British Armed Forces Discussion Thread

lemonkettaz · 20 Dec 2011 at 20:21

Probably don't even need the "c"

I know of lads got onto trades without having the full GCSE requirements.. as long as you seem clued up and not a total **** on the BARB test

Zefan · 20 Dec 2011 at 20:42

Andr3w said:
Forget the signals they suck, join the RAF comms instead! We actually know what we are doing

True story!

Ghosteh · 20 Dec 2011 at 20:50

Zefan said:
True story!

T00thBru5h · 20 Dec 2011 at 21:37

Ghosteh said:
IT'S BLOODY FREEZING OUT HERE NOW!

Get's even colder in Jan, and then it starts raining for 3-4 weeks non-stop. YEEEEPEEE.

fire_munki · 20 Dec 2011 at 21:43

Ghosteh said:
How long ago was it you took yourself off any medication? It could have a bearing depending on what job roll you go for, and it could have a possible roll later in your career if you ever needed to get DV'd(Higher security clearance).

Good 6 years I'd say (been so long I can't remember when I stopped), wasn't fun but tbh these days I think doc's give out anti depressants like candy. Although I see why it could be a problem, people change. I for one wouldn't have decided to take the step to joining up 5 years ago.

Ghosteh · 21 Dec 2011 at 15:49

T00thBru5h said:
Get's even colder in Jan, and then it starts raining for 3-4 weeks non-stop. YEEEEPEEE.

Oh god, can't wait. On duty tomorrow morning for a few hours, will be several layers of wrapping to keep warm I think.

fire_munki said:
Good 6 years I'd say (been so long I can't remember when I stopped), wasn't fun but tbh these days I think doc's give out anti depressants like candy. Although I see why it could be a problem, people change. I for one wouldn't have decided to take the step to joining up 5 years ago.

That could be long enough clear assuming you've not had any re-oocurence of any problems. But be honest when you go into an AFCO or what ever, don't try and lie about it, because it will come out and bite you in the ass in the future if you did get in without them knowing.

T00thBru5h · 22 Dec 2011 at 00:46

Fire-munki - the Army medical criteria is crap. The people who access you have little common sense and will at a whim crush your chances of joining. I was diagnosed with a heart murmur at a young age. Never told the Army about it. Went for a medical with the RAF, passed. Got a grip of myself and decided to go for the Infantry instead

and had another medical, this time by different staff. Passed it again. Then went for another one because I decided to do things properly and go Airborne and had another medical (on my 3rd now) and failed. Had a heart murmur, oh no!! They never checked my NHS history and so off I went to get a full investigation and obviously passed it fine and was finally allowed to continue with my selection process.

What I am saying is, if you are confident enough, don't tell them about it!!!!

Begbie · 22 Dec 2011 at 01:19

T00thBru5h said:
Fire-munki - the Army medical criteria is crap. The people who access you have little common sense and will at a whim crush your chances of joining. I was diagnosed with a heart murmur at a young age. Never told the Army about it. Went for a medical with the RAF, passed. Got a grip of myself and decided to go for the Infantry instead and had another medical, this time by different staff. Passed it again. Then went for another one because I decided to do things properly and go Airborne and had another medical (on my 3rd now) and failed. Had a heart murmur, oh no!! They never checked my NHS history and so off I went to get a full investigation and obviously passed it fine and was finally allowed to continue with my selection process.

What I am saying is, if you are confident enough, don't tell them about it!!!!

Very true, I know a guy that got in with hearing issues. No one knew untill during a class he asked if he could use his hearing aid!! :rolleyes:

Zefan may remember him acctually.

Zefan · 22 Dec 2011 at 01:24

Begbie said:
Very true, I know a guy that got in with hearing issues. No one knew untill during a class he asked if he could use his hearing aid!!

Zefan may remember him acctually.

I think I remember him... was a bit of a weird looking guy? I also CRITCHLOW!!!, who we were best, best friends with

Andr3w · 22 Dec 2011 at 08:40

When you guys went through training was that instructor a man or a women

?

He was a man when I did training, I nearly had cardiac arrest when somebody told me he had a sex change and explained how he now looked

Ghosteh · 22 Dec 2011 at 08:52

T00thBru5h said:
Fire-munki - the Army medical criteria is crap. The people who access you have little common sense and will at a whim crush your chances of joining. I was diagnosed with a heart murmur at a young age. Never told the Army about it. Went for a medical with the RAF, passed. Got a grip of myself and decided to go for the Infantry instead and had another medical, this time by different staff. Passed it again. Then went for another one because I decided to do things properly and go Airborne and had another medical (on my 3rd now) and failed. Had a heart murmur, oh no!! They never checked my NHS history and so off I went to get a full investigation and obviously passed it fine and was finally allowed to continue with my selection process.

What I am saying is, if you are confident enough, don't tell them about it!!!!

See, I know what you mean about them knowing nothing, but metal health issues can be quiet a big thing if someone's been diagnosed with depression and what not, and if it does show up on your medical records. If not mentioned, it could cause problems later in your career if you'd got in, and for some reason, came out again in the future.
As for checking medical records, I know mine were checked quite a bit, but I suppose it could be down to how well your civvy doctor fills in the medical form. But I'm pretty sure mental health is mentioned quite specifically in that form.

T00thBru5h · 22 Dec 2011 at 09:47

Entirely up to Fire-munki. If you read through all the Joining Restrictions and specifically see that your 'mental health' issue prevents you from joining then I suggest you fill out the forms and 'omit' that critical information. If you get found out then that sucks, but you've lost nothing.

This is internet advice though, so probably best not following it

Ghosteh · 22 Dec 2011 at 13:05

T00thBru5h said:
This is internet advice though, so probably best not following it

That's true lol. Try and find two separate AFCO/ACIO's, ask one for advice, if they say that they can't progress with any application because of past issues, start applying though the other one

.

Guest2 · 22 Dec 2011 at 14:54

muttclugg said:
I hate the view some people have of the armed forces. I was talking to a group the other day and a few of them believed the armed forces was for school leavers with poor marks and "no hope of a good career". I know you can make a good life for yourself in any of the forces and I always say fair play to anyone with the bottle to serve!

Every time I walk past the british armed forced (recruitment) place in Leeds centre, its got 16/17/18 year old scrotes outside. From my experience, if people got bad grades at school and couldnt get into college or do A levels, they would join the Army

Ghosteh · 22 Dec 2011 at 15:38

Guest2 said:
Every time I walk past the british armed forced (recruitment) place in Leeds centre, its got 16/17/18 year old scrotes outside. From my experience, if people got bad grades at school and couldnt get into college or do A levels, they would join the Army

That was my mums, and quite a few others in my family thoughts(to an extent) before I joined up. But it has completely changed now. How do you know these are 'scrotes', and even if they are, if they ever manage to get in? I've met some amazingly interesting people in the Army, many of which I probably would have pre-judged before I joined up as well.
OK, some of the guys may not have the best grades, but you can generally see they work damn hard at their job. I dropped out of college not long before my A Levels, because I ended up hating the education system as it stood at the time, and it's been by far the best decision I've made in my life, leaving college and joining the Army.

arctine · 22 Dec 2011 at 15:40

Guest2 said:
Every time I walk past the british armed forced (recruitment) place in Leeds centre, its got 16/17/18 year old scrotes outside. From my experience, if people got bad grades at school and couldnt get into college or do A levels, they would join the Army

Lol @ anyone who thinks A levels are harder than the majority of armed forces apprenticeships. I think I had to Pass close to 100 exams during my phase two training, all at a much higher level than what they teach in college.

Difference between me and someone who stayed at school? I'm already earning 32k a year while my friends are starting their second year at university and are in debt upto their eyeballs.

I realise this isn't always the case but if you leave school and join the forces straight away, you will easily be on 25k at the age of 21.

arctine · 22 Dec 2011 at 15:47

Moses said:
But what are the average salaries like? I mean, it might be relatively easy to be earning 25k, by the time they're 21, if they leave school and 16 and join the army... but how many get above that level? Do they earn not much more than that for the rest of their time in the army?

Compared to a graduate who may start on 22k, but who has a larger scope for improvement on that, for example.

Apart from promotion, you go up a pay band every year. In my trade if you joined at 16 and didn't get promoted at all then you would be on 28k at the age of 21.

The likelihood a of you not being promoted is pretty slim by the way.

I_M_Weasel · 22 Dec 2011 at 15:50

arctine said:
The likelihood a of you not being promoted is pretty slim by the way.

That would depend on what you join.

And to be on 28k you'd need to be a higher band level 2 cpl or level 9 higher band Lcpl.

arctine · 22 Dec 2011 at 15:59

Moses said:
How many people would be in that position, though? I mean, would everyone who's been in five years be on 28k? Basic?

And wha'? Everyone gets promoted? How's that possible? Unless loads of people leave .

No not everyone but the majority of people. The pay bands are split up into lower and higher pay bands, I think all technical trades are in the higher pay band where as things like stewarding are in the lower.

And yeah, lots of people leave every year and so gaps become available for promotion. For example if someone at the top retires, someone below him will be promoted and so on right down to the lower ranks. This isn't all there is to, someone else could probably explain better than me.

MOOGLEYS · 22 Dec 2011 at 16:07

arctine, what do you do mate, what service as 32K in 5 years is quite good it took me 16 years in the Raf to get to 35k....

**British Armed Forces Discussion Thread**

British Armed Forces Discussion Thread