Unfortunately, working in Kotes armoury we had to service all the wpns at the sites. Beautifully scenic helicopter flights in always clear weather..... not.
RAF recruitment, has it gone a bit too far...
- Thread starter Uther
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Soldato
Positive discrimination. That's what it is.
Indeed. Russia is actively and very very very vocal about how little ethnics mean to them. They treat them with disdain and inhuman a lot of the time, even on government levels. But then, are we really surprised you admire Russia for this/
Indeed. Russia is actively and very very very vocal about how little ethnics mean to them. They treat them with disdain and inhuman a lot of the time, even on government levels. But then, are we really surprised you admire Russia for this/
30 years in now for this c/s. Once this posting is up in 2026 i'll be ET'ing.
And never done the FI - thank ****
Hot, sandy, medal and an Op bonus for me most of the time. I think Dubai, Oman and Italy have been my fave places, never got to the US though 
As for the current state of the RAF? It's a **** show atm.
And never done the FI - thank ****
Hot, sandy, medal and an Op bonus for me most of the time. I think Dubai, Oman and Italy have been my fave places, never got to the US though As for the current state of the RAF? It's a **** show atm.
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Soldato
I'm hoping this isn't true, because it all sounds a bit ridiculous, especially considering the challenges the military is facing...
RAF 'pauses job offers for white men' to meet 'impossible' diversity targets
The alleged move has prompted the head of recruitment for the Royal Air Force (RAF) - herself a senior female officer - to resign in recent days in protest.news.sky.com
Well, it's a very typical government policy - to set targets. But there is always a price to pay when there is a target. I used to work in the HVAC industry, and I know that's a world apart from the RAF, but targets were a daily thing there, and so was working our way around them. People spent more time trying to achieve their targets than actually doing their job. People need to know that when they set targets, they need exceptions in place to allow people not to meet them!! Sounds nuts, but it's true.
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Soldato
Absolutely! The military has it's own "internal" justice system with its own laws and punishments but these are only very rarely ever given to Officers as it's mostly non-Officers who get caught doing something wrong and are publicly punished.
However, if Officers are caught then, unless its something "criminal" such as fraud (private school fee's) or causes the lost of life/equipment, most will escape a formal punishment for things considered more "minor" or embarrassing to the military, with a simple talking too from their boss and possibly a delay of promotion being considered enough of an unofficial punishment which shows just how "classist" the military still is with "Officers vs Enlisted" even if those involved don't match traditional classes (i.e. Officers could be council kids etc, something extremely rare previously).
So it's completely understandable why a very small number of Officers, all of whom get treated very differently to those under them, can start to believe their own hype and end up doing really bad stuff, believing themselves to be "above the law" for want of a better term.
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Chinook display pilot anyone…?
Soldato
Yeap, but those are the "big public" cases that everyone gets to hear about, whilst literally hundreds of far more minor events happen all the time with the Officers given a talking too as "punishment", hence the large amount of sexual harassment cases the MOD is going through right now as women are now demanding more accountability and/or acknowledgement of a "crime", rather than being hushed up as previous.
Evidence? Unless you are thinking of those accused of inappropriate behaviour within the Red Arrows display team.
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Associate
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Senior RAF officer from Yorkshire and Chinook pilot jailed for subjecting female colleague to 'degrading' sexual assault
An RAF Squadron Leader from Yorkshire with "an unwarranted sense of entitlement" will serve just nine months in jail for subjecting a fellow officer to a degrading sexual assault which drove her to attempt suicide.
www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
Soldato
Wigston's legacy continued -
www.telegraph.co.uk
Fighter pilots lose pride in flying for RAF because of bullying storm
General satisfaction at life in the air force plummets to its lowest level in more than 15 years amid complaints engulfing the service
www.telegraph.co.uk
Soldato
Sadly anyone serving in the armed forces, police, prison officers etc. are swimming against a politically correct tide.
Just done over 14 years in the RAF now, just about to get to the end of an instructor tour at Cosford (Where I imagine a lot of people in this thread started at as well. I'm TG1 and even reduced my FAD (Basically short touring myself) here as I'd just had enough) and can't wait to get back to the 'pointy end' in August. Even now I see myself just seeing out my time until I can earn a pension.
The place has embraced the full RAF wokeness, instructors and CS (MOD Civil Servant) instructors are afraid of saying/doing the wrong thing which might upset some students. Some of which know they hold all the power, its insane. Been a few awkward conversations from trainees regarding the topic in the OP, some even asking me if they only made it here because of the colour of their skin.
The modern day trainee is also completely handheld through training and then kicked out the door when they graduate and expect to be an adult at their first unit.
Whilst I agree that Cosford is in a good location, well connected being right next to the M54 and its own train station. Plus also having fantastic amenities on station (I mean does any other military establishment have its own Greggs on unit?), the new joiners are completely spoilt here. Then all of a sudden they end up at a location in the middle of nowhere with nothing on camp and you can see why so many do their required 4 years and then are out.
The place has embraced the full RAF wokeness, instructors and CS (MOD Civil Servant) instructors are afraid of saying/doing the wrong thing which might upset some students. Some of which know they hold all the power, its insane. Been a few awkward conversations from trainees regarding the topic in the OP, some even asking me if they only made it here because of the colour of their skin.
The modern day trainee is also completely handheld through training and then kicked out the door when they graduate and expect to be an adult at their first unit.
Whilst I agree that Cosford is in a good location, well connected being right next to the M54 and its own train station. Plus also having fantastic amenities on station (I mean does any other military establishment have its own Greggs on unit?), the new joiners are completely spoilt here. Then all of a sudden they end up at a location in the middle of nowhere with nothing on camp and you can see why so many do their required 4 years and then are out.
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My mate and I came off the same board in 2015 and he went to Cosford - did the same as you to get out of there. It's never appealed to me for many reasons, mostly as I like being out and about around the world doing things and throwing spanners at aircraft, but it's even less appealing now. I've been first line squadrons my whole career, and couldn't see myself doing anything else.
I was first line all my career too and I'm going back to first line. I regret coming here to be honest, yet some people absolutely love it and fight for a re-tour. I'll keep my opinions to myself about that, but I do miss getting my hands dirty.
I've worked a large variety of squadrons in my (lucky) career so far and I'd never really say a negative about any of them and the experiences I had. But Cosford... Yeah if anyone asks me if they recommend going for a tour. They are getting both barrels on the real way it works there
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Whilst this is an interesting topic, would it not be a good idea to explain the RAF acronyms to non blue suiters? FADs and C/S and ETing.
There wasn't a Greggs at Cosford in 86 but it did have vending machines full of snacks, and bars full of drunken trainees. In 06 the vending machines were full of brufen and antidepressants!!!! The bar was full of kids on laptops.
I'd say it's had a swing from then, whilst most trainees now instead sit in their bedspace on their PS5/Xbox/Laptop and eating pot noodles and microwave meals thanks to Pay As You Dine. A lot of them also go to the gym in an evening, its rammed on weekday nights.
The last bar on camp is empty, as they are all gaming and then the first to complain when the wifi goes down (Which is a basic human right apparently and then get asked if they can claim back the excess data fees from tethering their phones). Good luck to them when they get in the real world.
I've also edited my previous post given your first comment.
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We all know the real world doesn't start until you hand your ID card back in...
This is very true, but in the real world there is much less a sense of work camaraderie, trying to organise xmas drinkypoos is like trying to heard kittens.
While organisations may have corporate mission statements, there seems little engagement with the employees to get the job done, and so the ex military can stick out a bit.
Man of Honour
Can always try to do what I did and engineer yourself a sideways move out of service but in to pretty much the exact same role, working in the same team. Only really works if you already have civvies working with you. I have a personal mission to bring any good eggs who are on their way out in to the fold too, especially if they're justifiably feeling jaded or have been subject to mistreatment. Feels good mane.
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Soldato
I'm currently a civvy 'pointy end' instructor running Phase 3 Q-Courses and I would say that the Phase 2 trainees we receive from Cosford currently fall into two very distinct groups - Mature, common sense filled people who want to learn who make up about 10% of the total, and the other 90% are varying degrees of infantilised "adults" who, despite spending a year in the Military so far, still have no concept of what is expected of an 'aviator' (another great name change) and treat it like they're still at school, not expecting to work at all and being very disengaged during lessons, usually with 'undiagnosed' ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia etc being given as the reasons why they find everything so hard to do, rather than the far more likely cause for most of just being tired from playing xbox/PS5 til 3am every night (keeping others in the corridor awake with their comms chat too) and surviving on Monster drinks through-out the day.
Yeap, when I was last at Marham in 2010 for a Tornado Q-Course, the camp despite being in the middle of nowhere (maybe because of that) was alive with about half a dozen bars, clubs, groups, bowling alley, 'cinema', families bar etc and yet now, despite being rammed with new F-35 people, it's mostly dead at night/weekends. Then there's issues with some of the accommodation being very unreliable (no water/heating etc) even for the SNCO/WO mess, too small of a gym, very few local amenities or nearby pubs etc (20-30min one way to nearest town) and so for people who see this base as their first proper "home" as a new entrant to the RAF, its no wonder they quit so quickly, disillusioned with literally everything about the RAF that they've seen, which is a massive shame.