Originally Posted by
Hannah222
This is off the point completely but yes I do know what the army does. My brother spent a year in Iraq and he's lost countless friends and I don't see how anything else the army does can equal the fact that they do go to war and kill people.
Not far off the reason why my father was unable to do an RAF apprenticeship (for which he was accepted) - my grandad had a less than fun 1940-1945, covering more than his fair share of beach landings and jungle warfare and refused to allow any of his sons into the services as young as he had. Since Genghis Sr. ended up with a Supermarine apprenticeship, family honour was satisfied anyhow.
But the services are much more complex and varied than only the army on the front line - admirable and tough though that is itself. As others have said, they also defend your right to criticise them !
Poose, you said to get a decent relevant degree but what would that be- something to do with physics or maths? Because they're not really my favourite subjects even though I'm quite good at them. Lol also you said you fly to Sleap a lot do you think it's a good airfield because I really wouldn't know even if I went! X
I'd recommend sticking with maths and physics through GCSE and AS at the very least; even if you don't go that far with your degree, you'll find that level of ability in those subjects will help you out a lot in the long run.
Personally I didn't really enjoy maths at school, although got on better with physics. And then I ended up with two engineering degrees (and doing stacks of flying partly because of them). Maths and Physics are only languages to describe much sexier stuff like supersonic aerodynamics, aircraft handling, or flight performance and navigation. Look at the degree courses out there - that may be 4-5 years away, but looking at what you could study, finding the stuff you personally find really exciting, and positioning yourself in that general direction, will do you great favours.
A further thought on the flying, you are young and if you go into a professional flying career you'll have thousands of hours. Getting from A to B requires flying experience, much more than it does just hours in the right column of your logbook. So right now, I'd look seriously at gliding club junior sections, air cadets, flights for helping out at the local microlight club. Absolutely anything that builds your flying experience, AND is loggable. I'd worry a lot less right now about exactly what it's in - that worrying you can do in a few years time. In many ways gliding is the best thing you can do, because you probably have more time than money, and gliding is both cheap, and a fantastic introduction to real "stick and rudder" flying (I wish I had at 14, but I didn't get the bug until I was 19 - you've got a 5 year head start on me!).
G