The RAF - what to advise nephew?

[Dan_Brown]

Nephew is 18, has a degree and has asked if we can meet up as he is looking to join the RAF. He wants to know about basic/trade training etc.

I'm 17 odd years in and to be honest, not that genned up about basic anymore! (he mentioned that after basic he will be doing IT and his course will be in Wolverhampton). He also wants to join up as an Airman as oppose to our officer type people.

I've advised looking on e-goat and posting questions, i've printed off pay scales and i have arranged a trip to my unit for him - see different trades, check out accommodation/messing etc.

What advise would you offer?!?

 

[mummymonkey]

A degree at 18?

 

[Spearmint]

The best you can do is direct him to his nearest AFCO. They have all the latest information.

 

[RAF Bird]

Nephew is 18, has a degree and has asked if we can meet up as he is looking to join the RAF. He wants to know about basic/trade training etc.

I'm 17 odd years in and to be honest, not that genned up about basic anymore! (he mentioned that after basic he will be doing IT and his course will be in Wolverhampton). He also wants to join up as an Airman as oppose to our officer type people.

I've advised looking on e-goat and posting questions, i've printed off pay scales and i have arranged a trip to my unit for him - see different trades, check out accommodation/messing etc.

What advise would you offer?!?

A degree at 18??? He must be very cleaver... get him down the AFCO quick I'm sure they'll snap his hand off to be an officer... I know you say he wants the airman role but with his qualifications he would be silly to turn down the money he could earn with brains like that.

 

[I'm a liar]

Bird, you put Officer and brains in the same sentence! As Spearment said, AFCO. If it was just a degree that got you in as an Officer, there would be no need for OASC. Good luck with what ever he does DB.

 

[RAF Bird]

Bird, you put Officer and brains in the same sentence! As Spearment said, AFCO. If it was just a degree that got you in as an Officer, there would be no need for OASC. Good luck with what ever he does DB.

Sorry, should have put smileys all over my post. I am fairly confident that at the age of 18 he doesn't have a degree, though I am always pleased to be proven wrong about these things.

 

[John Lloyd]

At 18 I had a degree of intelligence, a degree of common sense and a degree of ability.

That just left the remaining 357 degrees to develop.

Still working on it.

 

[Power of the wheel]

Nephew is 18, has a degree and has asked if we can meet up as he is looking to join the RAF. He wants to know about basic/trade training etc.



What advise would you offer?!?

Degree or not he would be daft to enter as an airman - especially as an AMM!.

He needs to aim high and if he wants to join soon chance his arm to be a pilot. They are still recruiting in this area. Plus most other trades are on a stop.

Good luck any way.

 

[penfold93]

Nephew is 18, has a degree and has asked if we can meet up as he is looking to join the RAF. He wants to know about basic/trade training etc.

I'm 17 odd years in and to be honest, not that genned up about basic anymore! (he mentioned that after basic he will be doing IT and his course will be in Wolverhampton). He also wants to join up as an Airman as oppose to our officer type people.

I've advised looking on e-goat and posting questions, i've printed off pay scales and i have arranged a trip to my unit for him - see different trades, check out accommodation/messing etc.

What advise would you offer?!?

Obviously a degree at 18 is unusual but not impossible, wrt Officer Trg then he would not get any recognisable service until 21 yrs old and would be very dependent on what his degree is in. Having been to Cranwell even those that were in their early 20's seemed immature and many goaters will say that very young Officers struggle so how would he cope at 18.

SDR is on the way so if he is thinking of the ranks then I would recommend holding off as choice of trade is probably very limited at the moment.

Obviously its his choice but waiting a while would be wise.

 

[vim_fuego]

In all honesty I would say take his intelligence and potential skills into an industry that is expanding like renewable energies not contracting as we are about to do...He'll still have chances to travel world-wide and not on the p1ss-ant terms that we have to...Probably a damn sight safer as well.

We're not the RAF any of us joined anymore and I think most of us realise that...

 

[Dan_Brown]

whoops! Maybe he isn't 18 - i haven't seen the guy since he was knee high! I was told he had just left school; i guess they meant university.

Anyway, yes i agree he should go the officer route, but he is adamant he wants to work (LOL!). So............hints and tips for basic and what trade is he actually going for from the description i've given?!

 

[Climebear]

Obviously a degree at 18 is unusual but not impossible, wrt Officer Trg then he would not get any recognisable service until 21 yrs old and would be very dependent on what his degree is in.

The reckonable service from age 21 for officers was a feature of AFPS75. It does not apply for new entrants who would join on AFPS05 terms.

I agree with the advice to get down to an AFCO. They have the most up to date information - especially relating to what trades are open.

Airmen with degrees are not unusual.

 

[Stevienics]

Anyway, yes i agree he should go the officer route, but he is adamant he wants to work (LOL!). So............hints and tips for basic and what trade is he actually going for from the description i've given?!

I hope he is old enough to distinguish a love of work for the sake of its own nobility and integrity, and that sort of work where you spend endless hours on your knees with a small piece of scotchbrite and 10 years of unremoved wax polish beneath you......... they don't usually offer this alternative parallel vison at the recruitment office as I very dimly recall.

 

[Chickaroo]

whoops! Maybe he isn't 18 - i haven't seen the guy since he was knee high! I was told he had just left school; i guess they meant university.

Anyway, yes i agree he should go the officer route, but he is adamant he wants to work (LOL!). So............hints and tips for basic and what trade is he actually going for from the description i've given?!

Hi Dan_Brown, sounds to me like he is going for TG 4, ICT Tech. But as said earlier get him to go to an AFCO, a degree would be wasted as an airman in this trade.

 

[Reformed Scribbly]

We see a fair number of candidates with degrees who want to start as an airman and work up, for some it is the best route as those intitial years work wonders for them in terms of confidence and life experience.

Visiting the AFCO for more gen, definitely, but I think you've already squared away one of the best things, which is a visit to a unit to speak to the guys actually doing the role he's interested in.

Yes we're expecting to be recruiting low figures for the near future, but I wouldn't let SDSR put him off. Lord forbid, I think they are actually looking to avoid the pain of the mid Nineties post options for change.

No it won't be the service that we all joined, but I'm sure that he would make the most of the service he would be in, as most of us will have done. For example, like me he won't know how good RAFG was, but do I care? No, and neither will he because the service will never ever be the same as it was. Times change, wheels are re-invented in different ways. You make the best of what you've got.

 

[amfortas]

I hope he is old enough to distinguish a love of work for the sake of its own nobility and integrity.......

....in selfless defence of a country that sees men as third class serfs to be dishonoured and dispossessed at whim.

I hope he also sees the very modest but real opportunity to be half as good with a gun as the average 15 y/o kid in belfast, for when the country finally decends into a feminised, socialised chaos.

I hope he recognises that no-one is going to thank him when his legs are blown off, nor pay his Council fines when he puts rubbish in the wrong bin, or his wife changes the locks on his front door for when he comes back from Afghanistan.

 

[Teh Wal]

At 18 I had a degree of intelligence, a degree of common sense and a degree of ability.

That just left the remaining 357 degrees to develop.

Still working on it.

DT_Xtremez_19: I like that, d'ya mind if I quote it elsewhere? DT_Xtremez_30:

Give the lad the benefit of your service experience but try not to let your personal opinions get in the way. A few years of 'life experience' as an erk will do him the world of good.

 

[tg3 jafad]

tg4 ict tech, after trg at RAF Cosford he could find himself fixing PC's, Manning a helpdesk (you know those poor dejected voices you hear when you ring the SPOC, yep TG4), working in ground radio (Nav aids), working in ASACS as a Comms and links tech or RADAR tech (t92, t93, t101 or t102), running about on 1ACC or indeed the wing (TCW, 90 su), a few bods also get to work with typhoon and UAVs, there are of course jobs i would have missed, once upon a time we also did surface to air missiles

some of the jobs within the trade require further tech training (known as the 4001 course at cosford) however without the 4001 he can expect to be Q-ops one year after completion of TATS and following completion of his NVQ at which point they will stick SAC(T) on his shoulder

would i do it, no but ive just left having joined as TG3 and having tg4 forced upon us, tg4 is a mix of big radar tech heavy jobs and sitting in a helpdesk helping computer idiots with their printer/mouse/computer dramas, also note ATT as with all trades there is major uncertainity as to the future, computers to ATLAS ring your station ITMS or I-hub for info, ground radio to JMATS will there be alot left with the exception of the expeditionary side (90SU and 1ACC) who knows,

Just make sure as with all things he revisits the AFCO and gets as much gen as possible, preferably from a tg4 ICT tech there are some in recruiting, eyes wide open.............

 

[Soon To Leave]

....in selfless defence of a country that sees men as third class serfs to be dishonoured and dispossessed at whim.

I hope he also sees the very modest but real opportunity to be half as good with a gun as the average 15 y/o kid in belfast, for when the country finally decends into a feminised, socialised chaos.

I hope he recognises that no-one is going to thank him when his legs are blown off, nor pay his Council fines when he puts rubbish in the wrong bin, or his wife changes the locks on his front door for when he comes back from Afghanistan.

For some people their cup is always half empty!

 

[Pikeman]

For some people their cup is always half empty!

Perhaps he's tired