View Full Version : Worries from a newbie
Big Cheese1
12th Oct 2007, 10:45
Hi all,
Just recently been offered a commission with the RAF Regt and am as keen as the next man to get stuck in etc, however I can't help noticing the comments from members who seem completely dis-illusioned with the current state of the RAF.
Obviously with the current tempo of operations, its a given that I'll spend a fair amount of time in sandy places, however I'm concerned about comments regarding eroding conditions back home, base closures, reduced expenditures on facilities and the like.
Can anyone please tell me it's not all doom and gloom??!!!!!
South Bound
12th Oct 2007, 10:55
Eeek, you asked the question, expect a mountain of responses.
Just remember that we all joined at different times, many with very different expectations about what we wanted from a career. When I joined, all the JOs wanted to serve to 55 and get a star, now things are very different at a military career is sometimes seen as a stepping stone to other things; people do not necessarily want a PC anymore.
Things change that impact how we look at ourselves and what we want from life and what we are prepared to accept. Changes in conditions and opportunities will affect us all differently and when we say 'it is not the Service we joined' that is because it is not. But it WILL be the Service you join, and if you go in with your eyes wide open and an open mind you can get what you want out of a career. How you react to changes that occur in your time will decide what your view will be.
It is normally the most opinionated of us that post on this forum, so there is not a lot of fence-sitting; bear that in mind when judging posts. There are a great many Service personnel living contended lives and enjoying their jobs, albeit with very different ambitions to those that went before. Evolution, it happens.
Sentry Agitator
12th Oct 2007, 10:57
No!
However, there are still some good points..........you just have to look very very very very closely to find one. Oh, and it hasn't got to cost anything.
This thread is going to be fun?
Big Cheese1
12th Oct 2007, 11:02
No less than some of the other bits of doom and gloom on here?
Granted, people these days do join for different reasons, myself included! I'm keeping an open mind on it all and couldn't honestly say it's a career for life, but then that could easily change!
Utrinque Apparatus
12th Oct 2007, 11:10
Just make sure you don't join the Northern Rock Apes !
Go on, get in, and smash things and have a great time with the lads. I joined (a real regiment though) to save the world, had a great shot at it and made a difference, especially to the life of barmaids the world over (special thanks to Tune - pronounced Tuona - in Stavanger) :}
Wader2
12th Oct 2007, 11:54
Big Cheese, you will enjoy it. The expression, can't take a joke, shouldn't have joined, is as good as ever.
You will enjoy digging a slit trench and lying in cold damp earth etc (or hot warm sand or whatever) and all grown up boys stuff.
Some things will annoy you, some things you will relish. How about Scuba diving on an atoll in the Indian Ocean at Betty's expense? Above all you will enjoy being responsible for a disparate bunch of individuals, looking to their welfare and encouraging them on the path tolife long learning.
You will feel great satisfaction as they earn promotion, get commissioned, improve their education etc all thanks to your encouragement. Utrinque Apparatus joined a 'real regiment' but your gunners are different from soldiers in a 'real regiment'.
Utrinque Apparatus
12th Oct 2007, 11:59
Wader
Cold damp earth, unless your mates have just p****d on it for you !
;)
Wader2
12th Oct 2007, 12:58
Wader
Cold damp earth, unless your mates have just p****d on it for you !
;)
Of course, I forgot, officers and royalty and all that.
Baskitt Kase
12th Oct 2007, 16:55
Don't let our whinging put you off. Yes, conditions have been eroded since we joined, but now that many of the benefits are gone, they can't be eroded away from under you as you will never have experienced them. Bases are being closed, but bases were being closed before any of us joined (even the cold war warriors like myself) and, if anything, the rate of closures has slowed down over the years - a trend that is bound to continue as the total number of bases reaches a minimum level. As for reduced spending on facilities, despite all the complaining, facilities are far better now than they were 20 years ago - 8 man rooms again, anyone? Every sqn I was on for many years was housed in WW2 'temporary' accommodation - 47 Sqn only moved to a brick built facility a little over 10 years ago. Things only used to be improved when the occupants of the buildings did it at their own expense - something that changing attitudes has reduced or stopped over the years.
The things you read us complaining about aren't things that should be putting you off as they are complaints about things that will not impact you if you were to join now. Instead, you will be able to amass your own set of compaints over a career that you can highlight uselessly to candidates in your turn!
Big Cheese,
Just get stuck in. Anyway, you'll be too busy dealing with the bitching from the troops to have the time to worry about yourself! And the times you'll be f#cked about will be the times you look back on most fondly. And when it all gets too bad, look in the mirror, grit your teeth and say 'They can't crack me, I'm a rubber duck.'.
Per Ardua.
(Of course, its far easier now than it was in my day)
dirty_bugger
13th Oct 2007, 14:42
lets not beat about the bush.......it is all doom and gloom!