Originally Posted by
AusAviation
I recently attended ASP and fortunately was recommended for progression for Air Force Pilot and Mission both with a moderate standing (ADFA and DEO for both) as well as Army and Navy pilot both with a strong standing (ADFA for both).
I now need to submit my order of preferences but need some more advice.
One person I spoke to at ACMC suggested to me that Army and Navy view you more favourably if you place their service as first preference whereas Air Force do not really consider that when deciding to give you an offer. Alternatively, the Enlistment Coordinator I spoke to just said that all services consider your preference order.
My real personal preference, like most, would be Air Force Pilot but I certainly wouldn't be disappointed by either Army or Navy.
Given my stronger standing for Army and Navy I wouldn't want to jeopardise my chances there by placing Air Force first but also don't want to lower my chances of Air Force selection. Is it better to place Air Force as first preference and rely on my stronger standing for Army and Navy to keep in consideration or just commit fully to Army or Navy and place one of them as first?
Lastly, the decision between Army and Navy. I do like the idea of the maritime aspect but feel that the Army may have more combat opportunities. Which service provides the most thrilling/rewarding career with the best conditions?
You are overthinking this. Put down the services you want to fly for in that order. FYI, if you prefer to fly Army or Navy, then your ASP score will put you in a better shot for those rather than RAAF; as the RAAF to date with ASP scores tend to be leaning towards the higher scoring candidates - and this may simply come down to a greater number of applicants wanting RAAF so they can afford to be choosy. From what I have been told about the other services (Navy in particular) this is not the case.
Also, you can choose to be sneaky with your preferences and when the OSBs are coming up for a particular service and drop preferences so that you can be in on a preferred service OSB first and foremost and play the waiting game to see if they want you. At a later stage you can add on another service to your preference list and be thrown onto upcoming OSBs for that. I was going down this route with keeping RAAF as my sole preference for a period of time, then seeing how things panned out if I received a LOO within a reasonable amount of time...if that didn't happen, I was going to add RAN as a preference. If you are genuinely happy flying with any, then go for all the preferences - just be prepared that potentially you may attend an OSB for your #2 or #3 preference before your #1...and may receive an LOO for that #2 or #3 before any offer for your #1 comes about. From what I have been told, the only real burning of bridges would occur if you turned down an OSB or LOO for one service while hoping to get in with another...and then tried for that service again after realising your preferred service wasn't going to materialise. That would not be advisable.
Wrt Army vs Navy: Navy will have longer training to get you from street to seat than Army will, given Navy do both BFTS and 1FTS. You'll also have your fixed-wing pilot wings to go with your rotary-wing pilot wings at the end of it though, and this may be more appealing to you. Perhaps it may make Navy pilots more attractive for cross-service transfers, but that's just speculation on my behalf. Regarding deployments, well, Navy guys will definitely go out to sea a fair bit. Surely that's attractive if you want to see more of the world. Can't comment on Army pilot life who may potentially be more at the whim of conflicts abroad/humanitarian requirements to experience deployments.