Life After The Services
 

Had an opportunity to leave but due to personal circumstances (house move, kids etc) have delayed my leave date for another couple of years. Will spend that the time at a UAS, teaching youngsters to fly who may or may not decide to join up.

Leaving aside the regrets one feels about the state of our Armed Forces and what the politicians (in uniform or not) are doing to it and why I don't want to stay in any longer than absolutely necessary.....

I would be interested to discover what jobs our ex-Serviceman/woman have gone into.

More interested in non-flying-related careers. Use my ATPL(H) quite regulary in anger but looking at other avenues. Resettlement advisors do their best to enlighten us but has anyone out there gone down a diverse/different track.

Living in Harrogate, I'm looking into coorporate/exhibition management or a rivals to Spearmint Rhino! All those delegates need to relax somewhere!!

Genuinely interested in ideas as aircrew tend to think quite narrowly when it comes to moving on.

Plumbing - get GORGI registered and charge ~£60 a pop for gas safety checks, not to mention actually doing something!

Aircrew, Flight Engineer to Freight Train Driver. 35 hour week maximum, a contract in black and white, no cr@p and a union not to be messed with.

Been out for 3 months now and haven't missed a thing. I haven't laughed so much or enjoyed getting up to go to work like this in years!!

It really can be fun and rewarding out here in the right places!! Making the decision to go is the hardest part but once you have done that, then leaving is a doddle!! Didn't use re-settlement etc.

Only regret? Not having done it 2 years earlier!!

:O

EESDL

You're right of course "think quite narrowly" - not a criticism more an observation.

Master Green to Lean Bean - had a crack at Corporate Hunting,Shooting and Fishing / Holiday / Airport big bucks hire service. (PM for details, good earner, just lacked the bottle to go all the way!).

Networking is still the key and not biting off more than you can chew (the safety net is no longer there). Having a family also tends to help with the levelling factor and usually prevents rushing into something with the promise of high earnings and brings you (kicking & screeming sometimes), back down to earth.

I do also have to agree with RM, plumbing is the steadiest number going. No.1 son has just been awarded a Prep schoolarship and both Mrs motion and I are quite sure that if all else fails and he becomes an obnoxious teenager - it's off to Plumbing School for him!

Whatever you decide, don't look back to often and don't tell to many "war stories" - good luck.

ML

That's quite apt when you think of it, handling the power & systems and no steering involved!:)

EESDL,

What could be more perfect for a widely travelled brave Ascoteer in the afterlife.....

Set up an international dating agency - only this time somebody else gets the benefit of your wit & charm.....

May you live in happily ever after in Tutorheaven :cool: - when you get there.

Uncle G

I'd be very interested to read peoples stories too. I have decided to PVR earlier than planned, RAF driven I'm afraid. I attended OASC recently for a commission in my trade only to be catted Permanently Unfit Zobbit, my eyesight falls below the requirement.
As you may appreciate I am rather cheesed off, but I am unwilling to stay knowing my ceiling is so dramatically limited. What really grips me, is that I am fit to do the job as a SNCO and could enjoy a full career to WO but not for commissioned officer.
I have a few ideas, eg: Airline ops and dispatch (I'm an FOM), College, or civvy industry doing something totally new.

I left 3 years ago (Rigger Chiefy) and moved into IT. I left at my 22 year pensionable service point. Not an easy decision to make as I really enjoyed my career.
I am now a senior analyst programmer working on the latest in e-banking and e-commerce. My earnings are now far higher than had I stayed in and I have a company car.

With hindsight, I think that I left at the right time and have now got another career with time left with which to develop it further.
I do still miss the RAF though!

Slightly off topic, but I am doing a PPL now, which is strange after not being interested in actually flying for my RAF career!

Left 6 yrs ago itno cargo operations with AN124's...

We've got 3 ex loadmasters here doing flight managing on the aircraft and thehy seem to enjoy it:}

VEEPS

Uncle G

Keep well blade for my produce may pass your way some day!!

Dark Helmet

Good luck with the PPL but beware wasting all your money now that you've got the bug but you are having to pay for it yourself! Whatever you do..Never, I mean never, under no circumstance, ever sit in a helicopter.....you have been warned!!!

EESDL - Thanks! As someone who had a 'Q' for rotor tuning and balancing (and therefore many 'happy' hours sat in the back trying to figure out what all the numbers on the Rotortuner meant!) I'm afraid the helicopter warning comes a little late! However, the rotary world is safe from my flying attempts as it is terribly expensive!

After being a VC10 pilot, Harrier and F3 siminstructor I joined the BAe Flying College at Prestwick, moved to Spain with them and got made redundant this week after BWoS sold the college to a "management buyout team".

So, currently job hunting which leads me to a question:

Dark Helmet, what courses did you ned to do to get the qualifications for your new job, where did you do them and how much did they cost?

Left the RAF in April 2001. Ops at Atlas Air at STN for 6 months then joined Railtrack. Grade 3 Signaller at Uffington for 18 months and now Mobile Ops Manager at Hitchin. Making considerably more now than I did as a Sgt ATC, with no hassle, 6000's, Guard Cdr, deployments etc etc. and a pension!!
like The gorilla, no regrets and I wished I did it at the 22 year point.
Gorilla, which FOC are you with??

I left at my 22-year point in 1983, as a Ch.Tech simtech. We emigrated immediately, I joined an airline as a simtech here, until said airline "went under" two years ago. No regrets whatever, but I have to confess I DO miss the "Mob", curiously the Taceval part!! I suspect a touch of the nostalgia, after 20 years away, but I look back on almost all of it as fun.
I was very well paid as a shift-working simtech shift-controller, I have my service pension paid to me here, it's Summer, what more could a man want? The beer is AWFUL, the wines are WONDERFUL, it's almost knocking-off time!

Kind regards,

TheNightOwl.:ok:

I think it comes down to doing some reality checks on one's quals, skills and aspirations. In my case, I decided on a radical career change - but had to rely on my good wife for moral and financial support whilst I "retrained" via a three year full time Uni course plus 'articles'. Being a member of the profession that I aspired to join, she proved to be most supportive. I'm sure she'd tell you that it was worth it. I certainly think so!

As to 'missing the mob', I've found that Reserve service goes quite some way to compensate - except that Mess life these days is really quite boring and lacks the verve of past times.

Uffington - Senior Bobby!!

EWS


:ok:

NightOwl,
It was fun 20 years ago! I can't say the last five years or so was though, what with cut backs, budgets, being b*ggered about with postings, promotions etc etc and the late notice "Andy, you're on Guard Commander next week, okay".
At least with my new outfit, if they want me to work more than my 36 hr week, they ask me nicely and then pay me extra!!!!

Moggie,
I found that the IT industry weren't really interested in qualifications per se. They were more interested in experience ( and not just IT), attitude and flexibility. There is no doubt that my service career played a large part in my being selected, despite my lack of modern programming experience.

As for qualifications, well, you could use your resettlement to complete some IT courses. I don't know what area of IT you are thinking of or what experience of programming etc you have.
However, if you are thinking of programming or development then courses in Visual Basic, .Net, Java, HTML or any SQL database will always be useful.

A lot of people start off in the testing side of IT and then move across.

Always remember that employers in the IT world are impressed by reliability, loyalty and flexibility coupled with a willingness to learn.

If you want any further information please feel free to PM me.

Dark Helmet - thanks for that.

It's not so much resettlement as post-resettlement re-settlement.

I left the RAF 8 years ago and have just been made redundant by BWoS and so am now thinking of:

a ) trying to find new job in the same field or

b ) complete change of tack

As I'm overseas at the moment I can´t really do much until I get back to the UK at the start of next month - then I shall have aword or two with my brother in law who works at Microsoft.

Thanks again.

I left a few moons ago and tried my hand as a self employed sparkie. Loadsamoney but very lonely. In an effort to get back into teamwork I joined HM Customs. Now back in uniform but have jumped from groundcrew to Commissioned Officer with the power to invoke fear simply by standing there. Public sector pay will never match private sector but if it's job security you're after.... I skip to work in the mornings!