SAR And MRT In The RAF.......

[jamesofdeath]

Ok so this is my second thread....needing a bit more help with this:

A few years ago I applied for the RAF with the intention of going in as Weapons System Officer but was deferred cos on medical grounds. My deferrment runs out next month and I can reapply but after looking through a few threads on here it seems that everyone is going for WSO or WSOp and obviously times are tight at the moment.

I should also mention that I'm currently in a civillian Mountain Rescue Team and I would really like to continue this in the RAF, either by joining their MRT or by joining Search and Rescue. Can anyone give me any advice on what trades are best to get into in order to get onto a Search and Rescue team and/or join the RAF MRT? I've ruled out pilot as I believe I'm too tall and my eyesight isn't 20:20 (nearly but not quite!)

 

[amfortas]

Not many trades call for mountain climbing skills.

I knew a great MRT member years ago, Chris Perkins, at Valley. Chris was an Sac Ops Clerk (ATC). First class bloke. He went on to become a loady.

 

[Stevienics]

Don't take this as Gospel . I left a while ago.

Any trade can join the MRT part time after a trial period if 3 weeks - but some trades are more "any" than others as some have less flexibility to release a person for operations and training - of which there is a quite a bit in MRT. Fireman, scuffers, cooks etc are all rostered through weekends on their trade so getting away can be an issue (plus your mates get a bit antsy if you do it all the time).

Full time MRT used to be MTD, Stackers and WOps, though again this is not written in stone and lots of riggers etc have done this as well.

Overall, it looks good on the CV and is an excellent secondary duty, not least to get you out of the others - as well as having all the fringe benefits of all the best kit please free food and transport to the hills of your choice every weekend.

Don't expect it to be like the civilan MRT though - it is way more socially neanderthalian than even the most regular RAF job most of the time and at the outset at least. It isn't a democracy.......even if it is open to chicks now.

 

[Merlin55]

I heard a rumour that the RAF's SAR service was being privitised within the next 10yrs, possibly to be run by a French company... any truth in that?

 

[Stevienics]

The SAR side of it, whilst connected through the RCC's who oversee the activitees of both (and whilst they work together on landbased incidents and traning), is not the same as the MRT side of it.

 

[jamesofdeath]

Cheers for the replies. Yeh I know the MRT and SAR are two different things but ideally I'd somehow be able to do a trade at some point that would be SAR based whilst the MRT side of things I'd like to do regardless of if I get into my chosen trade or not. I guess what I'm really looking for is to join a trade where I have a greater chance of being able to move into SAR as opposed to joining as a.....cook (just an example) and not being able to move over. From what I can gather then WSOp is a popular route?

I do believe they are moving SAR activites to a private company that will be using the Sikorski helicopters that the coastguard use, that's the word on civi street anyway. Not too sure of timescales for that!