The philosophies of the services are quite different as NRDK says.
In the Army you are first and foremost a Pongo. You must expect to live in holes full of liquid mud on Salisbury Plain (or worse) and might eventually get picked for aircrew if you make enough noise about it- thereby upsetting your Regimental superiors who will always view you as a deviant maverick from then on to the detriment of your future career as a Pongo.
In the Crabs if you mention helicopters you are branded as a deviant - if not delinquent - from the start. Remember, in the RAF the only people wh fly Helos are those losers who not only fail to pass Fast Jet courses, but subsequently fail the rescrub onto the Transport fleet too. Methinks this is not a realistic approach to selecting Helo pilots, but as they say, you can always tell a Crab, but you cant tell him much.
The Navy hires delinquent Helo pilots in their own right in a specialization that recognises the importance of the job as the ships primary weapons system in many cases. They get trained in the same system as the others and so (thanks to the common training at Shawbury) where the output is of a very uniform and high quality. Id like to see some of the fast jet pilots try this.
The difference is where you will be best appreciated, and I dont need to tell you where you will have the best fun.
With respectful apologies to our light blue and brown colleagues. We are all a bit partisan about this, of course! But the bottom line is wherever you go you will gain so much from a few years in the Forces you will never look back, no matter what career you retire with.
Just go for it, it is the best fun, the best companionship, the best experience and the most useful life-school there is bar none. The losers are those who don't!
[This message has been edited by piston broke (edited 28 July 2000).]