Hey guys,
I'm an Australian Citizen living over in New Zealand (moved here when I was 16 and am 22 now) and am just putting the finishing touches on my Civil Engineering degree (getting decent grades) but have always seen this as more of a means to an end i.e. to open up some doors. Im really interested in flying for the Australian Army as I have always been interested in the military and especially flying but have lacked the grades at high school to follow it up (had some nasty stuff happen in last year of school). I have a few questions that ive managed to ponder up and havnt been able to find an answer too (my case manager doesnt seem to really have a large amount of info). These questions are:
a) What is the difference between SSO and GSO schemes later in your career? More specifically does the SSO option hold you back later on?
b) What is the army looking for in the applicants? I heard sports is good ( I play squash but had to give up afl when i moved over here
) and previous flying experiance which I have none of as have never had the money.
c) I never took 7th form English (equivalent to year 12 English in Australia) as I really dont enjoy it. My case manager said that this will be a significant disadvantage for me even though throughout my degree I have had to write technical reports and deliver presentations, is this true? Or could I get a waiver of some sort? Should I consider taking a tafe course to get it?
d) I know this may sound basic but how often do military pilots get to fly? I read a while ago that one of the reasons the tragic accident that killed a number of SASR soldiers out of Townsville in 1996 was because the pilots had not had enough flight time (correct me if im wrong I just seem to remember reading it somewhere).
e) What do the pilots do when not flying/planning missions? i.e. do they have any other responsibilities?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Tom