Unable to join University Air squadron because of childhood asthma

[airborne_artist]

I think the real reason though was a bit of organisational rivalry over budgets.

Nope - just willy waving

[ghostie]

Hope not, I was only fourteen. They didn't have CRB checks in those days though. Perhaps I escaped lightly.

[Albanian Seahorse]

what proportion of RAF officers were members of a UAS? I'd take a stab in the dark at about 50% or so.

Are you basing your numbers on the current numbers? Because yes, I'd agree... but the ~50:50 balance exists from the "old" UAS system, where you joined and the whole UAS emphasis was geared around joining the RAF.

Today though, there is literally zero drive to join up! Consequently there are FAR fewer joining post UAS, although that will only be apparent in a few years time. It is only about now in fact that the first wave of people to enter the "new" UAS system are graduating and joining.

And of those joining at the moment: most were bursars pre-joining, a few weren't but had prior ambitions to join up, and only a VERY small number joined on the off chance, successfully applied and are now starting.

That's a round about way of saying I did agree, until UAS's changed, but not anymore!

I'm still not sure if I'd actually get rid of UAS's, but I don't feel they're the recruiting tool people think they are...

I'd have thought the £3-4k per person to 'snag' them and ensure they're committed to joining after graduation is peanuts overall

Agreed! A number of bursars during my time decided they'd rather do something else and promptly handed their money back. But it's a nice bonus for anyone that is certain about joining...

[old'n'bald]

Although it was a fair time ago, my experience of the UAS recruitment process was that we were always very much oversubscribed, so any filter that reduced the number of potential interviews was strictly applied, hence the initial medical questionaire, where a 'YES' responce automatically ruled you out of further consideration.
We also had a number of people who followed up this rejection with a letter to the CO, and in many cases this resulted in an interview and subsequent selection.
However, the bottom line is that no one has a right to be granted a place on a UAS, and in the end, it is the decision of the staff and CO that determines who joins.

[Whoosh1999]

HRS1992,

Whilst I left the UAS system in '02, I remember that from '00 we had to send all our potential students to OASC for medical. I know of one candidate who was not forthcoming with his medical history and failed to reveal his childhood asthma and incurred the wrath of the Chief Medical Officer at RAFC.

Previous to '00, initial medicals for UAS selection tended to be held at Station Medical Centres and were far less demanding in their requirements. As I've mentioned, this changed, which led to a far earlier filtering of those with potential problems.

Not that I buy into the medical theory completely, but the reasoning we were given was that childhood asthma can potential damage your lungs and may, I repeat may, cause problems during some future scenario. As I mentioned, this did not seem totally plausible to me.

As for those who got in with a history of childhood asthma, they had to prove to specialists that they were completely fit. I did have one student that went through this: he is currently flying Harriers. (But for how long!!)

In the civvy world I currently reside in there seems to be a plethora of inhalers.......!