As this is my 24^th Report as an ASO to Area conferences, I beg license to cast my net on a broader spectrum of problems that we as a Corps face, I do not believe that any of these problems:  'an average 2.6% annual decline in fully enrolled cadets since the early eighties, a wealth of legislation that makes all activities more difficult, a lack of adults, in particular uniformed staff that want to progress to command', can be taken in isolation, they and all other difficulties are inter-related, but many could and are mitigated by
recruiting young and not so young staff that have the necessary professional training in their civilian life to command Units.  There are clarion examples in our area of Units that have been down at the heel but with the injection of the above have improved beyond recognition.

The difficulties of recruiting such people cannot be overestimated and I would like HQ to make the Corps more flexible to accommodate modern working practices, but it also has to be admitted that an impediment is the attitude of some of us long in the tooth SCC Officers. I speak as the most reactionary person in uniform since Genghis Khan, but just because Units have always "Done it This Way "does not mean it is the best way or more important relate to the aspirations of our young charges. The plea is that we view each
proposal or new idea that is floated,  dispassionately,  for it is only by
applying management techniques, is it possible to co-ordinate the
complexities of running a Unit today.

Leadership in the Corps is a special kind of authority,  not the kind that's
conferred on you from above, but the kind that you have earned from the people you are supposed to lead.

T J SHARP
LT CDR (SCC) RNR
ASO (CER)