Life after the RAF

[blogger]

Well one year down the road after leaving the RAF after 25 years service I can say this:

Individual resettlement officer (Cottesmore) waste of time money and space.
Resettlement training offered good.
Advice on resettlement from most trainers very good.
Last 4 months away from RAF work Cleared from Station and still paid a bargin.
Courses at Aldershot excellent.

Only down side no toss pot boy wonder officers to wind up all day.

Reading the moans and groans on here getting worse is priceless.

Life is wonderful outside trust me take a leap of faith and go for it. :D

[Ogre]

You forgot one thing, your degree of fitness has gone from "acceptable" to "above average" (or in my case at the time of leaving "unfit" to "average")

Enjoy!

[pigsinspace]

It even mentioned on my JPA certificate that I failed my last fitness test....did I really try?

6 months on and still waiting for my P45

[WhoAreYa]

JPA certificate, whats that? Did get the nice pin badge but no P45, lol.

Life after 22 yrs in the RAF, bloody excellant.
Now doing a job I enjoy, more days off than I work, no deployment, lost around 15kg in weight, much fitter and loving the life in Australia.

Do I miss it ? mmmmmmm, No.
Would I go back ? Not a chance.

However to those still serving: Keep up the good work boys and girls and try to enjoy it.
:ok:

[Blacksheep]

Do I miss it ? mmmmmmm, No.You ain't been out long enough for nostalgia to kick in, but it will; I promise you. ;)

[diginagain]

You ain't been out long enough for nostalgia to kick in, but it will; I promise you.

Given enough time, you too could become like Beagle.:E

[goudie]

Watch out for the recurring dream that you're back in uniform!

[RubiC Cube]

Watch out for the recurring dream that you're back in uniform!

Surely you mean nightmare? 5 years on no regrets and no nostalgia.

[exrotarybooty]

...... but on the other hand!

It’s not easy to leave the Royal Air Force,
With a smile on your face, it is true.
For a start you’re too young to be finished,
And to stop wearing blue, makes you blue.

It’s a wrench to be told you’re not wanted,
That your tools of the trade are expired.
Here you are, at the peak of your mountain,
And the ropes cut, farewell, you’re retired.

There’s no fun out there being a civvie
You are no longer ‘Licenced to Kill’.
They go tense if you ‘top’ your opponents,
Make mistakes, and they send you the bill.

Where’s the flair when you’re not in the Service?
Out of uniform you’re off the track.
They laugh at the clothes you are wearing.
Should I ditch these, are flares coming back?

In civvie street sport is a business.
And payment is needed to play.
Try swimming, or tennis, or football,
The cost will turn you quite grey.

Being ill is a real painful business.
Nothing’s free with the old ‘National Health’,
Pulling teeth is a guinea a minute,
It can seriously damage your wealth.

There is also a problem with housing.
In ‘Quarters’ the rent is quite low.
But the civvies aren’t bothered by ‘March-Outs’,
When they leave, the dirt doesn’t go!

They don’t have ‘Disturbance Allowance’,
When they travel to work they must pay.
Their holidays aren’t very often,
And the Unions have now had their day.

So be warned on those days when you’re grumpy,
And life is a pain in the bum.
Be thankful you’re still in the Air Force,
And not a civilian like some.

ERB (Written in 1993 as I retired after 13 years in the RAF)

[Doctor Cruces]

I frequently get the recurring nightmare!!! I thought it was just me.

I've been out 11 years and not missed it yet. I'm told that nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Doc C

[diginagain]

I frequently get the recurring nightmare!!! I thought it was just me.

Nope, me too. Many nights I've woken up in a cold sweat wondering if I should have handed my aircrew watch back before departing.

[davejb]

Lamp swinging isn't nostalgia,
it's an indoor sport

(One that, sadly, the P Ed staff didn't seem to count)

[RETDPI]

Many ( and I do talk to many ) of us old f@rts who care , do actually discuss having had recurring dreams of being back in the Service in our prime and of trying to contribute to operations.

However, it is of course the Service we remembered.............

[WPH]

Reading the moans and groans on here getting worse is priceless.

Life is wonderful outside trust me take a leap of faith and go for itSeems to me that most of the whinging on here is done by people who have already left!
Well one year down the road after leaving the RAF after 25 years service I can say this:Can't have been that bad to do 25 years!
Only down side no toss pot boy wonder officers to wind up all daySounds like you made the right choice by leaving - or did I just bite?:)

[jindabyne]

It was invariably those minority crewroom whingers who were the most vocal - seems as though little has changed? And I trust that the grass will still be greener in civvy street in the coming years!

[Wingswinger]

When I was in the Service I was commited to what I did, I believed in it and drew satisfaction from it. I was proud of what I was. Within 6 months of leaving I had forgotten everything which made me leave (in 1989) and remembered only the good times.

Everything I have done in civvy street has just been a job. That's the way it is unless one is fortunate enough to be running one's own succesful business.

[JessTheDog]

I've been out since 2004 after a mere seven year's service (got out before getting into the immediate pension dependency trap!). Plenty of recurring dreams about life in the RAF!

Two nights ago I had a very vivid dream. I was an officer cadet at a Cranwell-style reception in honour of HM The Queen, who glared at me for slouching with a beer in my hand! The dream got more bizarre, HM was left without bodyguards in a dark alley as part of a convoluted plot by Prince Andrew to commit multiple regicide and assume the throne, for reasons known only to himself.

I have recurring dreams of mealtimes at the Mess and being orderly officer as well! :eek:

[1.3VStall]

I left twelve years ago after over 25 years. I'm glad I joined and I'm glad I left. I was proud of what I did in the Service, although I cannot pretend I liked everything that was happening in the 1990s. I had great time when I was in (most of the time), met many wonderful people some of whom have become lifelong friends and I went to many interesting places that I wouldn't have gone to if I hadn't joined. But, for a number of reasons (not least of which was a large wodge of redundancy money!) it was time to move on when I did.

Since then I have pursued a career in civil aviation and my family has, for the first time, been able to put down roots in a community; we have been in the same house for nearly twelve years.

Am I nostalgic? Of course! I had some epic times. Do I miss it? Definitely not - from what I see the proud Service that I left has been in terminal decline for some time. I do, though, hold in extremely high regard the guys and gals that are still in and constantly do more than we should reasonably expect of them with the shoddy, obsolete kit that they are given to operate.

The one thing I do miss is the banter. I just haven't been able to get civvies to buy into the 10-second response criterion!

[danieloakworth]

Best thing I ever did was join, next best thing I did was leave.

[matkat]

I left in 1989 after 13 years no regrets whatsoever in either joining or leaving I thought (and still do) that leaving a job at 31 after 13 years was the right thing to do I still live close to the base (Leuchars) but do not go there and have no friends left that are there presently serving.

[Seldomfitforpurpose]

A thread about life after the RAF, populated by folk telling us how they all made the right decision yet, despite in some case being out for years and years they are still in here posting in the Military Aircrew thread :rolleyes:

4 years to to my 38 1/2 point and I do so hope that there is more to life than dribbling on in here to look forward to :p

[justone26]

Last official day in RAF next Monday after 9 years. Currently on terminal leave getting 2 wages. :ok:Already happy I made the jump and even in the current financial climate had 3 job offers on the table all paying more than the RAF. Life in the RAF was great but so many more opportunities to further yourself in Civvy Street.
Already look fondly on my service but everytime I see a news article on current Ops or hear of the death of another serviceman it reinforces my belief that I made the correct decision. I am in a job where I easily get financial help in order to get additional resources such as equipment and personnel, bliss!
Enjoyed it but no regrets. :)

[taxydual]

You can leave the Air Force, but will the Air Force leave you?

My neighbour has just replaced his burglar alarm. It went off at 0 dark o'clock the other morning. It has exactly the same ringtones as the SAR scramble bell we had. I was out of bed and halfway down the stairs before I twigged. I left the RAF in 1997 and SAR in 1985.

[goudie]

You can leave the Air Force, but will the Air Force leave you.


I did 19 years in the RAF before being offered a good financial inducement to leave early, in '74 (too many chiefs). I was then fortunate enough to have a second career lasting 20 years before retiring at 56, although I did continue working part-time.
Whenever I look back on my life, as one does, I have vivid memories of quite a few aspects of my RAF career, which I mostly enjoyed and many of the people I served with. However my civilian job, which could be quite demanding, was just that, a job and I seldom think about it at all.
I must admit that reading PPRuNE does jog the memory somewhat. In fact since I've joined I've made contact with a couple of guys from wayback.

[Saintsman]

Getting a bollocking whilst trying to get my blue card signed made me realise I'd made the right decision in getting out.

Loved the work. Hated the unnecessary bull****, particularly from wankers who were only in a higher rank because of time or because promoting them was the easiest way to get rid of them.

Ended up doing a similar job for more money, paid overtime and holidays in the sun lasting two weeks.

[A2QFI]

I don't think anybody is saying how great they are. I read it as people saying that the RAF was good when they joined, went downhill at rates varying according what they were doing and where, and people left and are doing OK outside. I joined in '58 and left in '77 before the major slide started and I enjoyed what I did but I am glad I am out.

[Dengue_Dude]

. . . relax, it's not a woman's name . . .

However, it's nice when a flight or squadron commander suddenly pitches up as a first officer!

Sadly, when it happened to me, the guy was one of those rare sort, a gentleman and therefore still commanded the respect he was due when in blue (treating people like they were human beings etc instead of a rank structure).

Cheers Dograt, it was a pleasure in both regimes!

Why couldn't you have been a right b@st@rd?????

I've been out a while but thoroughly enjoyed being in the Reserve for a while - that was quite an experience, being 'in' but not 'in' so to speak.

Enjoyed my time though.

[goudie]

I had an uncle who served in the RFC, RNAS and RAF. He retired as a Warrant Officer in '51. When we used to chat about Service life he often said that the RAF that I knew wasn't the same or as good as the one he knew.
We agreed to differ but really it was just a case of perspective. The same applies today I believe.

[dallas]

I miss the familiar environment and the relatively carefree position of having a secure job, but not at the cost of being owned like a slave. Since the turn of the century the Service has become more and more demanding as rubber bands stretch, but the increased tempo has been matched by a similar rise in presumptiousness/lack of regard for people.

I'm quite sure the majority of people understand why we have to be away from home more often since 9/11, and most have the integrity to meet their commitments, but when the way we are managed is dumbed down, and people start to become little more than assets, it's time to go.

To compound issues, the tools we are provided with to do the job are ancient, inadequate or both, and I personally became tired of having to work harder for no other reason than to fix the plan because the kit had let us down, while working in spite of the new showpiece computer system.

As for why I continue to look at Pprune, it both reassures me that I've made the right decision despite the economy, while confirming that the RAF still lacks the fundamental desire to learn from the sort of mistakes that convinced me it was time to go.

More seriously, there are many behind me biding their time, still wearing uniform for now, and it astonishes me that this doesn't seem to have sunk in at the top. We need a dramatic, and dare I say revolutionary, reassessment of how the RAF does business. Right now there seems to be a lot of fiddling going on, with Rome as a backdrop.

[brit bus driver]

Right now there seems to be a lot of fiddling going on,

I thought it was the Army doing the fiddling....:}

[SRENNAPS]

Out 18 months now..........wow it has gone quick!!!

Doing well in Civie life?.....yes and enjoying it. New Job, new challenges, new friends, more money.

Regret leaving?.........no, I don’t think so.

Made the right decision leaving?...........who will ever know????.......I don’t know what would have happened if I had stayed in.

Things I miss?............The lads, the beer calls, the mess, Bruggen, the detachments: Deci, Goose Bay(em - not sure about that one), Incirlik (Carpets & Watches), Nellis (Vegas – Deci with lights), many others and even the various locations in the gulf. But my favourites were always aircraft recovery’s..........2 or 3 days away from the main base, changing an engine or whatever, on the piss with the crew and as thanks for fixing the jet, that crew giving the runway a bloody good beat up on takeoff.

Things I don’t miss?............jumped up young officers with no experience, skiving whinging barrack room lawyers from the crewroom, weak WOs, CCS & fitness tests (only because they were run by jumped up wanabees with a bit of power), LEAN, LITS, re-inventing the wheel and finally engineering officers (especially SENGOs) who were only on a Sqns’ to achieve their “tick in the box” – and they preached LOYALTY?????

Why do I read PPrune?............It make me laugh, it keeps me informed about something I will always care about, and it reminds me about everything I have written above.

As for you folks that are slating those that post here after they have left the RAF...........well you have yet to leave. If you had a full enjoyable career in the Air Force then you cannot turn your back on it. If you feel you can, then maybe you should not have been in it in the first place.

Finally:

4 years to to my 38 1/2 point and I do so hope that there is more to life than dribbling on in here to look forward to

With a rate of 1.15 posts per day since Feb 2007, I doubt there is for you........sorry:ok:

[AdanaKebab]

Dallas, I believe your post was spot on.

The only way forward for the Services is radical and revolutionary change.

[SRENNAPS]

Flt Lt Mac,

I also come on here to remind me of the good times I had in the Air Force (and I have probably had a few more that you have). I come on here to read about posts that mention things and places that you have probably never heard of.

I never tried to justify my decision to leave the RAF.

And Seldom, apologies if you have taken insult to my comment, it was meant to be a bit of banter.

[SRENNAPS]

Well good for you. That can only mean one of two things:

You have been to Gan on Holiday.

Or you are also an “old duffer” and you finally worked out how to use a computer and join Prune earlier this year. Well done.

Go on tell me how long you have been in???

[SRENNAPS]

Flt Lt Mac

Seems we have a lot more in common that we thought. My old man was also in the RAF and I first landed (at the age of 8) at Gan in 1968. I will regret this but I was scared $h!tless about going on a VC10. My dad was so proud when I went to work on them 10 years later.

As for your degree....can’t fault it. I learnt on a C64 and a 286 (well before Pprune ).

[brit bus driver]

Could you two get a room please....:E

[MrBernoulli]

His wife? Or yours?:E

[taxydual]

To the Mods of this most excellent website and anyone else who wishes to contribute

A suggestion..

Would there be any value in having a new 'sub section' to the Military Aircrew Section on PPRune?

A sub section where we ex-military 'oldies,crusties, farts' or whatever adjective, could 'swing the lamp, pull sandbags,etc' without hijacking serious threads from our modern counterparts.

I have taken strong drink following an excellent dinner with old RAF mates. No doubt, I shall awake suffering the consequences.

Please be gentle with your responses.

My regards to all my readers.

Hic.

[goudie]

A sub section where we ex-military 'oldies,crusties, farts' or whatever adjective, could 'swing the lamp, pull sandbags,etc' without hijacking serious threads from our modern counterparts.


Don't we have that already with the 'nostalgia' thread?

[Shack37]

OMG, I left in 1971 after eleven years and I'd love to write about my experiences but I can't remember any. It's so long ago but I think I'm sure we had some aircraft. Computers weren't very sophisticated back then, kind of like a rack with balls on. Have to stop now, the keyboard's getting wet, I hope it's only dribble.:(

Apologies to those still serving for using some of your valuable bandwidth.:{

s37

[Rigga]

What a brilliant thread.

I've read and agreed to most of it (up to the drift into the predictable "Get another Forum" moaning).

The bit I liked best was Seldomfitforpurpose's ill-judged opinion of what he'd be like when he's left the service; something which, even after getting to a point 4 years before his 31 (+1/2) years - he has yet to experience.

Well matey, you'll only do it once - and I really do hope your not one of those 'drop-dead after serving too long' types.

I reached my "24 + 9" earlier this year. I am about to start my 4th job having spent all that time improving my way up to managership in a large Part 145 organisation. Something I have seen very many ex-RAF officers and SNCO's fail to do.

[Dengue_Dude]

Is a C64 a bit like a C47 but bigger?

How many people flew the 286? Was that a Hastings, Beverley, Britannia or Belslow?

Gan wasn't all it was cracked up to be - except in the 'cinema' where cries of 'Good Old Fred (Quimby)' were ubiquitous.

We never 'flagged' Gan, we stopped for fuel instead . . .

The platters of sausage and chips were pretty good though. Heard my first Billy Connolly tape there - ah, nostalgia.

[sled dog]

Physic Degree ok, but Computing ? Seems like an easy option :p For what it is worth, towards the end of my RAF career, i was going through Gan on average four times a month, both directions :cool:
And yes, after all these years i still miss the camaraderie of the service, but that has long gone :{

[camelspyyder]

:) sled dog you must be mad...it's only that team spirit that holds us together these days.

To everybody else...I wish I could like you look back fondly on the interwar (1945 onwards) years when you were members of a fantastic flying club with all those perks... however, some of us are serving in smaller, busier, more efficient Services these days, and still getting plenty of satisfaction out of it.

It is never going to be like your day again.

CS

[petermcleland]

I did 12 years in the RAF from 1951 to 1963...Then after a year out in the cold I decided to get back into flying so I then did 1964 to 1986 with BEA/BA...I have to say that I look back with great fondness and nostalgia on my RAF period.

A serious mistake was not to decide on civil flying while I was still serving in the RAF...All the benefits lost. When I handed in my logbooks to the CAA it was a year and four days since my last RAF flight and all the concessions last for 1 year only...Those fours days cost me dearly :{

However, I have now been retired for longer than I served in Civil Aviation and early retirement at age 52 and a half was the best thing I ever did :)

[Shack37]

No indeedy, it'll never be the same again.
Pontious was a pilot.
Didn't need 1250's because we knew each other.

Ah, the old ones are still best.

FWIW I'm still in touch with four guys I worked with in the mob but in real life, not via PpruNe.

[glad rag]

large Part 145 organisation..etc

Sad, Sad,Sad.:yuk::yuk::yuk:

[midsomerjambo]

I think most of us would agree that whatever the motivation for leaving, the fact that it was probably our first real job and we went into it at a very tender age (16, in my case) it is always going to leave us indelibly marked, for better or worse and for the most part I'd venture to suggest better. I still find that a lot of my attitude and approach to work, rest and play are influenced inordinately by my time in the service, even though I've now been out considerably longer than I was in (21 years versus 13 years). Like everyone there were aspects of service life that really got on my t*ts, but I think I can safely say that deployments to Finningly and living in dirty, cold, disused MQs don't really hold much of a candle to what the boys and girls nowadays have to contend with (and at least the MQs were more comfy that the aircrew caravans, eh BEagle? ;)).

For those of you currently serving, you deserve, and have my deepest respect. Just cut us old gits a bit of slack to reminisce occasionally - you'll be old one day too :\

MSJ

[BEagle]

.....and at least the MQs were more comfy than the aircrew caravans, eh BEagle?

Only used an aircrew rabbit hutch a couple of times, but actually they were fine. Only a short stumble to the bog and shower block and close to Ops. Whereas the MQs were not far from areas infested with Untermensch such as baby navs and plastic sergeant wireless operators....and one was at the mercy of the slowest bugger to shower, shave and dump before catching the transport (back of a 3-tonner wasn't uncommon) back to the Ops site.

Although none this could possibly be as bad as the privations of today out in the East, I certainly agree.