how to get out the raf regt after a year and 6 months?

[mtrad]

I have been in the raf regiment a year and 6 months. I now want to leave as it is'nt for me. I have another job lined up so how long would it take for me to get out quickly and what steps do I have to take? If I showed them I had another job lined up could i get out in a matter of a months (shortest possible time)

thanks

[Alber Ratman]

Talk to your HR of your unit. You have got to do payback for your phase 2 training and any other courses you may have done. You will also have to fulfil any OOA commitment you may have to do either formed unit or NFA.. If its to escape going abroad, your chances are slim of a quick get out.

[Pontius Navigator]

Buying your way out was the traditional method and honourable method.

Visiting Colchester is a high risk strategy.

Getting through OASC and passing IOT is a slow route.

Is there anyway of getting out of The Royal Air Force half way throw your service? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers (http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080404163434AAWQ035)

Drugs seems a pretty good route.

[mtrad]

I have already done a tour of Afghanistan in this time is that seen as payback for phase 2 training?

[Airborne Aircrew]

Drugs seems a pretty good route.

It's not... I recently had a discussion with an ex pongo who had admitted to using drugs when he didn't in order to get out of the Army when he was 19. Now he's older and far more worldly he'd like to get back in... He may or may not be able to depending on circumstances.

Doing drugs or pretending you did is burning all your boats for the future.

As an ex gunner myself albeit a long time ago my opinion is that a quick get-out after 18 months is a no go... Suck it up, make the best of it and learn from it. It will stand you in great stead for the future. I'm lead to believe a previously enlisted Rock is currently in charge of security for the Olympics - you'd be surprised what Rocks go on to do.

[Tankertrashnav]

When I was an RAF Regiment flight commander one of my blokes confessed to me that he was homosexual, and wanted to get out of the service (homosexual acts were a criminal offence even in civvy street then). I was naive and sympathetic and told him I'd see what could be done. I had a quiet word with the squadron WO who told me the bloke was no more homosexual than I was (I wasn't!) and he was just trying to "work his ticket".

Anyway, don't think that reason would work these days - even in the rockapes, so I can't help!

A -A's advice is good - one of my mates left to go into Waitrose as a trainee store manager, and ended up running the whole chain, retiring with a CBE.

[OneFifty]

The agreement you signed up to is stated on the Form 308 when you agreed to accept service, and on the Form 75 which you signed on attestation, both of which you should have copies of. Basically, under normal circumstances, you have a right to apply to end your service before your 9 year point 3 years after you complete your training, giving 18 months notice. In reality, it isn't as straight cut as that; the manning situation will considered etc. (I think regt is under manned at present). Only people who can give you a more definitive answer though is your trade sponsor or drafter.

[Biggus]

Fail your fitness test?

[Herc-u-lease]

Most of the people i have met who wanted to get out aren't taking advantage of the good stuff* the RAF still has to offer. Get yourself enrolled in some training/education, get some adventurous training sorted and get involved with some sports clubs. If you find you still can't stand it then stick your PVR in and accept it could be a lengthy wait.

In terms of training, education and sports opportunities and leave allowance you will struggle to find a better employer.

H




*I appreciate the opportunities are thinning out, but there are still a few there.

[OafOrfUxAche]

Sex change?

[WASALOADIE]

Put a pair of underpants over your head and a couple of pencils up your nostrils and walk about saying "wibble"


Usually works for me

[NutLoose]

I would have thought the lie and get discharged for drugs option would scupper your future career prospects.

[Laarbruch72]

I would have thought the lie and get discharged for drugs option would scupper your future career prospects.


Yes, it will.
OP, you state that you have a job "lined up", but is that a firm offer? It's usually impossible to get a firm offer without them knowing for sure when you're available, which of course you don't know yet.

Then you have to bear in mind that if it's not a firm offer, more of a "could you have a look at this job and get back to us if it interests you" kind of offer, then you'll have at least an interview looming at some point.
The first question any new employer will ask is "why are you leaving your current job?" and if your answer involves drugs, even if it was purely to circumvent the PVR system, the rest of the interview is academic.

Your PSF and your boss are the people you need to be talking to, they're the only ones who can start to sway things and the advice will be more up to date and relevant than any you'll get here.

[orgASMic]

All things being equal, according to the RAF Manning website you will be out in 6 months from actioning your PVR. The link below will only work from a MOD terminal:

http://www.manning.raf.r.mil.uk/review/Manning/CofE_1/early_term_waiting_times.doc

[diginagain]

Clearly, the cachet of being 'Special Forces' doesn't appeal to everyone..........

[Climebear]

orgASMic

However, all things are not equal. PVR is subject to other regulations such as Training Return of Service or, in this case, RAF Terms of Service Regulations (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/650/contents/made) that require a minimum of 3 years service from completion of initial training.

There are other options that could be explored; however, these are very much tied to individual circumstances. I would recomend that the OP books an office call with his station's chief clerk in the first instance.

[Biggus]

While I am not recommending the "drugs" route for mtrad, I have the following question on this approach.

I thought, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, that all you have to do is refuse to take the CDT, and you were automatically discharged, i.e. there is no requirement to either take, or admit (rightly or wrongly) to having taken drugs.

If this is correct:

Point 1: You haven't lied.

Point 2: You haven't actually taken drugs

If you tell a prospective employer that this was an action you undertook to leave the services, stated that you have no history of drug taking, stated you were willing to undertake any test you new employer required and even perhaps paid for some civy drug test giving you a clean bill of health, then would it really be a show stopper for a future career?

In a nutshell, my understanding is that you are dismissed for either failing a CDT, i.e. there is no doubt of your guilt, or refusing to take it, in which case there is no proof of your guilt, merely an assumption of it......


Standing by to be corrected by the more enlightened out there.

[Pontius Navigator]

oaf, I don't think a sex change would get you discharged.

Though as a Rock he/she would have to be remustered.

[Tankertrashnav]

Tell them you can spell!


Gosh, how we all laughed! A A and I, inter alia, are rolling in the aisles here :*

[Al R]

It only took me 20 years or more to work my flanker. I sure showed 'em who was boss - they won't mess with me again in a hurry. :cool:

[Laarbruch72]

Biggus:
then would it really be a show stopper for a future career?


Show stopper, possibly, and possibly not, but I know that if any candidate came to work for me explaining that he left the RAF by circumventing the proper channels and reneged on his contract by intimating that he may or may not have taken drugs, he wouldn't be high on my list of dream candidates.
I'm sure you're well aware there's a vast amount of competition for every job out there, however simple it might be, so employers can afford to be choosy. I think the fact that someone has a track record of baling on a contract by at best, questionable means, puts him at a disadvantage straight away to the (for example) RAF Regiment gunner leaving at the end of 12 years with an exemplary conduct record.

I think you're right that refusal to take the test results in summary dismissal, I believe several gunners have already gone that route in the last year or so, so there seems to be a precedent. I'd bet a good sum on them not being in paid employment right now though, and if they are it won't be for the best package or for the most discerning employer.

[PFMG]

I thought, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, that all you have to do is refuse to take the CDT, and you were automatically discharged, i.e. there is no requirement to either take, or admit (rightly or wrongly) to having taken drugs.


I have never been called forward for CDT so you might have to wait a long time to refuse one.

[Surplus]

I have never been called forward for CDT so you might have to wait a long time to refuse one. I did 4 out of the last 5 at my unit before I left, I was an 'A' candidate for each of them.

I, nor any of the other people who took the test whilst I was there, failed, but then again, we were all old fogies, not a single young chap/chapess to be seen. Have they become properly random, or is the aim to conduct the test and have the least number of failures by targetting those tested.

The mob I'm in now, use the last digit of the service number to identify testees for any given test.

[airborne_artist]

diginagain: Clearly, the cachet of being 'Special Forces' doesn't appeal to everyone.......... Please tell me you were not being serious. Good guys as they are, a plain vanilla RAFR Gunner with 18 months' service is not SF :mad:

[sled dog]

What was the old saying : " If you cannot take a joke you should not have joined ".............:p

[diginagain]

Please tell me you were not being serious. No, of course I wasn't. I've got one in the family and I know just how capable they are. T'was nothing more than a dig.

[NutLoose]

oaf, I don't think a sex change would get you discharged

Well... Your discharge would have a shorter distance to travel.. At the very least :E

[Airborne Aircrew]

Actually a sex change would, at worst, get him transferred to the Auggies. Women cannot serve on Regiment Squadrons.

Go for it mate... Then you can have your dream and be a slut... :}

[Pontius Navigator]

They are Special Forces at least to some. One Miss PN was an auggie for 2-3 years. She did a summer camp at Atlanta and was working with a US National Guard unit. The US could not get their heads around either SAC or the Regiment and were convinced (by the SACs) that an SAC was senior to a US Cpl (or whatever) and the US believed they were special forces.

Mind you their judgement was lacking as they put Miss PN in charge of a Humvee and even let her drive a Bradley. She took 5 goes to pass her driving test :}

[airpolice]

I know it's a changed airforce from 1978 but I found that just going in every day and saying "that I didn't want to do it any more" was quite successful, even if it did take six months.

Having gone to Swinderby at 16½ and then nearly two years at Valley, a year at Northern and a year at Boulmer, I was still unaware of what civvy life was all about, but I wanted to know.

I had tried going awol for a week in November 1977, but they brought me back; I lived in the guardroom for 5 days, doing odd stuff like accompanying the SDO to raise and lower the flag each day, and answering the phone as "Duty Prisoner"

Then they told me to go back to work and we'd pretend it had never happened. I did try, but my heart wasn't in it.

Next up was Op Burberry and that kept me out of trouble for 6 weeks, but then they wanted to send me back down the mines again.

I went to Wroughton and explained that I had no issue with working in the R3, I just didn't want to be in the airforce any more.

So.... they sent me to Stafford to hold. The only airtrafficker ever posted there in the 70s as far as I know. I had a few months of great fun. Mornings on the 25 yard range, with the Rock Flt Lt who had an eye patch, melting the barrel of an SLR and afternoons playing pool in the bar.

Then I went to Cosford for a month where a very nice old chap, Electronics Instructor Flt. Sgt. tried to entice me to remuster to be a tech.

Eventually, by June 1978 it was decided by PMC that I was never going to see sense, and so they let me go. Up until the last week of my service, they were offering to let bygones be and have me back at work.

It was actually very difficult to get thrown out, mainly as so many good people were trying to save me from myself.


I'd suggest the OP considers how green the civvy grass actually may or may not be, and then take a few days to reflect on just why it is so difficult to join up in the first place.

There are worse things than being a rock for the next six years.


As Airborne Aircrew wrote Suck it up, make the best of it and learn from it. It will stand you in great stead for the future.

[dead_pan]

mtrad - if you haven't been put off by all the banter and are still reading this thread, I'm intrigued to know what job you have lined up for yourself?

[Duplo]

4 weeks notice to your MOD employer is fine... they won't bat an eyelid..

[Thelma Viaduct]

Get an imaginary bike and ride it around your camp.

When your discharge comes through, remember to park the bike at the main gate, kick it over, then tell the guard commander that you won't be needing it any more.

Job jobbed. :ok:

[Tankertrashnav]

with the Rock Flt Lt who had an eye patch,


That would have been Kevin Ley. Was a student pilot at Leeming or Linton some time around 1963 when he wrapped himself and his Jowett Jupiter around a tree. After they rebuilt his face (to an extent) they told him that the RAF didnt want one-eyed pilots so he joined the rocks. Great sense of humour, he had a spare glass eye with an RAF roundel painted on it, and his party trick in the bar was to go into a corner and turn around with the roundel staring at you from his left socket. Hope he's still around - great guy :ok:

[mtrad]

lol no I havent been put off by all the banter. I have a job lined up as an apprentice electrician.I dont really know what the generaltake is on the length of time as people think diffrent things. ill speak to the dessk and find out what the crack is.Can you be out in 4 weeks? im not to sure

[MATELO]

oaf, I don't think a sex change would get you discharged.


Quite correct, they would just take your trousers and shirt off you and exchange them for a blouse and skirt.

[ExRAFRadar]

Interesting to note that Civvy firms are now asking for a 3 month notice period depending on what you are doing of course.

The last 2 permy jobs I have done in IT (Business Intelligence) have asked for 3 months notice.

I have lost a few interviews and at least one job because I cannot get out any faster. Used to be a month notice - long gone in my game.

In the end I just had to say I could get out in 4-8 weeks and hope for the best. Luckily I have managed to get out in 8 weeks.

Good luck.

[mtrad]

Lol i have a job as an apprentice electrition. So what the general rule in can take from 4 weeks to anythin. i will speak to my desk and find out hoe long.

[diginagain]

Lol i have a job as an apprentice electrition. So what the general rule in can take from 4 weeks to anythin. i will speak to my desk and find out hoe long. Electrician or Gardener?

[barnstormer1968]

Even in these enlightened times I still think the homosexual route is the way to go!

If you were to tell your rock flight commander you are not gay I can't see that affecting your chance of an apprenticeship later on, but should get you out of the regt:E

[Milo Minderbinder]

Let people know you've joined the Gary Glitter fan club
That should get you kicked out

[diginagain]

Or the offer of a Commission.

[Airborne Aircrew]

Or the offer of a Commission.

Pilot too... :E

[NutLoose]

Tell em you are suing them under the trade descriptions act, it was nothing like the brochure, hot WRAF's, windsurfing, skiing etc etc

[Al R]

mtrad,

If you are a 6 month SAC, are you able to talk to your 'desk' these days?

'All change' I guess..? :cool:

[STANDTO]

Is there actually any proper advice on here? Also, it seems a bit of an odd question to post in the first place.

On the basis that it is genuinely someone in need though - is it the Regiment, or is it the RAF as a whole? In many ways with the market as it is, it is safer to be IN than OUT. What about a branch change?

[Laarbruch72]

If you are a 6 month SAC, are you able to talk to your 'desk' these days?

No. It was possible from about 9 years ago up until around a year ago but it's changed back again, sergeants and above can contact their desk direct, everyone else has to go through the Chief Clerk.


Is there actually any proper advice on here?

It's been given a couple of times, the OP goes to his boss and / or the Chief Clerk, that's the only way forward.

[Bill Macgillivray]

Or learn to spell !!:sad:

[OneFifty]

I tried to offer proper advice at post 7...

[Airborne Aircrew]

I tried to offer proper advice at post 7...

Several people did... Either Standto didn't read the entire thread or he can't see his hand in front of his face...Neither matters..

[Bladdered]

Or learn to spell !!http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/puppy_dog_eyes.gif

Hey Bill, this is not a forum for how good yer service writing is lol :=

You werent my ISS tuter were yus? (when I was in and could be asked to get my apostrifis in the rite place)

[m2mob]

TTN you asked about Kevin Ley.
I have seen a Kevin Ley who wears an eye patch an was in the RAF (no more detail than that) who now makes very expensive wooden furniture and writes books and magazine articles about it. I just wish some of the cut up bits of wood I'm left with could look a bit more like his stuff.:hmm:
As to the OP, plenty of good advice on here - speak to the chief clerk, discuss your options - if the system won't let you out - is there a chance of a remuster to an electronics trade - then if you still don't get on with RAF you can leave later, after return of service - but qualified and ready for outside life.:D

[Tankertrashnav]

That's the same Kevin Ley m2mob. Never knew about the furniture making - he was mainly interested in sinking large quantities of beer when I knew him!

[OldnDaft]

Kevin Ley was OC FRTS at Catterick as his last job and did indeed move into furniture restoration/creation.

[STANDTO]

fair point - sort of what I meant. But you would have thought the chap would have known that - or does nobody talk to each other any more?