Career Change: Joining the RAF

Shikkaka

Shikkaka

Shikkaka

Soldato
Joined
10 Jun 2003
Posts
2,860
Location
Nottingham
Evening all,

Having had a rather reflective day sat infront of my desk not having any motivation to do any work. I've decided this crap is no longer for me.

It's been quite a depressing day really. The sad realisation has sunk in that those who I thought were friends have ditched me to spend 24/7 with their new found girlfriends. Don't get me wrong, I do have friends but one set is at work who I have no interaction with outside and the other are the ones that are out every weekend getting waisted (something which over time has lost it's appeal to me)

My current job (IT Support) just isn't doing anything for me anymore. It's the same rubbish day in day out. I've come to a conclusion that I need a career that requires me to be on my feet and active.

Initially I thought about joining the police force but low and behold they are making a shed load redundant. Then I stumbled across the suggestion of joining the RAF.

Now to me, it seems pretty crazy at 27 to be thinking of joining the RAF but at the same time I'm sick of shying away from things that seem a little mental. On the plus side I have no real commitments, no dependants, no house/flat. The only thing I have is my family.

Is there anyone here that's made such a drastic decision and literally thought, **** it, why not?
 
Don't worry about the age, there were loads of late 20's on my course when I joined :)

I'm sure Zefan will be along in a moment to agree with me
 
I joined at 24 and I have friends who joined at 27 and 28. If you expect to be kept on your feet ya probably will be shocked by the time you spend on your arse lol.

Was the best decision I made and was a massive change of direction for me.

Go for it I say.
 
Hedge said:
I joined at 24 and I have friends who joined at 27 and 28. If you expect to be kept on your feet ya probably will be shocked by the time you spend on your arse lol.

Was the best decision I made and was a massive change of direction for me.

Go for it I say.
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Just the reply I needed. What career did you move from and what did you join as?
 
Spent 6 years as a Plumber/Gas Fitter, didnt enjoy it or have any drive to stick to it.

I initially had thoughts of the Navy when I was younger before my Plumbing apprenticeship so looked into it again at 24, turned out RAF appealed to me more this time around. Bit the bullet and went for it.

Wage isnt big just yet but the lifestyle means there is a lot more disposable income.

I joined as an Avionics Tech
 
I've been in just under 3 years and it's been a blast, although I'm now in a pretty quiet place right now!

As has been said, the age is a non-issue! I went through training with loads of guys in their mid 20s, some in their 30s with kids.

Best decision I ever made. I wouldn't give up the times I've had for anything, and I'm confident I'm earning a lot more than I would've done if I had stayed in civvy street. Uni wasn't working out for me, watched loads of documentaries about Afghanistan and then one day found old pictures of my parents at a mess do back in Cyprus - Dad in his sweet white mess dress. Made me want the same thing.

:edit: Another thing I'll mention is try not to look at the wages in the same way as you would on civvy street. You'll be paying next to nothing for your accomodation and bills. My outgoings after tax etc are £50. That's it. Of course you've got to live on base but not having to spend £500 a month on rent, bills, council tax etc is brilliant.
 
Hope it works out well for you OP - I think if I were to have joined up full time then I'd have seriously considered the RAF.

Having said that - if you join the RAF Reg please do yourself a favour and never use the phrase 'the big 3'.
 
Steameh said:
Evening all,

Having had a rather reflective day sat infront of my desk not having any motivation to do any work. I've decided this crap is no longer for me.

It's been quite a depressing day really. The sad realisation has sunk in that those who I thought were friends have ditched me to spend 24/7 with their new found girlfriends. Don't get me wrong, I do have friends but one set is at work who I have no interaction with outside and the other are the ones that are out every weekend getting waisted (something which over time has lost it's appeal to me)

My current job (IT Support) just isn't doing anything for me anymore. It's the same rubbish day in day out. I've come to a conclusion that I need a career that requires me to be on my feet and active.

Initially I thought about joining the police force but low and behold they are making a shed load redundant. Then I stumbled across the suggestion of joining the RAF.

Now to me, it seems pretty crazy at 27 to be thinking of joining the RAF but at the same time I'm sick of shying away from things that seem a little mental. On the plus side I have no real commitments, no dependants, no house/flat. The only thing I have is my family.

Is there anyone here that's made such a drastic decision and literally thought, **** it, why not?
Click to expand...

After 10 years working in office jobs I detested, I made the decision (after almost a year's consideration and research into it) to join the Merchant Navy as an engineering officer cadet. I started at college in January, finished my first phase in July and I'm presently 3 weeks into my first sea going phase, ploughing across the Bay of Biscay toward Bristol on a ship I joined in Singapore, having been to Greece, Italy and Spain along the way. After Bristol, we'll be hitting Zeebrugge, Bremerhaven, Southampton, then Port Elizabeth and Durban, South Africa, before crossing to Fremantle, Melbourne, Port Kembla and Brisbane, Australia. Then we'll be dry docking in Subic Bay, The Philippines for 3 weeks. It's a lot of hard work, but no regrets so far. I've seen and will see many, many, many more places in the world than I would have otherwise in this line of work.

I'm 27 too by the way, don't let that be your excuse to hold you back.
 
Decide your trade before you go into any interviews. Some are fully booked for a while. Age is how zefan says, I had a few early 30's in training/sac's I work with.

Benefits and the new draft pension is nothing like the previous one but decent.

Living on base, a year in, expect take home cash to be a grand a month after food etc. promotion after is ability, luck and trade.
And remember the raf is generally a longer contract than the army etc.
 
Promotion is probably down to secondary duties a lot of the time.

Its quite unfair to an extent because some people are fantastic at their trade and work hard, yet because they dont do work with cadets or run afterwork activities they get overlooked in promotions.

Its not what you know, its who you blow.
 
Hedge said:
Promotion is probably down to secondary duties a lot of the time.

Its quite unfair to an extent because some people are fantastic at their trade and work hard, yet because they dont do work with cadets or run afterwork activities they get overlooked in promotions.

Its not what you know, its who you blow.
Click to expand...
From what I've seen It's a mix of the things I've mentioned. Secondary helps of course but there's a lot of stuff to take into account plus pure blind luck of being at a good place on the promotion board that year they decide to recruit extra in whatever post you're in. Knowing the raf I don't think there's that much thought/a straight calculation about the whole thing. :)
 
It was the best move I ever made joining the RAF. Been in 2.5 years now and I've loved it.

There where quite a few recruits aged 25+ during my basic training and one of the guys on my trade training course was 31.

Joined as an Avionics Tech and I return to RAF Cosford to do my 12 month Avionics course tomorrow. :)

Best thing to do is go to your local AFCO and speak to the RAF guys there.

There are some amazing opportunities for travel, adventure training and sport if you put yourself forward for it, instead of sitting in the tea bar playing uckers, darts, dominoes or whatever. :p
 
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