Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Aircrew Forums > Military Aviation
Reload this Page >

If the RAF ran a school..

Military Aviation A forum for the professionals who fly military hardware. Also for the backroom boys and girls who support the flying and maintain the equipment, and without whom nothing would ever leave the ground. All armies, navies and air forces of the world equally welcome here.

If the RAF ran a school..

Old 3rd Sep 2011, 01:23
  #41 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 32,754
Received 2,738 Likes on 1,166 Posts
if the RAF ran a school
The playground would be staff car parking and children would live in fear of walking on the grass..

Another schools kids would turn up every summer and camp on the playing fields

All the headmasters would be housed in a separate building far from the schools and would visit once a year.
NutLoose is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 06:43
  #42 (permalink)  
Red On, Green On
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the woods and the water
Age: 24
Posts: 6,487
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
The great thing about growbags is that they don't require ironing....
... because the wearers' well-covered frame stretches out the creases
airborne_artist is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 08:06
  #43 (permalink)  

Avoid imitations
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
Posts: 14,573
Received 413 Likes on 218 Posts
You Sir, Name,

Points of order, if you please:

Wednesday off for "sports"
Home by lunchtime on Fridays
I did almost 20 years in said organisation and didn't EVER get a Wednesday afternoon off for sports.

Nor did we knock off early on Fridays.

When we worked a full weekend we got one day off in lieu.
When we were short of aircraft on the OCU our boss came up with a really good idea. He ran two shifts so we could get better use of the aircraft. Of course, after a week or so, we all ended up working both shifts.....
We seldom got our full allocation of leave, either.
Did the boss's career good though, he reached Air Rank.

And folk ask me why I eventually decided enough was enough.

You must be confusing it with the Army.
ShyTorque is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 08:29
  #44 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SW England
Age: 77
Posts: 3,896
Received 16 Likes on 4 Posts
Oldnavigator - I also became a teacher, although in my case not straight after leaving the service. You appear to be having better luck than I had in teaching. After four years I decided that I no longer wanted to spend every morning wishing is it was 3.30, every Monday wishing it was Friday and every 1st day of term wishing it was the last. I got out out, went into business on my own, and in spite of the fact I never even earned the modest amount I had been earning as a teacher, I never regretted it for a minute.

Good luck to you, and to anyone on here who thinks teaching is an easy option (apparently short hours, long holidays etc) just try it. I've seen both sides and nothing in my service career was remotely as stressful as teaching.
Tankertrashnav is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 08:31
  #45 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Oxon
Age: 66
Posts: 1,942
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by airborne_artist
... because the wearers' well-covered frame stretches out the creases
Apart from the Extremely big pockets especially designed for the Aircrew Wallet
Seldomfitforpurpose is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 09:21
  #46 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: South of Old Warden
Age: 87
Posts: 1,375
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
And whatever you do, never be late...all the staff wear bloody big watches!
goudie is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 09:21
  #47 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Stockport
Age: 67
Posts: 136
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I also became a teacher, although in my case not straight after leaving the service. You appear to be having better luck than I had in teaching. After four years I decided that I no longer wanted to spend every morning wishing is it was 3.30, every Monday wishing it was Friday and every 1st day of term wishing it was the last. I got out out, went into business on my own, and in spite of the fact I never even earned the modest amount I had been earning as a teacher, I never regretted it for a minute.

Good luck to you, and to anyone on here who thinks teaching is an easy option (apparently short hours, long holidays etc) just try it. I've seen both sides and nothing in my service career was remotely as stressful as teaching.
I think you were forced out by Ofsted due to your appalling English. I take it you taught PE.
Kreuger flap is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 09:23
  #48 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Virginia
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Interschool Sports

The Interschool Sports program for the RAF school is compulsory but remains a mystery until it is announced, at short notice, by a foreign university faculty.

The opposing schools do not know when the game is supposed to start or, indeed, how to play the game, and so, when the RAF school team turns up, most of the opposition don't want to play but get dragged out of their classrooms and dorm rooms regardless.

Each fixture continues until the other school's principal is put in a half nelson and/or all the pies are grabbed from the tuckshop.

This process invariably leads to vandalism of the 'host' school's classrooms requiring long term financial support and reconstruction provided by the convening university who also, incidentally, helps provide the bulk of the sporting equipment for both sides.

The sporting timetable continues until each of the other schools resemble the university, is run by an endorsed principal or no longer has a viable tuckshop.

Recently there have been fewer outside supporters for the sporting fixtures with the traditional cheer squad busy watching daytime television and putting bread on the table. So the RAF teams must rely on their old school spirit to carry them through when the stadiums are empty.
LT Selfridge is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 09:48
  #49 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: S England
Age: 54
Posts: 320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Just to let people know that you can successfully leave the RAF and transition to teaching successfully.

I spent 22 years in service on C130 and VC10, and I have now spent a couple of years in the classroom.

Service style discipline helps, but you have to get to know the pupils and see what makes them tick. I am sure that my second career will be as enjoyable as my first one.
Service style discipline? You said you were in the RAF?

I think you were forced out by Ofsted due to your appalling English. I take it you taught PE.
Are you serious? An ex Crab teaching PE? I thought the idea that ex servicemen (and ex RAF) make good teachers, was that they draw on their previous experience? Clearly, an ex crab could therefore never teach PE!
Chicken Leg is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 10:02
  #50 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Oxon
Age: 66
Posts: 1,942
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Chicken Leg
Service style discipline? You said you were in the RAF?
Deepcut, now there was service discipline to proud of
Seldomfitforpurpose is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 10:05
  #51 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: South of Old Warden
Age: 87
Posts: 1,375
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
At my company's training school we had a former W/cmdr who taught various management techniques. One session involved 'cause and effect' and as an example, how a building could catch fire. He went round the classroom asking for examples of how this could happen and wrote them up on the flip chart. One chap said ''spontaneous combustion'', the next one said 'arson' and so on. He totally ignored the guy who said 'spontaneous combustion'. Spelling was not his best subject but he was a bloody good teacher!
goudie is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 10:16
  #52 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: S England
Age: 54
Posts: 320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Deepcut, now there was service discipline to proud of
Deepcut wasn't an example of the Army's version of service discipline, it was an example of bullying and probably, much worse.

What a bizarre statement!
Chicken Leg is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 10:35
  #53 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: beyond the hedge of reason
Posts: 63
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
No it was not. It was sarcasm. Few people know the difference.
E L Whisty is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 10:42
  #54 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: S England
Age: 54
Posts: 320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
My point being, that whether it be a school or a military establishment, bullying in whatever guise is still bullying, it is not therefore discipline.

And yes, I do understand that his point was those delivering the bullying explained it away as discipline, but that would be the case in 99% of bullying cases. So, whether sarcasm or irony, the Deepcut analogy was simply irrelevant.
Chicken Leg is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 10:50
  #55 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Oxon
Age: 66
Posts: 1,942
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by E L Whisty
No it was not. It was sarcasm. Few people know the difference.
No chap, definately irony, not my best attempt I admit as it was rushed but the irony of the Army criticising our style of discipline with their track record just seemed rather pot and kettle to me
Seldomfitforpurpose is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 11:37
  #56 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: In the State of Denial
Posts: 1,077
Likes: 0
Received 144 Likes on 28 Posts
Service style discipline? You said you were in the RAF?
Actually, yes. I like the RAF style where I tell (or even ask) someone to do something & it gets done. I don't have to shout at him or wash his face with my spittle, abuse him or get him to run around the parade square with his rifle over his head because he didn't jump to it, as fast as I wanted.

The RAF is a place for intelligent grown ups, there are plenty of non-officer graduates, which is probably rather rare in the pongo ranks (I don't particularly like that term but it's a counter to all the crab stuff). I have a relation in the army, in his regiment all the officers are floppy haired English public school boys whilst all the men are boyos from the Welsh valleys. Whilst it works in its own way I wouldn't wish to be a part of such a 19th Century organization.

There are plenty of problems with today's RAF, as there are with all three of HM's forces, but all the 'crab bashing' on this thread (and many other threads), in the name of 'banter' eventually makes me just a little cross. What was a fun post to start with just degenerates into stone throwing by people who reside mostly in homes constructed from glass.
Ken Scott is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 12:04
  #57 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Southwater
Age: 73
Posts: 0
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
I attended Luqa junior school 1958 - 1962. The teachers were all ex military. They were, for the most part sadists. One would delight in punishing you by calling you up to the front at assembly then getting you to bend over whilst he kicked you in the arse. Another's weapon of choice was a table tennis bat administered to your arse in a store room.
Happy days!
RedhillPhil is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 12:07
  #58 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Oxon
Age: 66
Posts: 1,942
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by RedhillPhil
administered to your arse in a store room.
Happy days!
Was he ex Navy by any chance
Seldomfitforpurpose is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 12:13
  #59 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: England
Posts: 908
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I went to Britain's only state boarding school, the then Gordon Boys School near Bisley. When i left in 85 the Scots Guards were dragooned into knocking our marching etc up to speed for the forthcoming visit by the Queen.

It wasn't until they told us they would rather go back to Aldershot for food and rest, as the school was too cold and miserable that we realised how tough it really was. The cells have since been boarded up!!!

It is now the Gordons School(girls), and is currently the best performing school in Surrey. It takes local and forces kids and is traditionally crewed by ex forces folks. It would be fair to say that after 3 years there, everything since has been a breeze.

Gordon's School
tonker is offline  
Old 3rd Sep 2011, 12:17
  #60 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: France
Age: 80
Posts: 6,379
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Sounds like my grammar school in Harrow around the same time
Wander00 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.