) and the same applies to the Group Captain in the role of Regional Commandant (my region has the first woman officer to hold the post) with a staff comprised of RAFR and part time RAFVR(T) officers.

The CAP cadet rank structure was a major headache for me and some of my guys while over in the states for Maine wing's encampment this summer. Trying to cross over our ranks was a little difficult considering the rather different processes in gaining rank and some quite severe personality clashes. The saluting fetish held by some was a bit irksome also: I grew fed up of explaining to american cadets that I wasn't to be saluted and one or two cadet officers expecting salutes from me as an adult NCO were to be a bit disappointed.

haha noice, yeah you will have been looking at the band major from a pipe band then if he/she was a pipe major, my guys are a bugle band with a snare section so i am the drum major.

Encampments can be confusing with rank and stuff, if you aren't staff (flight sgt. flight commander etc.) then some people might forget to call you a sgt, even if you are just a staff sergeant. It can be confusing having a lot of ranks

here is a rank structure from national down to squadron-this is my chain
National Commander--Brig. Gen. Tony Bineda
Region Commander -- Col. Tom Todd
Wing Commander-- Col. Reggie Chitwood
Squadron Commander-- Lt. Col. Webster
Squadron Deputy Commander- Lt. Col. Crum
-----------------------------------
Cadet Commander--Lt. Col. Looney
Cadet Deputy Commander--Maj. Arms
Cadet 1st Sergeant--
Cadet Flight Commander-- 1st Lt. Melton
Cadet Flight Sergeant- CMSgt. Shannon
Cadet Element Leader-- SSgt. Davis, SSgt. Nilsen, A1C Compton
Cadet-all squadron cadets