Mess dress on promotion

[puttmeister]

I have recently been picked up with a promotion to A/Sgt from Nov 21, with an IMLC date to follow, I have tried at my local suppy at a small camp in Bedford! and they have told me that I cannot get it until I am substantive.
Am I right in thinking they have got this wrong as I believe IMLC ask you to take a mess dress? Also with the backlog in promotion courses It may be a while, so will it be No1's at function?

 

[Stuck in a rut!]

Not sure about supply saying you have to wait until your substansive but I do know that mess dress is no longer required for ILMC.

Congratulations by the way.

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk

 

[Sixty Percent Overlap]

Congrats on your promotion. Whoever you approached about getting your mess dress from are talking out of their hoop!

I was acting from Nov 08 with IMLC booked for Aug 09. In the time between went to Snaiths at Cranwell, suited and booted for mess dress. No questions asked (why would they?).

So I had my mess dress readied for IMLC which I wore for the evening do prior to passing out.

Go get one mate, you deserve it after all.

 

[bubblebutt]

Congrats on your promotion. Whoever you approached about getting your mess dress from are talking out of their hoop!

I was acting from Nov 08 with IMLC booked for Aug 09. In the time between went to Snaiths at Cranwell, suited and booted for mess dress. No questions asked (why would they?).

So I had my mess dress readied for IMLC which I wore for the evening do prior to passing out.

Go get one mate, you deserve it after all.

I did my IMLC last November, you don't need/require mess dress for it. There's a thing on Airspace about issue of mess dress, apologies for not remembering whereabouts on Airspace it was!

 

[Sixty Percent Overlap]

I did my IMLC last November, you don't need/require mess dress for it. There's a thing on Airspace about issue of mess dress, apologies for not remembering whereabouts on Airspace it was!

That's all well and good but he maybe invited or requested to attend a top table as Mr Vice in the time between collecting his acting and IMLC.

I know, cos I did and there's nothing more uncomfortable wearing No 1's to a dining out evening.

 

[puttmeister]

Thanks all for the gen

 

[Sniffer]

JSP on allowances (either 752 or 754 can never remember which) has details about mess dress and states that if you are Acting you can still get it.

I work at same Unit as you and know someone else has been told the same. Just print out the relevant page and take it down to them.

 

[Warwick Hunt]

This is probably a bone question but do you have to accept an issue of mess kit on promotion? After all, it's just a suit to get bladdered in a couple of times a year? Surely if you're not one for the mess (not every SNCO is, after all) then it would be a waste of money/resources having it issued to you knowing it was never (or at least exceptionally rarely) going to get used? I know that in the-albeit unlikely-event that I get my third, I would have to think about picking one up.

 

[Soon To Leave]

This is probably a bone question but do you have to accept an issue of mess kit on promotion? After all, it's just a suit to get bladdered in a couple of times a year? Surely if you're not one for the mess (not every SNCO is, after all) then it would be a waste of money/resources having it issued to you knowing it was never (or at least exceptionally rarely) going to get used? I know that in the-albeit unlikely-event that I get my third, I would have to think about picking one up.

If I'd been fortunate enough to be offered a free mess kit when I got my third I would have bitten their hand off. If you are not 'one for the mess', maybe it's the promotion you should be turning down.

It's a bit like saying I can't be bothered with a no.1 uniform as I don't like parades or not having a set of CS 95 because you don't want to be deployed.

The mess is an intrinsic part of being a SNCO as it is for our commissioned bretheren and attendance at functions should be seen as an honour not a chore.

I'm not saying we should go down the route of the army and make most functions mandatory but you should try your best to support your mess in some measure at least.

All is not lost. Hopefully your attitude will change by the time you are ready for promotion and this will be reflected in your SJARs closer to the time as being a SNCO is not just about being good at your job.

 

[Sixty Percent Overlap]

This is probably a bone question but do you have to accept an issue of mess kit on promotion? After all, it's just a suit to get bladdered in a couple of times a year? Surely if you're not one for the mess (not every SNCO is, after all) then it would be a waste of money/resources having it issued to you knowing it was never (or at least exceptionally rarely) going to get used? I know that in the-albeit unlikely-event that I get my third, I would have to think about picking one up.

What do you mean by 'accept an issue of mess kit on promotion'? Are you asking are you expected to get one after promotion to SNCO?

Cos if so then no (I think). I know of several SNCOs who have chosen not to get a Mess Dress in the past but are content to wear their No 1's if they are attending any formal functions.

This was probably the case if you were to purchase it privately but I'm not sure if you are expected to have one now, now that you can claim money back for it since Apr 09.

As Soon To Leave states, I bought my Mess Dress because I wanted to part of and promote the ethos of being in the mess.

 

[monobrow]

That may have been down to the cash grant given at the time to get one, but didn't have to prove that was what you spent it on...

 

[Soon To Leave]

Mess kit is provided from stores now as initial issue for new SNCO's. I just wish this could be extended to all SNCOs so we could all be wearing brand new and well fitting mess kit.

 

[feckinG RANT]

there's nothing more uncomfortable wearing No 1's to a dining out evening.

Apart from smallie Snecs getting a free one and not allowing the same deal to others!

Mess kit is provided from stores now as initial issue for new SNCO's. I just wish this could be extended to all SNCOs so we could all be wearing brand new and well fitting mess kit.

Couldn't agree more. Totally wrong.

 

[TABETX AND SEND]

This is probably a bone question but do you have to accept an issue of mess kit on promotion? After all, it's just a suit to get bladdered in a couple of times a year? Surely if you're not one for the mess (not every SNCO is, after all) then it would be a waste of money/resources having it issued to you knowing it was never (or at least exceptionally rarely) going to get used? I know that in the-albeit unlikely-event that I get my third, I would have to think about picking one up.

WTF. I have never heard such ****e.
******

 

[ukmil]

If I'd been fortunate enough to be offered a free mess kit when I got my third I would have bitten their hand off. If you are not 'one for the mess', maybe it's the promotion you should be turning down.

It's a bit like saying I can't be bothered with a no.1 uniform as I don't like parades or not having a set of CS 95 because you don't want to be deployed.

The mess is an intrinsic part of being a SNCO as it is for our commissioned bretheren and attendance at functions should be seen as an honour not a chore.

I'm not saying we should go down the route of the army and make most functions mandatory but you should try your best to support your mess in some measure at least.

All is not lost. Hopefully your attitude will change by the time you are ready for promotion and this will be reflected in your SJARs closer to the time as being a SNCO is not just about being good at your job.

What Tosh, I have been a SNCO for 7 years, inc one promtion in that time, and NEVER had a mess dress. I never go to functions, and have only ever been to 2 top tables!

Does that make me any less a SNCO, no! It is everyones right to choose. I still pay my mess bill, with no complaints, but choose not to use the mess. I cannot see how you can tell someone they should not be a SNCO because of that. Being a SNCO in the RAF is a bit more wide ranging than keeping up with the management at functions.

Do not get me wrong, I am not ANTI mess, and happy that the facility is there, and happy to pay the bill, but just choose not to participate. Has this ever been mentioned on my Sjar, no, stopped promotion, NO!.

If you choose not to pick up the Mess Dress, your choice. If you choose not to use the Mess, your choice, SIMPLESDT_Xtremez_25:

 

[True Blue Jack]

If you choose not to pick up the Mess Dress, your choice. If you choose not to use the Mess, your choice,

While it is personal choice whether or not to use the Mess, I find it disturbing that people who work so hard to earn membership of such an exclusive club would choose not to take advantage of it. Regularly we rant about the erosion of Service ethos but we don't seem to help ourselves very much.

 

[Downsizer]

While it is personal choice whether or not to use the Mess, I find it disturbing that people who work so hard to earn membership of such an exclusive club would choose not to take advantage of it. Regularly we rant about the erosion of Service ethos but we don't seem to help ourselves very much.

To be fair, you know fcuk all about the club that we are speaking about, as you never were and never will be a member of it. Any cnut can go join your club by passing a simple KFS course at cranners....

You sound like the type of nobber who would buy Sgts Mess dress as a Cpl as they were soooo sure they'd get picked up....

 

[True Blue Jack]

You sound like the type of nobber who would buy Sgts Mess dress as a Cpl as they were soooo sure they'd get picked up....

Close but no cigar!! I picked one up at a price that was too cheap to refuse then tripled my money when Auntie Liz gave me a nicer, brand new, tailored one for free. DT_Xtremez_19:

 

[Soon To Leave]

While it is personal choice whether or not to use the Mess, I find it disturbing that people who work so hard to earn membership of such an exclusive club would choose not to take advantage of it. Regularly we rant about the erosion of Service ethos but we don't seem to help ourselves very much.

I totally agree.

Maybe the Army have the right idea by making attendance at functions compulsory. By having them well attended everyone feels a part of it and has a good time.

I can understand not buying a mess dress due to expense and you do have the option of No 1s, but who in their right mind would turn down the chance of a free mess dress given the opportunity.

My thanks go to those who don't use the mess but are kind enough to pay for my subsidised beer, functions, coffee and newspapers but I'd be even more pleased if they made the small effort to pop in the mess the odd time even if it is just for a free coffee.

If you don't like your mess for any reason do something about it. Join the committee, enter a suggestion in the book or hand your tapes back.

 

[Warwick Hunt]

WTF. I have never heard such ****e.
******

Why does asking if the receipt of mess kit is compulsory make me a ******?