Caps....Shouting ???? You lads are spending far too much time in AOL chat rooms pretending to be young.
OK, Murph....total rubbish. And the rest of you claiming "you knew the rules", how smug can you really be.
I for one sat at an interview nearly 5 years ago and 3 very nice AAC Majors told me with a smile, well done lad, you are in !!!, at this point I was supposed to do cartwheels around the room, say how fantastic they were and consider how lucky I was. It didnt happen like that, I then asked a few unheard of questions.
Firstly.....Sir, up to this point I have had a fantastic career, If i complete the Army Pilots Course and turn my back on what I have been very good at for years am I going to have a secure future with the AAC or be sent back to my old job.
Answer (amongst lots of smiles)...If you succesfully complete the course then your future is safe as long as you maintain the standard required. you dont seriously think that the taxpayer is going to fork out xxxx thousands to train you just to let you go after 4 years, by that time you will be just becoming useful as a military aviator.
Secondly....Thats great to know Sirs, but, are there any gaurantees here that i wont end up thrown back to my old job playing catch up after being out of the loop for a long time.
Answer... You have no need to worry about that, the records speak for themselves. You will get a transfer as long as you pass the course and keep your nose clean.
As this will already seem like whinging, i should explain that I have chosen to go back to my Corps and I haven't even applied for a transfer (my reasons are personal). However I am sure I'm not the only person who asked these questions and was given a very false impression. yes we all know about the small print but if any one of the guys being sent back after giving everything to the AAC had recorded their interviews on tape i'm sure that a good lawyer could help them keep a flying job or at the very least compensation for potential loss of earnings etc. I for one, had I not chosen to return to my Corps would at least have written to my MP asking why so much taxpayers money had been wasted on me, if that didnt get any answers i would probably consider the national press.
Before having a go at the guys who are in this predicament, have a long hard think about which direction you would be going if tomorrow morning someone changed the goalpoasts and you were told that your whole future is in jeopardy, you are going to take a 3-5k a year pay cut and you have to effectively learn a new job, we are talking about people here not numbers.
PS. You will notice i have not mentioned women here, thats because they are all gauranteed transfers and are safe.
Tra la bloody la