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Hello-Ex Army here!

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jonno102

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hi all e goats

After alot of consideration I have decided to apply to join the RAF, I was in the Army 6 years ago where i served in the royal signals for 3 years,but left because of boredom,imaturaty and meeting the wife!
since then i have managed to produce 3 sprogs and have just left the police force, I have finaly realised that i need to make something of my life and believe the RAF is the way forward.
Anyway, enough rabbiting, great site keep it up !:PDT_Xtremez_28:

jonno.
 
Welcome to the goat jonno...you might wanna have a good read of the forums to decide if joining up at the mo would be a wise choice....enjoy anyway...

Crack on............:PDT_Xtremez_09:
 
Thanks guys,

Welcome to the goat jonno...you might wanna have a good read of the forums to decide if joining up at the mo would be a wise choice....enjoy anyway...

Crack on............
Click to expand...

Is it really that bad?
This will not help my argument with the wife over joining. :PDT_Xtremez_08:

jonno.
 
Welcome to the Goat - enjoy the insanity... but I guess after the Army and the Police and now wanting to join this lot??- you are probably streets ahead there!!
 
welcome to the goat pal.....

how old are you?? it just seems that to me it's not worth bothering if you are over 25??? a lot of catching up to do!
 
bigsteviej said:
welcome to the goat pal.....

how old are you?? it just seems that to me it's not worth bothering if you are over 25??? a lot of catching up to do!
Click to expand...

Hi there mate, I am 25, 26 in march, am i too old? :PDT_Xtremez_08:

jonno.
 
not sure what the last entry age is, but to put it into context, i left when i was 27!! after 9 years.........

lot older now ( in fact almost been out longer than i was in!) but like i say there is some catching up to do there....

maybe one of our younger bretheren ( ie not long out of halton ) may be able to clarify ages etc....


ps i WOULD read some of the posts on here (esp if going into a/c side of things...) as them guys have a 'hard' life and are worked to the death....

(that is not a pi$$ take BTW!! you lot work harder now than i ever did!!)

my shift consisted of ..... 1 x sgt , at least 2 x cpls.... a few j/t's thrown in and at least 3 or 4 SAC's.... all one trade too......... i bet an equivalent tonka sqn nowadays don't get that!!!!
 
bigsteviej said:
my shift consisted of ..... 1 x sgt , at least 2 x cpls.... a few j/t's thrown in and at least 3 or 4 SAC's.... all one trade too......... i bet an equivalent tonka sqn nowadays don't get that!!!!
Click to expand...

Stevie....add in a couple of C/T's, a F/S and WO and that would nearly be our complete shift for ALL trades !!

It used to be fun...no more....crack on.....:PDT_Xtremez_09:
 
jonno102 said:
Hi there mate, I am 25, 26 in march, am i too old? :PDT_Xtremez_08:

jonno.
Click to expand...
Don't panic Jonno 26 isn't too old to join, the RAF let people in (trade dependant) into the mid thirties, something which the Army has only just started to do. Although the average age of recruits these days is about 22/23 so if you do decide to join you will probably be one of the more senior members of your intake. You shouldn't find the Recruit training to difficult if you've kept yourself fit (it's no where near as hard as Army training). We have had a forty year old join up in the last year and complete the recruits cse first time so it is possible. With your former Army Service as well you will probably come in as an LAC from the day after you attest so you will not be on the lowest level of pay.

The RAF is still a good option as a career, there are things going on which are causing problems but it is still fun most of the time.
 
jonno, I'll second woolymouse mate, there's an awful lot of sh1te about at the moment but a lot of it is us old 'uns moaning that it's not as good as the "old days", I'm one of the chief culprits. There're still some good times to be had and it's not all doom and gloom. The people are still the best you'll meet and at the end of the day they make it for me personally.
Whatever you decide best of luck for the future, oh and welcome to the goat.
 
Hiya!! I am new to the site too and I was in the RAF for 7 years - which trade are you looking to go into? As you were a signaller, are you going to do communications??
 
Hi jonno. I was army too, RA. I joined the RAF when i was 23. You can join up until you are 30 in most trades, 39 as certain qualified oraficers. If you do join, choose your trade VERY carefully. Promotion here is much slower ( I left as a full screw after 4 years, in the RAF it took me 6 and a half years to get the same rank... and thats moving some as a techie!).
Certain trades promote much faster though, and with a family you need to think about that. Its much more chilled than the army, you'll breeze basic if you've even a tiny bit of fizz left! Annual fitness test goes no where near CFT's, all bleep tests and the like.
Morale is at a real low though, so prepare for horror stories. If you land on your feet you'l do bits in the desert, mixed in with good trips (vegas and the like). If you land on your ar$e, you'll see more deserts than any squaddie knew existed!
Spend some time on the trade forums for the trades that interest you, they should be honest with you. I personnally think its still worth joining, the safety net is good, pay is OK compared to most ( not the police... you left?? most of us seem to want to join tigger and his mates!).

Good luck mate!
 
kazzabadazza:
Hi,
One of the reasons I left the Army was through boredom, i was an ED (Electrician Driver) in the signals, and, unfortunately, this consisted of fixing generators, fixing generators, oh and fix generators. The trade was dying when I was in and we had NO telecomms training, so joining th RAF as comms doesnt really float my boat.

DrunkenMonki:
Hi,
What was the trade you joined RAF as? I am still not quite sure what I am wanting to do, the main reason being training time, like I say i have a family and I live up north nr middlesbrough, so training for 18 months in the south wales kind of deters me from any technical trades, I was thinking of joining as a mover, driver, rock ape, something like that, and then trying to get posted to Leeming.
I left the Police as it was way too much pen pushing and I am a hands on, get dirty type of worker, not a squeeky shoed secretary and unfortunately the Police is getting more and more like that, its sad when paperwork takes longer than a 12 hour shift and you find yourself in on days off just so you can get air above the paper pond your drowning in.

Anyway guys thanks for the warm welcome.

Jonno.
 
Hi,
I'm an Avionics guy, basically anything electrical/electronic on jets. Although at the moment i'm stuck in an office, crap really! Your training as a techie would (for the mo) be at RAF cosford, between wolves and Telford. You'd do 6 months initial training, then go to a unit for up to 2 years before returning for another year(ish) in training. After that you could start working towards Cpl! I'm not in a position to say what trade you should go for, just make sure its something you are interested in, or you'll end up back in the Police! Intelligence guys seem to get promoted quite fast, however they seem to do long spells overseas too. As i said, talk on the dif trade forums and see what takes you. Failing that get the careers office to sort you some visits out to Leeming. Remember though, you may well not get Leeming! RAF drafters have great big senses of humour, and throw in random postings to places you hate just to keep you on your toes!

Good luck!
 
Not too old at all fella, you've been in the mob before and know the score, just crack on, you may enjoy it, you may not, only one way to find out. But I would suggest you don't base your trade on how long it takes to train, and I am not sure on the future for Leeming, someone else on this site may be able to give advice on that...l
 
Have you been and sat the test yet? Your score determines which trade you are eligible for? Just wondered if you had done that and they have given you your options. I was a TCO trade group 11 which is now trade group 4 as its going more technical.

You will find your basic easy. I was in the TA before I joined the RAF and compared to the 2 weeks at Guildford, RAF Halton was a walk in the park believe me!! You will be an expert at drill and uniform, NBC so you will be heads up on a lot of people - you will probably enjoy it!!! Enjoy the runs up cardiac hill and armourey hill!!! Oh the memories!!!!.............................................
 
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