Unfortunately I already have a degree, which means the service won't allow me to take a second one on their tab. Apparently, speaking to a colleague who didn't have a degree but asked about getting one whilst waiting, he was given a straight "No".
I guess the big silver lining is I still have a job; I have some mates who were amongst the huge cull of pilots in the FT pipeline.
Don't get me wrong, there are some properly exciting holds out there; my last was working with a SAR unit, helping out with training, which was smashing, with a lot of guys (in fact, every one I met there) who did go out of their way to develop us as holdies and (junior) aircrew as much as they could. That said, there is an equal number of very dull, tedious holds.
Another point that had been mooted was that the hold is massively affecting the pay we would receive; we haven't got our brevets and therefore aren't eligible for substantive Sgts salary. Likewise, we haven't passed our OCUs and aren't eligible for flying pay.
I did some rough maths on this, and figured that when compared with a "normal" NCA career (Where you could expect to be earning flying pay after 3 years of service) I would be down just over £54k. Doubt I'll ever be seeing that...
I got to be honest, I did join wanting to go the whole hog, make a long career of the service, perhaps one day becoming an instructor. Get my 22 years at least.
At this point in time, I will be out after 12 years with minimal hours in the air.
Going to give Bristow a call this week, ask about their plans for ab initio SAR rear crew careers... long shot but I haven't much to lose!
Last edited by WannabeCrewman; 14th May 2013 at 19:04.