Transfer To Other Uk Armed Force

[donald stott]

Help needed,

Has anybody, who has served 10 years or more in one of the UK armed forces, transfered to another UK armed force successfully?

If so, can you answer the following:

1. Did you have to do the equivalent of Initial Officer Trg again with your new service?

2. Was it a nightmare procedure?

3. Did you retain your rank/status and pension/pay rights?

4. For example, was it a case of finishing work on Friday with the RAF and starting with the Army on Monday?

Any information will be gratefully received and may be tested in the not so distant future.

Cheers:ugh:

P.S. Have read on some government internet site ages ago that you can do this, just wondered if it has been achieved.

[Bob Viking]

No personal experience, however, I do know of an ex Army lynx pilot (WO1 or WO2) who was an instructor at JEFTS for a couple of years and then did a very short course at Cranditz and turned up very soon after as a Flight Lieutenant, and as far as I'm aware is now an instructor on the Tucano at Linton.
He's a great bloke and last time I spoke to him he was pretty happy with the way it worked out.

BV:ok:

[jockspice]

A few ex AAC guys now in the dark blue. All went junglie and now two have moved on to SHAR and Apache! When they crossed over, two of them were within a fortnight back on the squadron in pussers' tapes! Doesn't seem to have done them any harm! :ok:

[Pub User]

... finishing work with the RAF and starting with the Army .... ?

Are you mad?

I imagine those people are very thin on the ground indeed. However, dozens have gone the other way, and the procedure appears (to a casual observer) quite straightforward, with no loss of rank or seniority.

[Mightycrewseven]

There is an ex RN Lieutenant who is currently on ASOC21 at RAF Halton. She literally left the Navy on a Friday and joined the RAF on a Monday. She is staying within her specialist branch (Admin) and has crossed over into equivelant rank i.e. Flight Lieutenant.
She also only spent about a week at RAF Cranwell for kitting and form filling so no Basic Training was required. I have no clue about her pension rights though.


M7 :ok:

[whowhenwhy]

Inbound to the RAF you go to Sleaford Tech for 2-3 weeks on a SERE (Service Entry(?) Re-Entry) Course. You join a course on their main Field Leadership Camp for a few days, do some NBC, probably some, this is the form you use to claim money, stuff and then you join a course for their graduation parade. Don't know if it applies if you leave one on Fri, go to the other on Mon, sorry!

[Scud-U-Like]

If we can run this sort of truncated course for officers transferring from other services, why can't we do something similar for our own NCOs who pass officer selection?

While there is a Commissioned Warrant Officers' Scheme, whereby successful candidates attend a short course at RAFC Cranwell, SNCOs and below, who are commissioned from the ranks are required to do the full IOT Course. Surely a course could be developed that cut out much of the bull$hit (which is of little benefit to those who have already been through it) and still taught former NCOs the 'officer qualities' bits. I'm not suggesting IOT for former NCOs should be drastically shortened, just tailored to give them more credit for their service knowledge and professional experience.

Just a thought.

[SirToppamHat]

Spud

Whilst I don't doubt that some SNCOs would benefit from such a scheme, many would not.

SNCO FCs can be promoted to sgt direct from SAC (TG12) on qualification as an FC (is it the same for TG9 ATCAs?). Commissioning could follow in 2-3 yrs. This hardly compares to the 'service knowledge and experience' that would have been gained by someone getting there the long way.

SNCO aircrew could argue, I guess, that they had been through a lot of leadership in their initial trg courses, but how many would have taken any great interest in the wider areas that are taught at Sleaford Tech ?

I suppose that a line in the sand could be drawn, say SNCO 8-yrs experience does one course, SNCO 5-yrs does another, but it might need to vary from trade to trade, or even on an individual basis. This would also delay many applicants I guess.

Another issue (and I know you might think this backwards, but I am convinced it is true) is that the SNCOs, certainly in the early stages of IOT, are the people that keep the flt together - mostly because they have experienced the bull***t before. The pay back comes later (certainly did on my course) when we were helping the SNCOs with the academic stuff.

In 1989, SERE stood for Special Entrant and Re-Entrant.

It is a numbers game - as long as SNCOs continue to apply to have their brains re-filled, the system will continue to push them through the full course. If there were no applications for a couple of yrs, PMA might have to examine the reasons why, and that might well lead to a change!

I hear that most of the time on the shortened course that the WOs do is spent teaching the use of apostrophe's! ;)

[Bertie Thruster]

10 yr Army, then 13 yr RAF. Spent 4 months at Cranwell as both Army Sgt and commissioned RAF student officer! (I had to give the Army pay back in the end!)

Pension depends on total service time and rank at retirement. So I got pension of Sqn Ldr with 23 years service.

I had a great time in both Services.

[rolly]

:O Yep-got that tick. 12yrs RN then 8yrs crab. had to do the SERE thing for 4 weeks at Sleaford tech. Met some nice people, doctors and nurses mostly. rank continuation of service all went across. Swapped a blue Jetstream for a red one and oh joy no more grey funnel cruises. The crabs had a better quality of life and nicer planes--it was a good move.