Lost Potential
It has always been my ambition to join the RAF as a pilot and I was ecstatic when, after applying straight after finishing school, to be offered a commission as GD/pilot with a start date on the IOT of last May. Unfortunately the medics found an anomaly in my blood test during the part two medical which showed an imbalance of my thyroid hormones. They said it could be due to a virus, I did have the flu at the time of the test, so took another sample only 3 weeks later which they sent off to the consultant who made a decision based solely on the blood test, no consultation with myself, and decreed it could be hypothyroidism. The medics classified me temporary unfit for 6 months and I was rejected from training, this was 3 weeks before commencement of IOT. I was gutted but determined to prove them wrong I consulted an endocrinologist and within 3 months my hormone balance was normal. I contacted the medical board at Cranwell and they accepted my doctors findings. As it was now more than 12 months since I went through OASC I had to go through the full selection again, which although I felt unfair, I accepted as the policy, and completed it earlier this month, putting in the effort not just treating it as a formality,. I have just had the letter saying I have not been selected and try again next year.
I was obviously a suitable candidate with the potential to make pilot in May, have I changed so much in a few months? Has a misdiagnosis by the RAF doctor lost me the chance to fulfil my ambition? I’m really disillusioned with the RAF now and going to look elsewhere for a career.