**British Armed Forces Discussion Thread**

burzy said:
WE, is a tabs out job. All they do is sit in the mess all day and wait for the can man to open up. The good thing about the branch at the moment is promotion is really fast. You can be a leading hand in 3 years if you have a bit about yourself.
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Just out of curiosity what branch are you?

WE is one of the more 'tabs out' branches there is but I don't recall sitting down the mess all day when I was a WE. Maybe I was just unlucky or maybe its just that if you want to hide somewhere and do no work all day, you can. I put in a fair amount of work and pulled a few all nighters doing trials. It depends what type of ship you get and what section you work I guess.

You're right about the promotion though but I wouldn't even say you had to have a bit about yourself. I knew a right pillock who got his local actings and was subsequently promoted at around the 2 year mark, he was lazy and no smarter than anyone else. All it takes for fast promotion is to get your task books done ASAP and getting a few good write ups(which is easier than you might think).

I always viewed writers as the easiest branch, no watchkeeping, easy surcoat responsiblities, no callouts (if equipment decides to throw a wobbly), higher pay band and you sit in an office most of the day. I could probably think of a few more reasons if I had the time.

I would have probably been promoted near the 3 year mark myself but I never got my finger out of my *** and completed my CBRNDC taskbook, not that I ever would have stuck it long term. I was offered my local actings just before I put my notice in but I already had my heart set on leaving at that point. I think I should have joined at 16 or 18 while tiffs were still about(which I was considering) if I was ever to stick with it long term, but I ended up wasting a few years of my life so that option went out of the window.
 
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firthy15 said:
Engineering technician (weapons engineer) ?

Is that like a boat ******* version of an armourer?
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They maintain the weapon systems, comms, sensors and computer systems on a ship. They are also responsible for the magazines but if you go on the bigger vessels the wafus may also be responsible for some of them. We don't really have much to do with small arms but I can't speak for P2000s/mine sweepers etc.
 
10KM Commando Challenge done, running was easy in my group as you go as fast as the slowest so we did it in 2 hours dead. The boots (which the brand caused humour here) were fine, everything was properly sodden and boots are slowly drying out full of paper. I now have super chaffed nips, for wet t shirt so next time I'm wearing a base layer! In the shower I think I found most of Woodbury common in my bum crack and hair!

The tunnels only freaked me out a bit, bailed 3 times at the sheep did but did it so rather please at that. Did the larger of the two smarties tunnels.

All in all pleased with myself and now have to have a long hard think as towhether I could actually get through the all arm course if I pass my medical.

Castiel - assuming all goes well and I then join the TA as planned, for the commando part do you just get thrown in the deep end or is there some kind of gradual progression for say the smarties tubes etc.
 
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Two weeks todayyyy, oath tomorrow. Does that mean I get paid for tomorrow or paid starting FROM tomorrow? I know you get the equiv to the "queens shilling" but I'm not sure if you get paid from tomorrow or from the start of basic.. google doesnt seem to be of much use with conflicting views.
 
ToejaMz0r said:
Two weeks todayyyy, oath tomorrow. Does that mean I get paid for tomorrow or paid starting FROM tomorrow? I know you get the equiv to the "queens shilling" but I'm not sure if you get paid from tomorrow or from the start of basic.. google doesnt seem to be of much use with conflicting views.
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It will be from when you start training.
 
Hi chaps I managed to leave a full can cream in my combat jacket which went in the wash so have can cream all over inside. Any ideas on how to clean it?

Not long now toe. Will be seeing you soon.
 
.:SAmSuNG:. said:
Hi chaps I managed to leave a full can cream in my combat jacket which went in the wash so have can cream all over inside. Any ideas on how to clean it?

Not long now toe. Will be seeing you soon.
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Get it exchanged as soon as possible mate, It'll never be the same again trust me, I've done that on a number of occasions...:rolleyes:
I had to get mine exchanged, pain in the **** but didnt matter how many times i washed it there were still noticable discolouration and stains.
 
fire_munki said:
Castiel - assuming all goes well and I then join the TA as planned, for the commando part do you just get thrown in the deep end or is there some kind of gradual progression for say the smarties tubes etc.
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The endurance course is something that you will do toward the end of the course..in the normal Commando Training it is in the final couple of weeks so around week 30/31, but you do get a few run-outs and acquaintances before that at various times...in the All Arms I am not sure, I think they do a 2 week assessment first for basic skills and then training and then the test week. For the TA I am not sure, but I think the 2 week RFCC which the RMR do requires you pass a pre-course assessment which includes an endurance test but I am not sure if it is the same one, but in the actual RFCC it is the 30m rope work that most people fail on as it requires technique rather than brute strength, so if it is the 2 week RFCC you are referring to then make sure that is what you work (in full load-out) because that is probably where you will fall down....also the RFCC is not a training course per se (a few things will be new to you and you will get familiarisation with those), it is a testing course and so you would pretty much be chucked in at the deep end, as you will be expected to have learned the basic skills required already and this is designed to see if you have what it takes, which is why there is a pretty big failure rate iirc.

If it is the same endurance course that is included in the pre-assessment I wouldn't worry about it though, everyone stresses out about the troughs and tubes but it is a lot easier than it looks, just remember to keep your mouth closed otherwise you will end up with a gob full of mud. The course is there to teach you first and test you after, so you shouldn't be blind-sided too much.

There are a bunch of videos out there showing you what the Tarzan and Endurance course is all about so have a look at those.

Have you considered the RMR or are you already in the TA?
 
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It appears a lot of people are close to getting out at present, you would think they would be asking the question why but instead they are probably just rubbing their hands together at all the people leaving as they won't need to pay out on pensions and further redundancy.
 
Would take me a while to type it out and I can't be bothered :(! Just over a month to go until I leave Afghan. Afghan isn't the reason for wanting the 7 clicks to freedom by the way.
 
Afghan wasn't the reason I wanted to do the 7 clicks, it's coming back and just being able to see the utter incompetencies around me has drove me over the edge. I've already been told that my skills are wasted within the Army, so may as well go back to civvy street and start a career there before I get stuck here!
 
Unless I considered my reasons for leaving to be extremely grave I really wouldn't want to take my chances in the civvy street rat race right now.
 
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