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Top Tips
Does anyone have any hints and tips with regards to IOT at Cranditz?
Extra kit to bring? Ways of cleaning, ironing etc? Trick and ways to make ones stay at Auntie Liz's Training Centre alittle easyier on ones self... Any help would be great. TA PF |
Don't forget your sense of humour!!
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Top tips........................:ok:
Never stand up in a canoe:8 ............and never whistle with a mouthful of jelly:E all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced |
Never scratch yer head with a cheesegrater!
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Especially important this one ..... Never ever catch a grenade !
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With a current pass rate at IOT of 96% (or is it 94%) you don't need any top tips, just turn up and breathe!
Oh yes, the 4% (or is it 6%) who fail aren't chopped - they are just continually re-coursed until it finally dawns on them that they are never going to graduate, at which point they "withdraw themselves"! |
If there are any older members on your course, they may have been commissioned from the ranks.
These people are known as 'ex-hairies'. A fond term, and by no means insulting. |
The reason very few people are chopped from IOT is that OASC do all the selection. Or at least that is the brief they give to you on day 1 or 2 of IOT.
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Yes, and OASC never get it wrong do they??
Well, judging by some (only some before you all starting getting upset!!) of the recent outpourings from IOT I have come across I can tell you that OASC are getting it wrong big time on occasions!! At least nobody is yet disputing the pass mark figures I quoted (but it's early days yet!)!! |
But Seriously...
I am sure it has changed since I went through, but in the early stages in particular, there was lots of emphasis on cleaning and polishing. Since the more stuff you have, the more you need to clean/iron/pollish, the best advice was to have a car/van/estate to keep as much stuff in as possible.
A sleeping bag is useful to avoid messing up your bed. Some of the guys on my flight even elected to sleep on the floor rather than have to remake perfect beds. Minimise the number of WCs and Showers in use to reduce the amount of cleaning required. As for the rest of it, sense of humour is the key. Try your hardest and don't let the system grind you down. Stayed at Cranditz a couple of years ago and was booked in to YHOM. When we got there, found that there was no room in the main mess, so had been put in the Annex .... the Barrack Blocks formerly known as 'No 2 Mess'. It had not changed a bit - tiny beds and that bl@@dy copper pipe under the sink that always needed pollishing. Fair to say that no-one slept very well - I for one had nightmares! Visitors be warned! STH |
It is okay to touch the silver, how else can you play Battle of Britain and the port decanter should never touch the table.
Remember those top tips and excel at the learning and phys stuff and you'll be fine. If you are really keen to do well, you could consider a tough "beat up" course like, for example, a weekend away with the scouts. Alternatively, find a dumb Rock Ape and pay him to do your kit for you. Good Luck |
Don't sit down with a light bulb in your back pocket . . ..
No yellow snow .. . . . Be wary of any GD(P) flt cdrs .. . . . . . . . . :E |
Try not to be too downhearted when BRNC comes up to visit and waxes you at most sports :E ..........
Oggin (donning flak jacket) oh, nearly forgot, dont forget to always wipe your feet on the carpet in the foyer of CHOM - they dont like dirty shoes/boots in that building .......... |
Always work to ensure that your bar bill is not only biggest on the course, but that it grows as your officer qualities grow. All cadets are to have a bar bill approaching £200 in their last month of the course!!:E :E
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<sticks head up from behind the parapet>
With a current pass rate at IOT of 96% (or is it 94%) <head back down> Tim (PS are VR(T)'s allowed to speak in here or do we have to pretend we don't exist as usual?) |
PF...
All I would say is remember that IOT is a game, but you have to play it by their rules... Doesn't mean dont be too grey, but just don't go off on one if you feel aggrieved about someting...all they'll do is p*ss you off even more...! Monkey :ok: |
96% !!!
I had no idea - surely it can't really be this high? I don't know what the % was when I went through but I'm pretty sure it was a lot lower. What has happened? Have candidates suddely got better, have OASC suddenly got it 96% right? Anyone know if the pass rate changed at a particualr point - like when the 'new' IOT came in, or if it has been a gradual change? I'm really surprised. I loathed every second of IOT. MT |
Don't help yourself to the cheesecake before youv'e had your soup!!
Be nice to the Rocks and PE'd staff - they treat you like human beings Pull your weight - maintain your standards Remember - "Bullsh*t Baffles Brains" - always has done Don't run if you wearing high heels Complete - any questions Bloggs? |
b15,
Actually I was being overly negative. You are right, the Rocks (not so much the PEd staff as I remember) were great. It was like a breath of fresh air when those dudes had you. MT |
Same back in the late '60s and mid '70s - Rocks were good guys, PEd loved their power and were most certainly not popular!
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Top Tip
Never tie your shoe lace in a revolving door. :D E5 |
96% sounds about right from when I went through last year but that's a 'gets through eventually' figure. The figure for those graduating first time is a lot lower.
Ant |
If you're female, you've already set a tone/made a statement by calling yourself "PinkFlyer". Get a new username before you're identified and treated as a pink fluffy girlie....................unless that's what you want, in which case some will appreciate it and some won't.
I might be wrong on both counts. |
Ant,
That would make more sense. I guess the first time pass rate would be something like the 'old' one of about 60 or 70% with the stragglers getting through on R or Back Course (or whatever it is that happens now)? MT |
So 'Ant' has agreed that the figure I had heard of 94-96% passing IOT is correct, albeit for an 'eventual' pass rate?
Once again I would ask if anybody truely believes OASC gets it right on 94-96% of occasions (I know I don't!!)!! If so all the OASC staff should quit and go and work for industry in recruitment, they would be paid a fortune if they could repeat that success rate (read on up industry recruitment. They use interviews, psychometric testing, group work, etc, I believe if they get it 60% right they think they are doing very well!!). Once again I would ask what top tips you need for IOT when (effectively!!) everyone passes it! Top tips for making life there more comfortable for yourself maybe, but not for passing!! |
Ok so loads of people pass....
I was thinking more about passing with an award.... any tips so that one may be up for the sword? PF |
top tip, dont be a medal hunter. winning the sword wont necessarily count for much in your career. let your goals be more along the lines of passing, learning as much as you can, and making the best friends that you will probably ever have, you've got to remember what is important at the end of the day. if you do well enough to have an honour bestowed upon you then be proud, but to go into the process with that being the main aim is, i believe, slightly misguided. good luck and enjoy ;)
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PF. What branch have you been selected for? Just curious.
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Pinky - ignore the miserable bugg3r juliet. If you really want to get the Sword Of Honour, go for it. It means you get a better seat for your proud mum & dad at the Grad Parade, you are seated front, middle of the Sqn Photo, your folks are included in the VIP Drinkies before the Grad Lunch and you get to march alone to get yer sword during the parade - AND your name gets read out over a loudspeaker.
Please ensure proper breeding, choice of Branch and history of UAS antics before lining up for an attack on the Blade. Anyone else on the same Course as Pinky? LOVE to hear the progress :E |
Was back at Cranners today at the GAPAN do (which was well sorted by 'Lady in Red'). But where were the aeroplanes? Just the one Tupperware Trainer was all we saw all day. Where once the racket of the less-than-mighty Viper would have been incessant, there was just the dull fart of whatever elastic band powers Das Teutor!
But what a good bunch the few cadets I saw seemed to be. And, err, dashed pretty - even in cabbage kit - it has to be said!!. The girls, I mean - and sorry if that upsets the political correctos! PinkFlyer- the very best of luck to you - and to the rest of your intake who are too shy to ask the questions you've bothered to ask! |
96% pass rate?!?!?!?!?!!!!!
Well thats the RAF down the tubes then. Hell, that makes IOT a "can't fail" course then. What a big difference to a decade ago is all I can think. Is this really true? Cheers WWW |
It would appear so. Recently spoke to a mate who is a current IOT Flt Cdr - apparently it is virtually impossible to chop a stude nowadays, unless you have a paper trail a mile long documenting all of their shortcomings in detail!
It seems now that studes do not have to prove their worth to the RAF; Instead, Flt Cdrs have to prove that they're NOT worth having! I suspect that heinous, crippling piece of legislation, the Human Rights Act, has something to do with this. Or maybe it's just politics - I always thought having selection and training under the same roof would prove to be disastrous........ |
Hmmmmm - subtle, but I take it that WWW never got through the doors of Crandiz 10 years ago then? Or got in & then out again before the other boys? I wonder.................:E
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I'd quite like to know what criteria they award the sword on. Appologies to anyone else starting in May, but its mine! :p
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Hmmmm....
Better hope that one of the criteria for the award of the sword isn't humility...... P.S Why don't you watch the film 'An Officer and a Gentleman', specifically the bit where Richard Gere has the choice between finishing the obstacle race in a record time, thus obtaining individual glory, or turning back to help a team mate....!! |
No - I never did start day one of Cranditz. Many good friends did so and I had been preparing for a number of years. I was very aware of the demands of IOT at the time and the chop rate then prevailing.
Not quite 10 years on I am frankly and honestly staggered how things seem to have changed. Never having been 'in' I have no right to comment. Nevertheless I can only think it is 'a bad thing'. Cheers WWW |
Here's a tip:
If you are keen on the sword, just rock up and do the best you possibly can. Suggest you keep your desire to yourself as we all know that, just like school, over-ambition leads to unpopularity. If you get the sword, great. If not, you don't look a prick for going on about it and then not getting it. Also suggest UAS people who reckon they're going FJ don't count their chickens, based on rumour control's latest. And it seems if you do end at up Linton, you're playing for big-boy stakes. Chop does mean chop. Dave. |
As someone who has seen IOT from both sides (Stude and Instructor including a stint as a Trg Officer) I have a somewhat different opinion to some posted here. The IOT 'system' is about as fair as it can be, taking into account that there are people involved. The course is designed to train Cadets in leadership and the other skills that they will require to perform as effective junior officers in the RAF, nothing more and nothing less. If you start IOT with the attitude that you are going to get as much out of it as you can and you have the maturity to recognise that the system is not flexible enough to be a bespoke course for your own needs then you will not go too far wrong.
As for the point that it is almost impossible to 'chop' cadets who are failing to make the grade without a long paper work trail - how can that be a bad thing? The difference between now and 10 years ago is that the cadet will get a copy of virtually anything written about them. This means that Flt Cdrs have to honest and fair in their reporting (not a bad thing). This does not make it any easier when a cadet who your gut tells you is not right for that RAF has managed to scrape along at the bottom and just make the grade for graduation. However, in my limited experience I can honestly say that the vast majority of cadets that I had a hand in helping to graduate fully deserved their commission. I would even go as far to say that I was proud to see most of them march up the steps at the end of the parade. The main weakness in the IOT course will always be the people, both on the cadet side (not approaching the course in a positive manner and seeing the course as a game to be played), and on the Flt Cdr side (poor instructing and managing exercises in a manner that makes life easier for themself but does not deliver the training required by the individual cadet). The long and the short of it is that you should enjoy the course so long as you approach it with realistic expectations and (fingers crossed) get a good Flt Cdr. Final thought - the output from IOT is a reflection of the society that we live in - not necessarily the strengths/weaknesses of the selection / training process. The traditional officer outlook is not as common as it was a few years ago - OASC and IOT can mitigate the 'decline' in standards but cannot realistically arrest it. :O |
P-XD
Reference your comment..'the output of IOT is a reflection of the society we live in'. Given that the RAF is very small these days, and getting smaller by the minute, presumably the number of IOT students required is also small and shrinking. Can we not find enough young men and women, given the numbers we need, with the right sort of attitude, even if they are not a reflection of the majority of society. I have no desire to be 'classist', or to fill the RAF with 'hooray-henry's', but children educated in private schools often have the sort of ethos the services are looking for, team spirit, loyalty, confidence, a willingness to muck in, etc. These are not all upper class knobs! Many middle class families in Britain these days make sacrifices to have their children educated privately, and several of my RAF friends have their kids at boarding school courtesy of BSA! But maybe kids educated privately these days have higher aspirations than to join the armed services!! |
Biggus - I hope you are fishing here. Northern scum & proud of it. Possibly gave me more motivation to prove I was worthy as I have been given nothing, assumed nothing and expected my future to be in my hands. Remember giggling drunkenly with an ex airman at one of those cheese & wine affairs at Crandiz - all those ex LUAS types and us poor people in the same room, then on the same parade square!
Currently doing OK - IMHO. Love the idea of regressing back to the trenches of WWI. I thought the Army attracted all those privately educated types?!:E |
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