The Orange Army

[lmsforever]

Read in the paper that NR have done away with the term Orange Army and replaced it with Team Orange so as to encourage more women to join NR but as is said in the article The Land Amy did not deter women.Surely NR should be working to maintain the network and not mucking about with names for workforces and also how much did this latest bit of tosh cost?

[St. Simon]

Read in the paper that NR have done away with the term Orange Army and replaced it with Team Orange so as to encourage more women to join NR but as is said in the article The Land Amy did not deter women.Surely NR should be working to maintain the network and not mucking about with names for workforces and also how much did this latest bit of tosh cost?

That wasn't the only reason, it was also to make it a bit 'friendlier' than 'army', as that does have connections with war, obviously.

 

This is no different to any other company changing its brand image. Plus you'll find that Orange Army wasn't an official term in Network Rail, so doesn't appear in the majority of press releases, so not much money will have been spent changing it.

 

Simon

[MarkC]

More power to the Orange Army, I say

[D854_Tiger]

Read in the paper that NR have done away with the term Orange Army and replaced it with Team Orange so as to encourage more women to join NR but as is said in the article The Land Amy did not deter women.Surely NR should be working to maintain the network and not mucking about with names for workforces and also how much did this latest bit of tosh cost?I 

 

I would have thought Orange Santas might have been rather more honest given how it's their busiest week of the year.

[Vanders]

Surely NR should be working to maintain the network and not mucking about with names for workforces...

To be fair, they can do both.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Vanders

[mikejames]

hello

never mind the stupid 'image' manipulating.

my impression is that they have done a good over this Christmas

and I haven't read of projects over running etc

so lets give them credit where it seems due

 

regards

mike j

[caradoc]

Would a member of Team Orange now be known as Agent Orange ?

[4630]

Would a member of Team Orange now be known as Agent Orange ?

And then, if it was still permissible, Agent Orange could use some Agent Orange* to keep the lineside vegetation in check.

 

 

* Younger readers may need to Google the meaning of this and its use.

[phil-b259]

That wasn't the only reason, it was also to make it a bit 'friendlier' than 'army', as that does have connections with war, obviously.

 

This is no different to any other company changing its brand image. Plus you'll find that Orange Army wasn't an official term in Network Rail, so doesn't appear in the majority of press releases, so not much money will have been spent changing it.

 

Simon

 

NR were probably inspired by the MOD - who until a new Secretary of state intervened - were all set to get rid of the "Army. Be the Best" slogan after market research said it was considered "dated, elitist and non-inclusive"

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42469901

[Trog]

And then, if it was still permissible, Agent Orange could use some Agent Orange to keep the lineside vegetation in check.

I remember when BR still used that great stuff killed everything, and so safe that only simple precautions like turning your back to the spraying train were needed.

 

Probably banned as its use was sexist. Women of the opposite sex not being allowed to work on the sparying train, in case they had really intelligent babies with two heads that would grow up to work in HR or safety.

[Arun Sharma]

During my time in the Army, I think most, if not all the folk I worked with would have been quite pleased to be considered dated, elite and non-inclusive! The Army wasn't, isn't and can never be, suitable for all. 

Edited December 27, 2017 by ted675

[Jim Martin]

NR were probably inspired by the MOD - who until a new Secretary of state intervened - were all set to get rid of the "Army. Be the Best" slogan after market research said it was considered "dated, elitist and non-inclusive"

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42469901

  

During my time in the Army, I think most, if not all the folk I worked with would have been quite pleased to be considered dated, elite and non-inclusive! The Army wasn't, isn't and can never be, suitable for all.

 

Speaking as someone who never has been and never will be in the army, it seems to me that the "Be the Best" brand (which is only 24 years old, and so scarcely an integral part of the army's historic heritage) exists mainly for recruitment purposes. I'd have thought that once people are actually in the army other slogans, i.e. regimental mottos, assume greater importance. That being the case, the kind of people generally roped in by the media to give an opinion - usually politicians and former military commanders - are almost certainly not the target audience for the slogan.

 

I don't know how much work went into this decision: maybe the agency involved simply dreamed it up over a liquid lunch one Friday; but if they did the research, by which I mean "really did run it past people in the intended target audience, and found that they thought it was too dated, elitist and non-inclusive to make the idea of signing up for the army seem attractive" then that's how it is. The opinion of the Secretary of State for Defence is at best irrelevant and at worst, if the brand is that unappealing to potential recruits, actively unhelpful.

 

Jim

[Bomag]

I never understood why there was a need to 'brand' the workforce - when I was in RCE Anglia they were generally referred to as the 'skins' as in 'wet through to the skin'. This is ironic as they got waterproofs and technical staff did not.

[Southernman46]

I never understood why there was a need to 'brand' the workforce -

Agreed but it seems everything has to branded "The Something" these days to give it hype and media - all part of the general dumbing down of society and the rise of newspeak that Orwell predicted ........................

[Rivercider]

I would guess that if the press, public, and railway enthusiasts prefer the term 'Orange Army', then regardless of NR press releases that is what it will be known as.

 

Regarding the Army 'Be the Best' slogan, it always worked on two levels to me.

One, that our army man for man was the best in the world. equipment problems notwithstanding.

Two, it encourages young people joining up to be the best they can be,

 

cheers

[rockershovel]

I’ve never heard either “orange” term, although “skins” is common in the construction industry.

[Trog]

Have never been able to get the term coined by one of my fellow STO's out of my head....... Hairy Arsed Trackmen.

[jjb1970]

I always thought that the term "orange army" was one of those informal, affectionate nick names that just appeared and was not an official NR term? If that is the case then I'm not quite sure it is NR's term to control and change, it's like the MoD announcing that pongo is no longer relevant as a name for soldiers so they will henceforth be known as something more inclusive.

 

On the substance, encouraging more women into the industry is good, but I'm really not sure that this will have any relevance whatsoever and the rationale may even be seem as slightly patronising.

[nightstar.train]

I think Orange Army was coined by the media after the rebuilding of the Dawlish sea wall after those massive storms. It gave a sense of the huge amount of people that worked on the project. And since then NR has run with it as it’s a good name.

[Mad McCann]

Read in the paper that NR have done away with the term Orange Army and replaced it with Team Orange so as to encourage more women to join NR but as is said in the article The Land Amy did not deter women.Surely NR should be working to maintain the network and not mucking about with names for workforces and also how much did this latest bit of tosh cost?

My God; when I read that first I thought you said NIR... ;-)

 

D4

[Edwin_m]

My God; when I read that first I thought you said NIR... ;-)

 

D4

I was just thinking that the colour orange stirs up some significant sentiments in NI, though "team" is probably a bit less provocative than "army". 

[Mad McCann]

Still problematic in the east end of Glasgow mind... ;-)

 

D4

[Captain Kernow]

I think Orange Army was coined by the media after the rebuilding of the Dawlish sea wall after those massive storms. It gave a sense of the huge amount of people that worked on the project. And since then NR has run with it as it’s a good name.

That is absolutely correct. I remember the term being used during the early days of the rebuilding, and in spite of myself, began to rather like it.

 

 

That wasn't the only reason, it was also to make it a bit 'friendlier' than 'army', as that does have connections with war, obviously.

 

If that really was one of the reasons for the over-paid suits in London, then it makes me sad to hear that.

 

 

Plus you'll find that Orange Army wasn't an official term in Network Rail, so doesn't appear in the majority of press releases

When I was working, NR used the term in plenty of press releases, as they have often been quick to jump on any populist bandwagon.

[phil-b259]

 

If that really was one of the reasons for the over-paid suits in London, then it makes me sad to hear that.

 

 

Its more the point that the 'suits' (with some justification based on the raw data) believe the UK armed forces (along with the Police) are far too dominated by "White Males" and this does not reflect the ethnic makeup and gender ratio that is present in the UK population as a whole*.

 

The problem is, just as NR and many other companies are finding with engineering, social attitudes and expectations of the intimidate family count far more when it comes to determining career choices than catchy slogans - if you want to increase the number of females or people from ethnic backgrounds in the military then you need their parents / guardians to be encouraging the correct mindset from an early age. Exposing girls to traditional 'masculine activities' (note that does not mean preventing them playing with dolls if the want etc) during their childhood / early teenage years (when school subjects have to be picked) does far more than any 'rebranding' exercise - though it could of course be said that the aforementioned rebranding is needed to change parents minds

 

(* Note that while non-Whites may be a minority in rural Yorkshire say - in some sections of our big cities it is those hailing from the Indian subcontinent that are the largest grouping. Merge them together and our society, is not as 'White' as some may like to think it is (or indeed want it to be unfortunately).

[St. Simon]

If that really was one of the reasons for the over-paid suits in London, then it makes me sad to hear that.

 

When I was working, NR used the term in plenty of press releases, as they have often been quick to jump on any populist bandwagon.

There were plenty of bods in NR that disliked the term because it was war like, which I can see why.

 

I've always been under the impression that NR didn't use the term, it was just that when the press release was issued, the media used the term themselves, but clearly I'm wrong!

 

Simon