**British Armed Forces Discussion Thread**

Yosiah said:
Yeah, I've been considering the RAF or the Army for a while, and my friend keeps telling me to go for a Medical or IT role, but I can't for the life of me 1) Pick between the Army or the Raf or 2) Pick which role to apply for. Some roles have really long waiting periods for a vacancy :( I don't want to go to the careers office in case I look stupid not knowing what I want to do, and I can't figure it out on my own either!
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I found the guys at the ACO to be really helpful, giving me information on all the roles that seemed suitable for me, Not 100% made my mind up on which role yet, but certainly know a lot more than I did :)
 
Yosiah said:
Then again I would be happy doing anything, as long as it's not a pure combat role. I'm fairly academic and a logical/critical thinker, so I would prefer something in Medical/IT/Communications.

Do they look badly on you for going to the office and saying "This is what interests me, I need discipline, organisation and structure, so please find me something that fits the bill"?

Or would they think "Damn, he doesn't know what he wants, so we don't want him at all"?
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Dosen't matter, it won't influence your application unless you're a complete muppet haha. If anything it shows an open mind. :)
 
JoeRiches said:
I found the guys at the ACO to be really helpful, giving me information on all the roles that seemed suitable for me, Not 100% made my mind up on which role yet, but certainly know a lot more than I did :)
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Cool. Do you think I should go to them with a bit of researched military knowledge, or does all that come later in the interviews?
 
Yosiah said:
Then again I would be happy doing anything, as long as it's not a pure combat role. I'm fairly academic and a logical/critical thinker, so I would prefer something in Medical/IT/Communications.

Do they look badly on you for going to the office and saying "This is what interests me, I need discipline, organisation and structure, so please find me something that fits the bill"?

Or would they think "Damn, he doesn't know what he wants, so we don't want him at all"?

I expect the army/raf/navy isn't like it was, where you just went down and said "Herp derp, job pl0x?", so the above method might not be a good way to do it any more.
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Just be honest with them man, it's not like they have a log that they record down "NOT SUITABLE FOR X, Y, Z - HE IS PANTS". They allow you to apply for anything as long as you have display the qualities they require. If you don't display them, then they're doing you a favour by not letting you in as you'd be making a mistake!

If you want to join the military, it stands to reason that you should probably know a bit about it... doesn't it? If you don't know much about how it's organised or the current role of the UK armed forces then I would say don't join. There's nothing worse than people who join up that have no idea about the organisation they're a part of. I see it all the time, clueless people just doing as they're told as if it's any other office job. It riles me.
 
Yosiah said:
Cool. Do you think I should go to them with a bit of researched military knowledge, or does all that come later in the interviews?
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I went in with only the knowledge I had found on the roles I was interested in and some basic knowledge of the armed forces :) I dont think you need to be a walking encyclopaedia of military knowledge ;)
 
Zefan said:
If you want to join the military, it stands to reason that you should probably know a bit about it... doesn't it? If you don't know much about how it's organised or the current role of the UK armed forces then I would say don't join. There's nothing worse than people who join up that have no idea about the organisation they're a part of. I see it all the time, clueless people just doing as they're told as if it's any other office job. It riles me.
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A very fair point Zefan; I should clarify. By military knowledge, I meant things like the names of all the weapons and helicopters they use and the knowing all the acronyms for different stuff, but yeah, I guess that wouldn't come until later :P

I'm very well versed in current affairs and the military in general, but not the deep down "military enthusiast" specifics.
 
Captain Planet said:
I googled commission interview and got this...

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/RAF_-_How_to_Join_and_Preparing_for_Interviews
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All awesome people find this page \o/

<3


Yosiah said:
A very fair point Zefan; I should clarify. By military knowledge, I meant things like the names of all the weapons and helicopters they use and the knowing all the acronyms for different stuff, but yeah, I guess that wouldn't come until later :P

I'm very well versed in current affairs and the military in general, but not the deep down "military enthusiast" specifics.
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It depends if you're going in for a commission or not really. The first interview is a gimme, just a chat about stuff and not even slightly formal however I still went in a suit.

I knew where all the flying base were and what aircraft were based where at the time I went in for my formal interview. They'll be most interested in what you know about your trade and what the training (both basic and trade) will involve, including the length/location of the courses and the qualifications you'll receive as a result.

Just make sure you can display that you know what you're letting your self in for and what they're going to expect of you and you'll be golden. You'll be given information packs/sheets on the trades you're interested in which should contain most of the information they want you to know.
 
Be aware though that the aptitude test for OASC is done seperately and you are recalled to Cranwell at a later date if you are successful.

I couldn't find anything as detailed for Army/Navy yet.
 
I don't want to be an officer. I know I'm not that type of person - yet - at least not until I've had the discipline and structure in my life. I'm not a leader, regardless of my academic skills.
 
If its Army Commissioning Interview process your interested in I can answer some questions having gone through the entire process from start to Commissioned.
 
I went for that first meeting today and got weighed/height checked and it put my BMI over 30. 174cm @ 93kg

I just weighed myself carrying everything I had with me (stuff I took out when I got there) and weighed at 90.1kg on my digital scales, took off my hoody/shoes/stuff outta my pockets and weighed 89.1kg lol.

Measured my height crudely with a tapemeasure a few times and not once was I below 176cm and that was with my shoes off. I can only think they badly underestimated what I was wearing/extra my shoes were giving.

Either way he said come back in 4weeks and he'll put me through providing I've lost a decent amount of weight. Told him I used to weigh around 120kg and showed him a picture he was astonished haha.. said that with determination like that it'd aid my application (I.E he'd try his hardest to push me through), thats a 27kg loss and he said he felt really bad now heh but technically its 30+. Weighed myself this morning and I was 87kg. Little bit annoyed but I was expecting to not get through on my current weight anyway just wanted to get it rolling and thought it'd at least be started as my BMI according to what I thought my height/weight was is 28.4 - Been measured by doctors and weight councillers at 5ft 9 (with shoes off!) but the army height measurment puts me at 5'7(shoes on).. my mate is 5'5 and that was what the navy put him at, I'm much tallers than him heh.

Oh well, 4 weeks to lose some more weight gives me more time to get my run times down so its not all bad I guess. Running in the wind yesterday was amusing.
 
Keep it up mate you'll get there :)

I've spent a morning learning about I.P Adressing and slash notation...I haven't done this since cosford nearly 5 years ago...my head hurts :(
 
Just frustrating because he recommended I should lose 10kg but going on my actual weight when I got home, minus the 1kg he allowed for the clothes.. I'd have been 89kg if the scales were right.. not 93, meaning I'd be 40% to the target of losing 10kg which is quite annoying as to lose 6kg in 4 weeks is very possible. I'd actually eaten and had a pint of water before I went to as I didnt want to change my diet for this meeting due to expecting to being knocked back anyway.

I think when I go back, I'ma wear the lighest of lightweight stuff I can possibly find, hell I might even go in lycra.. that'll teach em! Really though, I do get that the scales maybe out deliberately to give people a better chance during training if they're overweight like I am.. I wouldnt have gone down if my BMI was over 30... I passed that mark a long time ago.

Dont get me wrong though, the guy seemed genuinely gutted for me and was really nice.. so probably doesnt know his scales are that badly wrong. I looked down at the scales and saw them go over 200lb I was like.. ¬_¬ something isn't right here.
 
Hate to say it but I really wouldn't join up if you're overweight. Get yourself into a decent state or you'll risk becoming very ****ed off with the whole thing (and possibly dropping out as a result) and maybe even injuring yourself.

There were overweight people when I went through basic and they had a really really hard time. The phys has been ramped up since I was there and the minimum requirements are much higher so I can only imagine it would be even worse for them now.

:Edit: Watching a Hawk pulling some pretty obscure manoeuvres over the airfield out of my window. There's also a woman wearing tight phys gear doing hill sprints up the grass bank :D
 
Aye I know mate but its not like I'd go down today and be on basic tomorrow, theres from what I've read.. anywhere between 3-12months to join depending on what you do with the average being 6-9months which is plenty of time to get myself into a decent state.

I run every mon/wed/fri at the moment and sometimes at the weekend. I'll be introducing cycling on the days inbetween from next week aswell and more excercise during the day. They gave me that standard 4 week training thing which I'm going to use to. I am held back definately by the extra weight but I was hoping to get the ball rolling and get my fitness up and weight down by the time I end up on basic. As I didnt want to get to being perfect and then have to wait another 6 months!
 
Ah right I understand, just making sure you know what you're letting yourself in for :D

Sounds like you're pretty aware :) I wish people kept that fitness attitude after joining, everyone seems to just let it slip :o
 
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