Life after OCUs...?
 

How does life change after OCU/OCFs?
During the training pipeline you often hear “This is $h!t” or “I hate the crappy training system, things are so much better when you’re out of the training system” but then again you also hear of all the stress ‘real’ pilots are under and how training is a walk in the park and the best time you’ll have in the air force.

So which is true? Is the training system one big jolly with life afterwards consisting of crappy secondary duties and endless deployments OR is the training system a stress filled, uncertain few years and when on a squadron it’s all piss ups the night before flying, routes and rates?
Obviously these views are very oversimplified but I’d like to know what the old and bold (er) and those who have actually been there reckon on this one?

My specific “hypothetical” question is this:
You’re a young guy rapidly approaching your multis wings. Would it be better, with hindsight, to stay in the air force and fly multis?
OR
PVR and fly with the airlines (assuming you have sponsorship from an airline)?

PUO

The latter. The RAF is contracting at an ever increasing rate.You will only end up working your socks off across all the sandpits in the world. Good luck which ever way you choose.

Both! The stress of the trg is replaced with the stress of overstretch, the lack of responsibility leading to the weekend piss-ups is replaced by sqn piss-ups and travel (to the sand pit)...

In short, it's no better, no worse, just different. Then you get married and it's all downhill as your priorities change.

An assumption of airline sponsorship may result in a costly surprise. There is virtually no airline sponsorship available at the moment and anyone coming to the end of an OCU is likely to be nudging the normal sponsorship age limits anyway.

Despite all that, I'm beginning to think that paying to go civvy is probably a long-term smart move.

Stout

Hence my “hypothetical question" although there are quite a few semi decent schemes out there but pretty none which give full sponsorship.


21 is hardly anywhere near the airline limits!!

PUO

Well then you're nicely inside the limits, young man. However, a lot of people do four year degrees, have to wait for an IOT slot, go through IOT, hold, do BFT, possibly hold, AFT, hold, OCU and find that by this stage they are nudging the age limits (often 25 or 26).

If you are on an OCU at 21, that's pretty good going in my book.

What on earth was your motivation for joining the Armed Forces in the first instance?

If you have to question whether or not life on the front line is worth it due to rates and routes then I doubt that you're prepared for the realities of Operations, multis or otherwise. My advice is leave now - your motives do not appear to be the correct ones for a long career spent serving your country. Without such motives, you might find that the 'job' willl quickly become too much to bear.

sounds like ideal RAF Officer material ! judging by some of the inhabitants on this forum ?

Sorry to burst your bubble but I think you’ll find very few RAF ‘officers’ these days who are ‘committed’ to their job.
To be completely frank most Officers are bothered about how much money they earn and how cool their job sounds to the chicks!
Very few people are actually concerned about Mess Dress Standards and serving the Queen (Being G W Bush’s poodle in the pursuit of more oil and helping out capitalist f**kers!)

PUO

Ps. My motive for joining the RAF was being a naive 15 year old, thinking I was being patriotic before I realised what the Air Farce and society were actually about!

Well PileUp, I think for you the answer to your 'hypothetical' question is very clear.

Regards

Stout

What a load of bollocks. Your original question indicates you know nothing of life after an OCU, and I think you'll find that whilst qiuality of life is a very important considertion, 99 out of 100 officers have sufficient professional pride to do a good job, come what may.

I suggest that you are both too immature and lack the required attitude to stay in the RAF and would hate to see you on my Sqn. So I suggest you 'do one' and get lost :mad:

You will also find that life after the OCU is more training. For the first 6 months on your sqn you are still under the watchful eye of PTC and the training committees.

Try your little trick and you will no doubt get out of the Air Force after 3 years amortisation. Don't count on flying during that time. And don't expect to keep that shiney pair of wings.

You only get to keep your wings after 6 months on the sqn.

Ditto comments above. I would not wish to burden either my Service nor my Squadron with the likes of you. Your comments are indicative of either:

a. A clever wind-up, or
b. A****wit.

If the latter is true, then may I suggest you **** off and stop wasting your QFI's time.

Damn those drunk Prune posts.... again!

However, i still pretty much stand by what I said. A lot of of younger officers just realise that they and their mates are being screwed over by the RAF and think it's only fair to do the same back!
It's not a matter of being immature, just a matter of accepting the job the RAF really does instead of whitewashing it in your mind- that's immature!

Investors in people..? Pah! What a load of b******s!

You are correct that Investors in People is a farce, and apart from being a huge waste of cash does nothing 'at the coal face'.

But again, I think you are wrong when you say that people are 'whitewashing their minds' into thinking the job is good. As in any job there are good and bad elements, and whilst yes Tony and his mates are doing their best to undermine the RAF, people aren't stupid! Theres a huge difference between getting on with the job and having pride in what you do rather than liking it. In this day and age the trips out to funny places come around all too often. No-one will look after you, you have to be cunning and use forethought and planning to even try to get the next posting you want.

I’m not saying that being in the RAF isn’t a good job or having a pop at the people in the RAF. I’m simply saying that a lot of people are effectively, recruited in their teens when their world view is a lot more naive and reasons for joining are a lot more honourable than the reality actually turns out to be.
Maybe it was just me though.

I believe that a lot of officers in the younger generation are simply using the RAF as a means to an end. People asking for advice about joining with this kind of view are often flamed and told they lack the commitment to join the forces but the world of employment has changed for school levers. Modern employees understand that they need to be as ruthless with employers as employers are with them!

I’m not saying I think this is for the best, just pointing it out!

PUO, Sonny, I suggest you bugg@r off and find a 'job' that more suits your clearly prodigious talents.

I am saddened to hear that this is just a 'job' to you and your peers. I have been around a bit longer than you (still a 70's child though), and I still love what I do. Yes there are many things that piss me off, getting dicked around by all sorts of different people is part of life in the services. Another part of life is the genuine pleasure of getting your task done in a professional manner, and doing it with people who will be friends for life because of all that you have put up with. If all that floats your boat is money they I suggest that you are not fit to be an Officer or a member of HM armed services. Take a look around you when you can get your head out of your @rse, you will notice that the world is not revolving around you.

One day, if you wake uo, you may have a number of people who are relying on you to keep them alive. You may be delivering personnel into a hot spot that needs our help to prevent another genocide etc etc. There are opportunities in the forces that you could not even dream of. It is true that we all move on, families, kids etc will eventually change your perspectives, it has mine, but if you make the effort you will have some very rewarding times. If, on the other hand, all you are interested in is financial gain and an easy life, then you are in the wrong career and the person that recruited you must have been lied to.

If you are correct in your assertions about the attitude of most of your peers then I have genuine fears about the future of the RAF.

You say that you are an officer, well dry your eyes and start acting like it - set an example or leave, there is no middle ground.

well said desperado ! lets have more people with your outlook on service life.

PUO

If you are struggling with what DESPERADO wrote, try changing it to a really large font size, print it and then take it to your flt cdr. Then ask your mates to hang around outside his office to enjoy the spectacle, as he (rightly) rips your bo**ocks off and then stuffs them up your nostrils !

I have news for you son, we don’t owe you squat. If you feel that the Service has had you over, then stop whinging and vote with your feet.

(Now off to wave my wad at the chicks..)

PUO, how does one so junior get so jaundiced an outlook on the world? Surely having wanted to fly for a long while you should be chomping at the bit to get front line?

It saddens me that the new generation coming into the mob should be so unenthusiastic; I saw the beginnings of it as a Flt Cdr a while back. I agree that times 'they are a changing' and we are having to look out for ourselves more now than ever before, but nonetheless, we need keen as mustard young 'uns to keep the service fresh. If you genuinely feel this way, then do yourself, your future Sqn comrades, your Sqn and the RAF a favour and walk...go and work for an airline with a union that you can join and mank through.

Tschuss.

HM