Airsoft 2.0 (invite to join will be closed 19/10/18)

[EvilMonkee]

Numerous times he has been given an opportunity to explain what he is doing and numerous times he has flatly refused to do so.  Any straight question is met with obfuscation and diversion.  In short, its all a crock of shit until proved otherwise.

 

[Rogerborg]

The demand for that sort of thing from the actual military will be precisely zero as funnily enough we already have the capacity to carry out our own training

How's your recruiting going though?  Seen the recent news about low unemployment and rising wage growth?

Army recruitment came up 28% short last year. In real terms that's only 2,700 short, but it's still 2,700 that they're unable to get despite (or maybe because of) an increasingly bizarre "it's an emo life in the army" advertising campaign.  And they want to be swamped with applications and picking and choosing recruits, right?

Although I did a bit of an ? about this earlier, I could see milsim++ events being pitched as a recruiting tool for potential squaddies.  Market it as a fun, free, no commitment introduction to real[*]army life, give them a huge adrenaline rush being shouted at by Drill Sergeant McTheatrics in a safe pew-pew bang-bang environment, get them to sign up while they're still buzzed.

I'm just spitballing here, but the numbers might work out (25% success * 2500 / 25 good week(ends) of the year = 400 per event).  I'm struggling to see what other source could sustain a big, ambitious venture as a full time business.

[*]No warranty of veracity is expressed or implied.

 

[EvilMonkee]

No idea about Army recruitment, I am Air Force.  I would attribute a lot of the fall in Army numbers to too many redundancies and a lack of strategic vision coupled with the switch to using a private contractor to replace the sterling work done by regular recruiters.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Back in the day, the Army was only allowed to recruit x number of personnel but no allowance made for the  failure rate meant they would be 20% short of numbers but not able to recruit any more to fill the short gap based on the real failure rate.  Also meant C class recruits being allowed through when a few years previously only B cat recruits would get through.  Extrapolate out and more fitness failures passed through the system and allowed to progress when they should have been stopped.  This is without the whole PC doctrine of getting in those from minorities and under-represented groups instead of just the best candidates regardless of background.

 

[Seth_Erebor]

Although I did a bit of an ? about this earlier, I could see milsim++ events being pitched as a recruiting tool for potential squaddies.  Market it as a fun, free, no commitment introduction to real[*]army life, give them a huge adrenaline rush being shouted at by Drill Sergeant McTheatrics in a safe pew-pew bang-bang environment, get them to sign up while they're still buzzed.

I'm just spitballing here, but the numbers might work out (25% success * 2500 / 25 good week(ends) of the year = 400 per event).  I'm struggling to see what other source could sustain a big, ambitious venture as a full time business.

[*]No warranty of veracity is expressed or implied.




2

That makes sense, the DASA competition of February this year covered this and more. Retention, Training, etc

The People Challenge IIRC. They put on some good food too but the highlight was their event aboard the new Aircraft Carrier, that is something else!

 

[Rogerborg]

the highlight was their event aboard the new Aircraft Carrier, that is something else!

The acoustics must be great with all that empty space.

Tell a lie, she is actually an aircraft carrier now, and almost both of her aircraft are jolly well nearly airworthy!

 

[jcheeseright]

The acoustics must be great with all that empty space.

Tell a lie, she is actually an aircraft carrier now, and almost both of her aircraft are jolly well nearly airworthy!

They're not even our jets, they're USAF ?

 

[Seth_Erebor]

I didn’t see any as this was a few months back and I didn’t get to go on the flight deck either

Very good place to network. 

 

[Tommikka]

Ok, I'll bite.  How did you, as a civilian not in the MoD end up at the Land Warfare Conference or is that super secret as well?  And no, I am not a Pongo, I am Air Force.

You do have something to show - publish this 350 page paper of yours......

It’s fairly easy to attend as a non MoD civilian - just buy a ticket 

(There is a little bit more to it than that, but it’s not exclusive)

https://rusi.org/annual-conference/rusi-land-warfare-conference/booking-fees-and-registration

 

[EvilMonkee]

It’s fairly easy to attend as a non MoD civilian - just buy a ticket 

(There is a little bit more to it than that, but it’s not exclusive)

https://rusi.org/annual-conference/rusi-land-warfare-conference/booking-fees-and-registration

I stand corrected.  Thanks

 

[EvilMonkee]

Any update on this contentious yet fantastic business venture then?

 

[Seth_Erebor]

Any update on this contentious yet fantastic business venture then?

A few more grey hairs for sure, got a meeting down at the KPMG offices tomorrow to recruit a non-exec and then UKDSC at some point.

I'd like to go and see the Autonomous Warrior Experiment that's being run on Salisbury Plain at the moment (not the Australian one).

It's very much in the vein of my own plans outside of Airsoft, but QinetiQ, who are running the show, are very... corporate shall we say in their response times. Capable but they move at their own pace.

A guy from the states wanted to charge me $5k to present to a fortnightly DoD panel of "decision makers", I'm sceptical as there are plenty of innovation agencies that would never charge a cent. I'm gonna pass on that.

I need to send a business case off to an MoD contractor, it's hard to say enough that makes them want to do it but then not so much that you hand them a blueprint. Tbh a good business shouldn't be so easy to copy so I'm just going to go for it and put my best foot forward.

There is an open invite with some investors, I wanted to get this really experienced director on-board first, I need to ask when he's back in the country. Honestly, if I'd know it would be this difficult I would have thought twice, but I'm in too deep now lol.

Anyway, he has loads more grey hair than me (it's a joke we make because I'm 25) and his company still has MoD contracts for training so I'm going to stick with it, can't give up.

If you fancy hearing my name mentioned you can check this out (I'll post it on a new thread too as it's very good):

2:21:10 and 2:52:55 but meh, just a Q&A.