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Loads of questions!

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LadyLaw

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Hi everyone!

I'm 25 and thinking seriously about joining the RAF (obviously!) and I have loads of questions so bear with me! I'm not 100% settled on a trade yet but I'm aiming to join as an officer - Admin, Legal, Police or Training are the ones I'm torn between. Can I ask a couple of questions about those first?

Legal - I have 2 law degrees, have completed the LPC and am a registered legal exec but haven't completed a training contract to be a fully qualified solicitor. I'm pretty sure the RAF won't accept me as a legal officer until I've done the training contract, but can anyone confirm this?

Training - the careers website doesn't really go into much detail about this. Are there any on here who would like to share? I do some volunteer training for St John Ambulance and love it so I have a little bit of experience.

Admin, Police - just any extra info would be great!

At 25 I guess I'm coming to this a bit later in life than most but I gather from other posts that actually the extra maturity (?!) and life experience should stand me in good stead for both the recruitment and training. Having said that, if I opt for Legal Officer and have to wait a few years to complete my training contract I'd be looking at joining up at 30ish. Is that maybe getting a bit too old, even though the max joining age is 36?

My last question (for now anyway ;)) is how people who, like me, have set themselves up with a life on civvy street (y'know- flat, furniture, long term partner, friends, pets, etc) coped with the upheaval joining up must cause? I'm not saying I'd rather settle for the easy life of staying put, just canvassing opinion on how people managed with it.

Sorry for the massive long post, but thanks in advance for any info anyone gives me!
:PDT_Xtremez_26:
 
LadyLaw, You have asked quite a few questions so will need a few people to answer them as none of us will have the necessary experience in each area. Joining at a later age is an advantage earlier on in your career but can be a problem if you stay for a full career. I joined late and the extra maturity etc helped with training and first promotion. However, now that I have done many years, the age thing has meant that those of my age are now one rank above me.

As far as specialisations go, trainers do what the title says. They are jack of all trades in that they can be training engineers on one tour or in charge of a catering school the next. Admin and Police are also diverse and whilst all three have their share of graduates, I would think that having 2 degrees in one subject would be a waste if you didn't pursue that field. I cannot comment on the Legal branch but would recommend you to get in touch with a junior lawyer currently serving to get their view (your AFCO should help with this). If it were me, I would go the law route because if you find that the RAF/military is not for you, then you still have a career route to follow. A qualified solicitor will command a better salary than you would get as an ex admin officer (now called Personnel Support) with limited professional qualifications. Make the cantact early because you may not need to be fully certified.

Having a long term partner is something that only you can answer. Many relationships fall by the wayside when the military person comes home full of exiting stories and the civvy partner feels left out and drifts away. Of course many thrive (mine did) and your partner could possibly follow you? If you were married, furniture etc would move to a married quarter but unmarried and you have to make your own arrangement (but you will be entitled to a singlies room in the mess.

First port of call – local AFCO and ask for details of the legal branch and details of where they are. Then make contact and ask for a liaison visit.
 
Hi Stripey,

Thanks for such a great answer. You're right, of course, I need to get an appointment with my local AFCO before I can make any sort of decisions. I agree it would seem a shame to depart from law but I'm concerned about possibly having to wait possibly up to 4 or 5 years to get through a training contract before I could join up. Not sure IOT (or the 3 months "professional" recruits do) would be as much fun at 30 something!

Thanks for the advice about relationships. I'm in the slightly unusual position (I imagine) of having a partner who is ex-army so he certainly understands the military way of life, and how easy it is for relationships to end up getting messed up by it. Maybe that will help, but maybe not. I know he'd be rather chuffed if I got sent over to Germany but (and I'm sure eveeryone will correct me if I'm wrong) I don't think the RAF has a particualrly big presence there these days. Perhaps he'd settle for Cyprus?! We're not married at the moment, but you never know in the future...

Anyway, my post is running away with me again, so thank you very much before I find more to say!!!
 
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