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Old 29th Jan 2004, 17:26
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ChristopherRobin
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Beside the beach
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Once again the assumption that this forum is just for RAF pilots - most AAC people who come in here registered literally years before you lot even heard of it.

...but back to the point, The AAC is a great organisation to join, and if you only want to fly for a few years then it is great, but when you join as an officer you will be condemned to a desk job just as you are getting used to being a pilot - this is not just my experience, you understand, but the career profile for all officers.

Unlike the airforce and navy, we have NCO pilots, which 'frees' the officers to do all the desk jobs.

You will fly, it will be fun, but by the time you are 27 you will have waved goodbye to fun and be knuckling down to some serious hard work. If you can have a look at the AAC directory (if you know anyone who can lend you a copy), just have a look at some of the jobs from Captain upwards - I have never seen such a collection of dreary jobs in my life, almost all the people in there are shining their @rses at a thankless drone's job.

Such is the life of an Army Officer, and if you want a career as an Army Officer then the AAC is the place to do it, but if you want to fly, then join the army as a soldier and don't go to RMAS. You could join the RAF, if you have a predisposition to being chippy, supercilious and living in a mess that looks like a downmarket conference centre, or why not try the navy?

Incidentally, the AAC now claim in briefings that they advise young officers that they will not fly all the time and that if you want to be a pilot you should look elsewhere. I'd like to think that they were that honest, but that would be changing the habit of a lifetime, because it never happened in the past.

It would be interesting to hear what your experiences of this have been.
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