RAF Fitness Test now IT not PT..
I should rejoin as I hated the fitness test with a passion. So much so that the stress of it came very close to preventing me from passing and I certainly tried to avoid doing it. When a colleague offered to pace the bleep test with me, I passed very easily so there was definitely a mental block. However, there was never any support available from the PTIs and both they and the gym bunnies who just told me it was easy can go and do one.
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respectfully - Maybe it is now, but they were probably frowned upon when everyone carried a spear or a sabre - and let's face it the first guns were probably more trouble than they were worth
And who was it who said something along the lines of "Aeroplanes are nice playthings but totally unsuited for war"? Or who called the submarine a "Damned unEnglish weapon"?
I'm not saying traditional skills don't have an important role, but there are plenty of other skills too and if we don't build a decent cyber defense, we'll be sitting ducks for whatever enemy takes the time to build a cyber attack force ... like Iran was when their centrifuges got destroyed
Maybe time to create a new service . . .
...and I just copied this link from ORAC on the Ukraine thread about the role software developers are playing in that conflict: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...536755200.html
And who was it who said something along the lines of "Aeroplanes are nice playthings but totally unsuited for war"? Or who called the submarine a "Damned unEnglish weapon"?
I'm not saying traditional skills don't have an important role, but there are plenty of other skills too and if we don't build a decent cyber defense, we'll be sitting ducks for whatever enemy takes the time to build a cyber attack force ... like Iran was when their centrifuges got destroyed
Maybe time to create a new service . . .
...and I just copied this link from ORAC on the Ukraine thread about the role software developers are playing in that conflict: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...536755200.html
Last edited by Sue Vêtements; 14th Jul 2022 at 23:08. Reason: added the bit at the end
https://news.sky.com/story/raf-recru...chief-12652062
RAF recruits shouldn't worry about passing fitness tests if they are tech fit, says military chief
Anyone thinking about a career in the Royal Air Force need no longer worry too much about passing a fitness test, provided they know how to work-out on a keyboard.
The head of the RAF signalled recruiting people with skills in data and digital technology - even if they cannot do a set number of timed push-ups and pre-dawn runs - is increasingly important in a world where having a technological edge is vital for militaries to succeed.
Individuals with autism and other forms of neurodiversity should also consider a career in the RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said.
Speaking at the RAF's annual air and space power conference, he stressed the need to hire from the widest pool of talent as the focus of his service expands from flying fast jets, transport planes and helicopters to also fighting remotely, with machines, codes and artificial intelligence.
Many of the people the air force is recruiting today "will still be in service in 2040 so that's the force we need to be recruiting to", he told the conference of fellow air chiefs and their staff, who have travelled to London from around the world. "It will be about data and digital and… we probably won't need people that must pass a physical fitness test," he said.
"We can have different standards. We can look at different parts of society that we haven't recruited from traditionally. But that is the nature of what a war fighter in the 2040s could be, so thinking, as part of agile thinking about the technology of 2040, thinking through the demographics of the work force that is going to be operating that technology and then you have to start recruiting them today."
RAF recruits shouldn't worry about passing fitness tests if they are tech fit, says military chief
Anyone thinking about a career in the Royal Air Force need no longer worry too much about passing a fitness test, provided they know how to work-out on a keyboard.
The head of the RAF signalled recruiting people with skills in data and digital technology - even if they cannot do a set number of timed push-ups and pre-dawn runs - is increasingly important in a world where having a technological edge is vital for militaries to succeed.
Individuals with autism and other forms of neurodiversity should also consider a career in the RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said.
Speaking at the RAF's annual air and space power conference, he stressed the need to hire from the widest pool of talent as the focus of his service expands from flying fast jets, transport planes and helicopters to also fighting remotely, with machines, codes and artificial intelligence.
Many of the people the air force is recruiting today "will still be in service in 2040 so that's the force we need to be recruiting to", he told the conference of fellow air chiefs and their staff, who have travelled to London from around the world. "It will be about data and digital and… we probably won't need people that must pass a physical fitness test," he said.
"We can have different standards. We can look at different parts of society that we haven't recruited from traditionally. But that is the nature of what a war fighter in the 2040s could be, so thinking, as part of agile thinking about the technology of 2040, thinking through the demographics of the work force that is going to be operating that technology and then you have to start recruiting them today."
Already had to be able to fit the 95% percentile. More hours/days/lives lost to exercise and sport injuries etc etc.
Frankly, all lost in the small change - and you don’t want to deliberately ignore a Mr Robot just because he can’t do press-ups.
The people you need in Space Command aren’t the guys from Starship Troopers…
Frankly, all lost in the small change - and you don’t want to deliberately ignore a Mr Robot just because he can’t do press-ups.
The people you need in Space Command aren’t the guys from Starship Troopers…
I’m yet to see any medical study that suggests exercise is anything other than beneficial.
Lets not forget those who can’t deploy because of their inability to pass a fitness test, leading to others having to take on their burden.
Last edited by Toadstool; 15th Jul 2022 at 06:15.
You want the best people for the job. Different roles will have different physical and mental requirements. What is wrong with tailoring the requirements to the role?
Wiggy - stop being silly. If there is no need for these people to serve in war roles then there is no need to add them to the uniform strength. We have civilian MoD staff for those roles. Use your efforts to campaign for additional funding for MoD specialists to be paid a representative rate, including dstl, DI & GCHQ personnel.
If you must change the RAF personnel structure, first have a look at the current trades who have almost zero war fighting roles - like the number of PTI staff that apparently we have little use for.
If you must change the RAF personnel structure, first have a look at the current trades who have almost zero war fighting roles - like the number of PTI staff that apparently we have little use for.
[QUOTE][/Nonsense. I would like to see them try and write one line of code! They need the knowledge to interact with the technology. Not how to write it or subvert it. /QUOTE]
I’ll bow to your greater knowledge.
My view is only formed through first hand discussion with F35 FCI’s.
I’ll bow to your greater knowledge.
My view is only formed through first hand discussion with F35 FCI’s.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
Wiggy - stop being silly. If there is no need for these people to serve in war roles then there is no need to add them to the uniform strength. We have civilian MoD staff for those roles.
Unkess you want to go down the US path of the White House making target choices and engagements being made by civilians employed by the CIA and other non-accountable organisations.
I am really glad that those who were previously ineligible to defend our country will now be given the opportunity to serve. They will be able to contribute their skills and talents ALONGSIDE those who have previously been the unique focus of recruitment but who may lack some of the skills needed to prosecute war in the domains that didn't previously exist. There will always be the need for the infantryman and his skills on the ground, but the battle area is now somewhat wider, we must be able to win the wider war so as to be able to take and hold the ground.
It wasn't because any of us had any intention of getting near to the enemy (actual or simulated), but because the enemy had every intention of getting near to us.
The work is very much in the uniformed military domain because it can and does include some (very!) forward deployment in hostile situations with the full-spectrum of insertion and recovery methods. It is also a role that has seen me in front of industry, cabinet ministers, other nation's senior military leadership and (most painfully) judges. It is not a role for those who share the attributes selected by Wigston in this piece and there lies the rub.
There are many roles that have a significant behind-the-desk element but to undertake them they need the skills and attributes that can only be acquired by those who have extensive frontline experience and can, at no-notice, be tasked to forward areas to undertake certain duties. Even on the targeteer's qualification courses you are expected to climb towers, wriggle through bridges, electrical switching infrastructure and underground facilities. If you decide that these roles just need to be uniformed civilians then you get something rather worse than the RAF's commissioned telephone answering branch - ok for basic airfield tasking but zero idea of how to employ actual air power beyond a routine checklist.
I should probably add that working in the T&E world also gives you a bit of an eye-opener when working with the 'neurodiversity' that industry has come to depend on. Emotional intelligence, communication skills and flexibility are often absent and whilst cutting-edge industry prices these differences in I would be hard pressed to think of any desk-bound operational environment where this would not lead to tears.
The RAF has a very small uniformed strength supported by a vast and rather broad range of civilians. The uniformed core needs to be capable of military tasks and direct support of civil powers. I think Wigston's somewhat charmed, sponsored and rapid ascendancy has given him a rather limited view of the wider RAF, let alone the other 3 domains.
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Fitter people tend to be better all round in all aspects of the mental game as well if under pressure. Fact not fiction.
Also, the ever-present mantra that everybody should be fit for infantry duties sounds great to the diehard jocks and empire/career building types, but it is, and always was, totally unrealistic.
Also, depending on your role (I was maritime aircrew) many experienced, professional military folk would dispute the idea that performance improves with physical fitness. I saw ZERO correlation with that idea in my six frontline tours.
PS
I'm a jock myself...still am. I've just never bought into the whole "physical fitness makes you a better person b******ks". Fitness is all relative. You need people to be medically fit to serve - we have trained people to assess and determine that. You need people to be physically fit enough to perform their jobs/roles to the required standards.
PPS
My final RAFFT was in Spring 2003 at the age of 47. It was a bike test administered by a PTI at Ice Station Kilo. He recorded it as a fail. Why? Because after xx minutes of pedalling at the required resistance and pace, my heart rate was off his scale chart............it was too low to be assessed !!!!
