Thanks guys
As stupid as it may sound, I just want to thank all for their feedback on my previously posted rant. I had just hit a wall and was pissed. As a follow up to that rant and a bit of background, I had already had an interview with the Shadow Minister for Defence who informed me of several things. One being that if it was taken further by him and the Minister of Defence then I could kiss any opportunity of joining goodbye as my application would pretty much be blackballed. It may help the recruiting process in the future but my application would pretty much be dirt. His words, not mine. He was also the one who informed me of the Defence forces need to 'force' serving members of the military out, much the same way England has been doing, due to a very low outgoing turnover, due in part to the GFC and the prospect of financial stability in the military. Again, his words, not mine.
I had tried to go up the chain also and was met with brick walls the whole way. I was told the same thing nearly everytime, 'that's just how recruiting works.'
What the problem was was, I had passed up several job contracts on advice from recruiting in that I could be off to Flight Selection within the next month. It makes it difficult to start a new job and then two weeks in have to say, thanks guys but I have to go away for two weeks, I hope you understand. Real world just doesn't work like that. Going the ADFA route while still in school is ok as you have a fairly stable environment around you and no real world commitments (within reason), but for the rest of us out there, things like work, rent, family commitments, etc need to be juggled around the selection process and when it's dragged out over 18 months frustration is going to set in.
Again i do apologise for the rant, it was intended to get some blunt feedback from all perspectives, and I appreciate the feedback that was offered.
As for the old guy statement. It was not meant to be taken how it was. I'm not saying 40 is old per say, but at 22 I was told I was getting to be too old to be looking at joining the Air Force as a pilot, so compared to that, yes 40 is old. It was not meant to be derogatory, or taken as that.