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Vushtrri and I were both ATechE in the old system. I too joined the Police after leaving, so in effect did the opposite to you. I was old in Police training compared to my peers so found the actual training easy. The hard part was putting up with the bullshit of the training environment. Back to the RAF I was a mech then had to go back to Halton for a year for the fitters course. (Showing my age). By that time I had been in the mob for 5 years, done a tour in BFG etc. Even at that stage, going back to the training environment and suffering the bullshit was a challenge for me. Times may have changed, but I’m guessing not that much. Having 12 years Police service will mean you have seen and done more and had much more life experience than most of your instructors. Yet the expectation on you to buy into the false representation of what the Air Force is, will not be diminished.
it’s just my opinion, and it should be recognised that it is 36 years since I did my fitters course. However I think you will find the bullshit stifling and very difficult to deal with. Bear in mind the training will be for I guess 12 to 18 months. It’s not like it’s just a couple of months. Please ensure there is a route back to your current job, should you find the RAF is not for you.
Sorry this is quite a negative input. However this is a big decision for you and it’s best to be well informed. Good luck for the future, I hope everything works out for you.
 
bigjd said:
It definitely raised a few eyebrows with my mates when I mentioned I was intending to join the RAF from the Police, it's definitely unusual! Fair play to sticking with the plod til retirement though, it's not a bad job but I know what I want and my mind is firmly made up. Just got to jump through the hoops and hope things go my way now! Which force did you serve with?
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I was Cheshire....down to the fact that some twat posted me to Sealand from Gut...and I had a sense of humour failure there. My last afternoon in the job there I just happened to be interviewed by a snowdrop from P&SS who told me that I may need to be interviewed again...I told him to contact me via Cheshire Police....and heard nothing more.. He had also gone from Civpol into the job.
on a side note, I received a LSGC medal through the post from them on Thursday....only 11 years after it was due!
 
Gazza260 said:
Vushtrri and I were both ATechE in the old system. I too joined the Police after leaving, so in effect did the opposite to you. I was old in Police training compared to my peers so found the actual training easy. The hard part was putting up with the bullshit of the training environment. Back to the RAF I was a mech then had to go back to Halton for a year for the fitters course. (Showing my age). By that time I had been in the mob for 5 years, done a tour in BFG etc. Even at that stage, going back to the training environment and suffering the bullshit was a challenge for me. Times may have changed, but I’m guessing not that much. Having 12 years Police service will mean you have seen and done more and had much more life experience than most of your instructors. Yet the expectation on you to buy into the false representation of what the Air Force is, will not be diminished.
it’s just my opinion, and it should be recognised that it is 36 years since I did my fitters course. However I think you will find the bullshit stifling and very difficult to deal with. Bear in mind the training will be for I guess 12 to 18 months. It’s not like it’s just a couple of months. Please ensure there is a route back to your current job, should you find the RAF is not for you.
Sorry this is quite a negative input. However this is a big decision for you and it’s best to be well informed. Good luck for the future, I hope everything works out for you.
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To be fair I always appreciate it when people are just straight up, too many people make things out to be all sunshine and rainbows! I lived on camp as a kid, of course the life will be different now but I do have a degree of experience when it comes to the lifestyle. It's not so much buying in to the bullshit, I genuinely have an interest in the role and I always wanted to go in to engineering. Unfortunately it's easy to get stuck in Policing with no quals and it's extremely difficult to re-trade so to speak.

I am no stranger to bullshit and politics, in the grand scheme of things it was never my biggest issue with Policing. I guess it's a part of the job and you learn to deal with it so I expect there will be similar levels of it within the armed forces in general, that being said as a reservist I see a fair share of it there too. The training for my role is 15 months at Cosford and I expect it will be challenging just going back in to a learning environment doing something completely different to what I have done throughout my career.

I can re-join the Police within 5 years of leaving, however I have reached a point I am pretty committed to my aspirations of joining the RAF. I look forward to picking up some qualifications and skills and getting hands on in an engineering role. I am looking at it as a clean slate and as such starting from the very beginning, I don't want to turn up like billy big bollocks because I am older and have been around the block a few times.

With all this being said, I am still having a nightmare with the medical side of things. My medical status with the Army, despite being in a combat based role, will not be honoured and as such I have to start from scratch! I am expecting a fair amount of bullshit and a medical appeal before I get any further but it's all part of my journey and I am just excited to do something different and that genuinely interests me.

I have the utmost respect for anybody who joins the cops and sticks it for the long term, it's not an easy job and right now the level of scrutiny is especially stifling and definitely impacting on morale in general.

Thanks for your advice though, rest assured I am taking everything on board be it positive or negative feedback and whatever happens I know I will bounce back! Onwards and upwards hopefully!
 
Thought I would stick an update on here. Things are looking good, finally got medically cleared and my fitness test is next Friday. All being well will be starting reasonably soon I hope. Thanks for the advice on Phase 1, all being well I will be there soon enough!
 
Cool, glad to see you're making progress.

I had my medical back in April but failed on eyesight, though have since gotten glasses sorted out and I am now waiting on a slot to open up for a limited medical before I can process on to the fitness test.

Weirdly, had a request through the candidate portal yesterday for proof of my NI number.
 
stormwell said:
Cool, glad to see you're making progress.

I had my medical back in April but failed on eyesight, though have since gotten glasses sorted out and I am now waiting on a slot to open up for a limited medical before I can process on to the fitness test.

Weirdly, had a request through the candidate portal yesterday for proof of my NI number.
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Just keep plugging away at it mate, you know as well as anybody how convoluted the process can be, but if you stick at it you will get there.

I passed my fitness test today so it's looking good here. It's taken months but it's worth it
 
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Congratz dude!

I've still got a (limited) medical to get through on Monday and then hopefully the PJFT before I get my start date.
 
bigjd said:
My start date is 12th January mate, just got all my paperwork through.
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Well done.. Out of curiosity, have you been able to transfer plod pension to RAF? I did 14 in the RAF which then equated to just under 10 to the plod pension…so by that reckoning yours should increase?
 
Vushtrri said:
Well done.. Out of curiosity, have you been able to transfer plod pension to RAF? I did 14 in the RAF which then equated to just under 10 to the plod pension…so by that reckoning yours should increase?
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I haven't been in a position to really look at my options in that respect. I will look in to it more when I arrive at Halton and see what I can do. I will let you know how it works out though.

stormwell said:
Cool, I'm starting couple of weeks later.
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Ah I will probably see you knocking around then!

Rugby-Jock-Lad said:
Good luck fellas :)!!!
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Cheers! Looking forward to it, 5 shifts left as a cop!
 
bigjd said:
I haven't been in a position to really look at my options in that respect. I will look in to it more when I arrive at Halton and see what I can do. I will let you know how it works out though.



Ah I will probably see you knocking around then!


Cheers! Looking forward to it, 5 shifts left as a cop!
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Don’t forget an upto date MG 10 and leave a load of crap for the oncoming shift…I was still being called for court 2 yrs after retiring..!
 
Vushtrri said:
Don’t forget an upto date MG 10 and leave a load of crap for the oncoming shift…I was still being called for court 2 yrs after retiring..!
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Already on it! Chinned off half a dozen court warnings so far! Thankfully as I am on a tactical team we don't carry crimes so don't need to worry about that. 5 shifts left and counting!
 
bigjd said:
Already on it! Chinned off half a dozen court warnings so far! Thankfully as I am on a tactical team we don't carry crimes so don't need to worry about that. 5 shifts left and counting!
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Ah…I see, will you be taking your crayons with you..and did you get a new colouring book for Christmas😀?
I’d quite happily sign back on again but I think I’m a tad too old now!
 
Vushtrri said:
Ah…I see, will you be taking your crayons with you..and did you get a new colouring book for Christmas😀?
I’d quite happily sign back on again but I think I’m a tad too old now!
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I would love to bring my favourite crayons, problem is I ate all the lemon ones so I'm fresh out. You talking about signing back on to the RAF or plod? Just getting all my stuff ready for Halton now, little nervous I ain't gonna lie but looking forward to it. I need to shift some of this Christmas weight over the next couple of weeks now!
 
bigjd said:
I would love to bring my favourite crayons, problem is I ate all the lemon ones so I'm fresh out. You talking about signing back on to the RAF or plod? Just getting all my stuff ready for Halton now, little nervous I ain't gonna lie but looking forward to it. I need to shift some of this Christmas weight over the next couple of weeks now!
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….so, …have you had your bed pack binned out of the window yet and was there any whimpering from any of the beds last night from someone missing Mummy? …. and did anyone do a runner this morning?
 
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