Raf

[old.ignus]

for those of you who remember my thread about my job being shit here is an update:

Its still shit

But anyway today next to my place of work came the careers show, this includes army, airforce, navy, police, fire brigade, etc all providing information for the careers they offer, now the RAF interested me (mainly because they brought a harrier jumpjet with them, I didn't get chance to sit in it though ) speaking to the RAF bloke I am interested in a career in the RAF however being the coward that I am I'm not sure I want to change my entire way of living.
Does anybody have any experience with this sort of thing that can help me to decide, or even better know anyone in the airforce and can tell me what it would be like?

 

[xane]

I like the air force, the officers go up and get shot at whilst the grunts stay behind

 

[bids]

My elder brother is in the RAF - RADAR man - been in for 27 years !
He doesn't regret the career choice one bit - he's spent 10 years in Cyprus (3 postings) 2 in Germany, he's had postings to Gibralter, Belize, Falklands, America and an exchange for one year to Australia. He's also learnt a trade that means he won't struggle getting a job outside of the RAF (The Marconi's and Plessy' of this world are always after military trained technical people.)
The pay is good (think he's on about £45k as a Flight Sergeant).
Thing is, you can sign up for a five year stint - see if it is your career choice, and get out if not - with all the training in the specialismm you choose.
If I had my time over again, I'd be definitely considering it - knowing what I do now.

 

[Mellow-]

I know of a few people who joined the RAF, they said being in an engineer role was quite rewarding.

Besides, getting shot down isn't fun apparently.

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by bids
(The Marconi's and Plessy' of this world are always after military trained technical people.)

The top quality Marconi look for these days is 'willing to take voluntary redunancy.'

I went through a phase of wanting to join the Army. Do something with my life, make a man of me, etc.

I dunno...

 

[S-Gray]

I thought you needed good Eyesight tho Summo to be in places like that? And/Or to tell the difference between your Car and their car.. if you get my drift

 

[Summo]

Pehaps I could join the US Army, then. They don't distinguish.

 

[PR.]

Originally posted by Summo
The top quality Marconi look for these days is 'willing to take voluntary redunancy.'

I went through a phase of wanting to join the Army. Do something with my life, make a man of me, etc.

I dunno...

... all that and I ended up being a hairdresser


My boss at work used to be in the RAF repairing aircraft, one of his sons is in the RAF now.

I dunno, personally its not my kinda thing

 

[xane]

I thought the Army would be a dissappointing career for Summo, they only use clippers on #1.

 

[Embattle]

Get a good early pension with RAF.

 

[caLLous]

Originally posted by old.ignus
But anyway today next to my place of work came the careers show

Your company lets other people in to try and steal it's staff? :|

 

[GDW]

you need to ask yourself whether you could cope with strict discipline. If so and you still like the idea give it a shot. Its never to late for a career change, I changed career at thirty after going back to uni.

 

[~Lazarus~]

.... and also if you are prepared to use a hairy assed sergeant as a butt-plug

 

[Wij]

ouch, my p13 !

 

[~YuckFou~]

Originally posted by Grandadwrinkle
you need to ask yourself whether you could cope with strict discipline. If so and you still like the idea give it a shot. Its never to late for a career change, I changed career at thirty after going back to uni.

Moi aussi

 

[JohnyWishbone]

I work with a lot of ex RAf lads, and they totally enjoyed it. From what I can gather the RAF arent as strict as the other forces and these lads got pissed and played sports mostly. When they came out they all went into I.T and give each other jobs, and looking after each other. Its a fucking clsed shop now the bastids

One lad played rugby and football for his regiment and said that he hardly did any work as he had to travel around so much to compete.

 

[stu]

My family has pretty long history in the RAF. My grandad was a recon navigator in WWII, flew Mosquitos (made of balsa wood) - he made it all the way through the war, then managed to crash in an air show in the 60s. I've still got the photo of him and his pilot stood there looking sheepish with this complete wreck of a plane behind them. Two uncles in the RAF, older one (my dad's twin) has just left, younger one has got another couple of years to go I think. I was going to join out of university and become a pilot, unfortunately events conspired against me.

What I would say about any forces/emergency services career is that it has to be something you *want* to do. Not something that looks "kinda cool". Like it or not you will have to change your way of living, so if that's not something you want to commit to, or even something you're not sure about, don't bother. If you want to join the RAF because you want to be in the RAF, good luck. If you want to join the RAF because you don't really know what you want to do, you probably won't make it past the application stage anyway. Having said that, it doesn't preclude you from joining the RAF - all I'd say is, find out a lot more about it than you have so far, decide for certain if it's what you want, and if it is I hope you do well.

 

[Kempo]

try finding out where your local armed forces careers centre is im sure they can help you decide

 

[xane]

Originally posted by Johny Wishbone
One lad played rugby and football for his regiment and said that he hardly did any work as he had to travel around so much to compete.

Wasn't Rory Underwood an RAF pilot ?

My paternal grandfather was in the RAF in WWII, served in Africa, but he was only a cook, probably killed more of his own. My father did conscription in the 50's in the RAF, never stayed on though, he was a radio/telephone operator.

I think what stu said, there's no shame in trying to go through basic training and then making your decision, I know quite few people in IT who have served in the RAF so it's not like you are committing your entire career path.

 

[lovedaddy]

my mate is in the RAF. Drives a nice car, gets nice birds (despite being an ugly get), seems to have loads of spare cash. And his just a bloody cook.
Im waiting until pay reviews this september, and then I'm thinking about joining if things dont go so well. Been generally improving my fitness, but not reached the 8 mile run a night I used to manage =(