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Something somebody said in another thread reminded me that I'd been intending to make a UK mil thread for a while. Everyone else has one, I feel we ought to show our former colonies how it's done. This thread is for general discussion about the UK Armed Forces, but I'm happy for BritCop and others to appear as well. If you have any recruitment questions, feel free to ask, but the relevant websites and Careers Offices will give the official answers. I'm a Junior Officer in the Royal Navy as a wannabe Observer (that's the other front seater in a helo), currently on job in Portsmouth between courses. MonkeyLibFront posted:Even though this isn't a UK mil thread i need to vent the anger of getting dicked with christmas day guard for doing gently caress all when others in the regt have been done for drink driving etc recently. Well, now there is. I got pinged for a remembrance service detail last week, my arm was aching by the end of it. Was rather threaders about that, but it doesn't really compare to working at Christmas.
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| # ? Nov 6, 2011 16:04 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 01:37 |
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Captain in the infantry. Came back from Afghanistan this year. I've done 2 years at Catterick as an instructor, what a place; prefered Afghanistan by a mile. Not joking.
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| # ? Nov 6, 2011 21:28 |
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BritCop has told me that he is too busy in his new role as Police Sergeant to talk to fussy people on the internet. I think GBS put him off a bit! I am meeting a British Army Colonel on Friday to have a chat about a career as an officer, hopefully in the Intelligence Corps. I would also be interested in the Royal Military Police as well as the Royal Artillery. Does anyone have any experience with any of those three? mootmoot posted:Captain in the infantry. Came back from Afghanistan this year. I've done 2 years at Catterick as an instructor, what a place; prefered Afghanistan by a mile. Not joking. Have long have you served for? Tell us about your time at Catterick?
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 00:49 |
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mootmoot posted:Captain in the infantry. Came back from Afghanistan this year. I've done 2 years at Catterick as an instructor, what a place; prefered Afghanistan by a mile. Not joking.
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 01:57 |
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Hezzy posted:Intelligence Corps. I would also be interested in the Royal Military Police as well as the Royal Artillery. Does anyone have any experience with any of those three? Everyone has a lot of respect for the Int Corps. They're seen as objects of fascination by people in the Army as no one really understands them. The opposite is true of the RMP. I've got a lot of friends in the Artillery, but with the exception of the NCO's, the majority of them say that they regret not going infantry. I've done 4 years, and there's not really much to say about Catterick. I loved the recruits, working with them and moulding them into soldiers was a lot of fun and very rewarding. It's just the hierachy that are terrified of litigation and are really restrictive on what you can do. Training infantry soldiers is different from others, training needs to be more robust as the job that is asked of infanteers (closing with and neutralising enemy forces) is often more arduous than the average non-infanteer on ops. I know someone is going to disagree and cite some minority group in the Army or give an example of one day on tour when they got shot at; but this is true for the majority of cases. psydude posted:Are you a soft-rock guitarist popular among middle aged women, by any chance? You thinking of Alexander Rawlins?
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 06:13 |
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mootmoot posted:Everyone has a lot of respect for the Int Corps. They're seen as objects of fascination by people in the Army as no one really understands them. The opposite is true of the RMP. I've got a lot of friends in the Artillery, but with the exception of the NCO's, the majority of them say that they regret not going infantry. Yeah, I figured that was the case with RMP! I wouldn't mind going Infantry but I don't think my parents would ever speak to me again. I went through the motions of joining when I was nearly 18 and kept it quiet. It came to me having to make a decision and then I told my parents - they said they'd disown me if I joined the Army. Obviously now I am a big boy and I can do what I want! The Army would be the last place I'd think of where people would be cautious about litigation, so that really surprises me. I have spent nearly 4 years in the police and I am getting a bit fed up with the atmosphere in there. What is training at Sandhurst like? Also, how is promotion treated? In the police there are exams and interviews that you have to undertake. How does it work in the army?
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 11:42 |
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quote:career as an officer, hopefully in the Intelligence Corps Make sure you get on a Fam visit to Chicksands mate, I'm not sure INT CORPS sponsors now, they rarely did a few years ago, but its worth going to see the Officer's Mess and getting a actual understanding of what the Officers in the Corps do, which is different from what the Soldier's do. Like mootmoot said, they're a strange beast which most of the army don't really have any contact with.
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 13:31 |
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Reading through these questions makes me realise exactly how little I know about the Army. I reckon I know less now than I did when I was applying to join the Navy. I now know more about less. Always seems to happen. The Navy has just started to introduce an Intelligence stream, but you still have to go warfare first for a few years and then cross-stream later.
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 14:00 |
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quote:Intelligence stream Is that still actually going ahead? I met someone last year who was trying to sell it, but I've not heard anything else since. I think it'll be interesting enough of a career, but its going to be dam hard to build up to the level of competency that the other two services have in operational intelligence. Are they setting up a rating career stream for it, similar to the CT trade? How are they going to combat the myth that Naval Intelligence is for wheezing ginger kids? 
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 15:56 |
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Hezzy posted:I am meeting a British Army Colonel on Friday to have a chat about a career as an officer, hopefully in the Intelligence Corps. I would also be interested in the Royal Military Police as well as the Royal Artillery. Does anyone have any experience with any of those three? I am currently a Captain in the TA Royal Artillery but was a Regular before I swapped over when I went to Uni. What sort of thing do you want to know about, trades and the like? Definitely try for a FAM visit to DISC Chicksands, if only to stay at their really gucci mess. Also, for christ's sake, dont join the monkeys as an Officer. Literally every commissioned RMP I have met have been depressed alcoholics to a man.
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 18:30 |
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Hezzy posted:I wouldn't mind going Infantry but I don't think my parents would ever speak to me again. It depends what you're suitable for. If you're fit, robust and reasonable to be around then you'll be welcome everywhere. The infantry is best suited to relatively confident and strong people. You command blokes in a different capacity to others as you're asking them to do some pretty filthy things, the majority of the soldiers will be happy to do it though. I know that of course, Engineers, CIED, Medics etc are all getting shot at on the front line but lets be honest, it's the infanteers that get trained and do the vast majority of it. I personally wouldn't want to do anything else. On ops everything is geared around us, and when everything goes loud, it's exhilarating. Just to build on the Int Corps; I haven't met an Int Corps Officer that wasn't obviously very intelligent, well read, articulate and have degrees on international politics, international stability etc. It seems that they join the Army for academic reasons. I don't want to put you off, this is just the impression that I've got from them. Everyone of them has been intellectually very impressive. Their soldiers often have degrees, but the only difference is not from such presigious universities. Does this sound like you? quote:What is training at Sandhurst like? Pretty hard. It's a year long leadership course, based on an infanteering vehicle to instil it as infantry is the hardest of all the 'trades'. There's a constant theme of public school vs comprehensive school Officer Cadets, but as long as you're intelligent, compassionate and keen then your background doesn't matter at all. You all get trained to the same standard over the year, and once you commission then you go to phase 2 training where you learn your trade. Infanteers go to the Infantry Battle School in Wales for a gruelling 14 weeks learning Platoon tactics, Artillery Officers go to Larkhill to learn how to drink and Cavalry Officers go to Bovington to convince themselves they're not middle class anymore. If you go to http://www.aarse.co.uk they have reams of threads on the topic. If you have any direct questions about the training then I'm happy to answer them. quote:Also, how is promotion treated? In the police there are exams and interviews that you have to undertake. How does it work in the army? Promotion if you're an Officer is on time until you reach the rank of Captain. After you commission you will start as a Second Lieutenant, and then after one year you'll promote to Lieutenant. Two years after that you'll promote to Captain. Invariably you'll promote to Major after 6-9 years and after that it's on merit. A-streamers will promote to Major on thier first oppertunity, so will some B's but Cs will not. All enlisted soldier promotion is done on merit. mootmoot fucked around with this message at Nov 7, 2011 around 18:43 |
| # ? Nov 7, 2011 18:38 |
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quote:I haven't met an Int Corps Officer that wasn't obviously very intelligent, well read, articulate and have degrees on international politics, international stability etc. It seems that they join the Army for academic reasons. I don't want to put you off, this is just the impression that I've got from them. Its just like any other Corps at the end of the day though, if you're face fits you'll be ok. I know of guys with A-levels and biochemistry degrees who are subalterns. I think all their looking for is confidence and creditably, due in part to the requirement to brief senior officers right off the bat and the requirement to control their blokes, who come from a wide range of backgrounds.
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 20:08 |
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Red7 posted:Its just like any other Corps at the end of the day though, if you're face fits you'll be ok. I know of guys with A-levels and biochemistry degrees who are subalterns. I think all their looking for is confidence and creditably, due in part to the requirement to brief senior officers right off the bat and the requirement to control their blokes, who come from a wide range of backgrounds. True enough
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 20:27 |
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mootmoot posted:Promotion if you're an Officer is on time until you reach the rank of Captain. After you commission you will start as a Second Lieutenant, and then after one year you'll promote to Lieutenant. Two years after that you'll promote to Captain. Invariably you'll promote to Major after 6-9 years and after that it's on merit. A-streamers will promote to Major on thier first oppertunity, so will some B's but Cs will not. Ahh, that explains things somewhat. I always wondered why we had so many Lts compared to the Army captains. We do it slightly differently in the navy. Our seniority starts once you join Dartmouth and it's 2 years as Midshipman, then 3 years as Sublieutenant before Lt. If you have a uni degree then you gain 3 years of seniority, which means you'll skip middie completely and promote to Lieutenant 2 years after entry into Dartmouth. Promotion to Lieutenant Commander is based on merit and is definitely not time based. Depends on the job, as engineers find it easy, warfares are middling and aircrew find it really tough to get promoted. They also try to take into account how far up the ranks you'll make it. Promotion is after 6-9 years in grade though.
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| # ? Nov 7, 2011 20:53 |
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Skillness622 posted:I am currently a Captain in the TA Royal Artillery but was a Regular before I swapped over when I went to Uni. What sort of thing do you want to know about, trades and the like? What is a day in the life of an Artillery Captain like? What can I expect to be doing as an entry level officer? I am really hesitant to join the RMP because of their reputation within the Army and I think it would be too close to what I already do as a Civilian. However that being said, I am only considering it because I have a relevant skill set. mootmoot posted:It depends what you're suitable for. If you're fit, robust and reasonable to be around then you'll be welcome everywhere. The infantry is best suited to relatively confident and strong people. You command blokes in a different capacity to others as you're asking them to do some pretty filthy things, the majority of the soldiers will be happy to do it though. I know that of course, Engineers, CIED, Medics etc are all getting shot at on the front line but lets be honest, it's the infanteers that get trained and do the vast majority of it. I personally wouldn't want to do anything else. On ops everything is geared around us, and when everything goes loud, it's exhilarating. I really appreciate your answers, mootmoot. One of the reasons I want to join the Army is the challenge it poses - it was the same reason I joined the police. However, I have recently started finding police work mundane as the vast majority is just domestics and drunken violence. This was all exciting and stuff when I first started, but it has gotten quite stale. I think Infantry would be the ultimate challenge but I need to give some serious thoughts as to whether that is the path I want to take. Ideally I would be wanting to look for a life long career within the Army. How easy is it to move between trades? The Int Corp officers do sound quite familiar to me, apart from the degrees in politics. My degree concentrates more on investigation and criminal theory, as well as internal UK politics surrounding the Home Office. My college scores weren't high enough for prestigious Universities (DCC - one of the Cs was General Studies) as I was a really lazy sod. However, I am now on track and in my last year for a BSc (Hons). Over the past year or so I have had an "awakening" of sorts and I have learnt to apply my entire potential to work. I have found that a lot of it is wasted, which is another reason I want to join the Army. I shall have a think about some questions to ask you about the training, but the general idea sounds great. I have been lurking Aarse for a few weeks, trying to absorb the atmosphere. It is very interesting!! What kind of merit would get you promotion? The idea of my work being recognised and rewarded is quite foreign to me. For example, I work a ten hour part time week for a train operating company and have managed to secure the posts of Environmental Champion and Communication Champion, I contribute to an Assaults Working Group as well as a Customer Information and Service Delivery Group. Is there some kind of parallel to this in the Army, in being able to take on special projects or is it purely based on how well you do your job? I would say one of my skills is being able to come up with workable ideas and solutions to problems, as well as analysing current practices and offering suggestions on how they can be improved. Would this put me in good stead, providing I was good at the job?
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| # ? Nov 8, 2011 04:17 |
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mootmoot posted:I've done 2 years at Catterick as an instructor, what a place; prefered Afghanistan by a mile. Not joking. Nice to see some things are universal
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| # ? Nov 8, 2011 06:24 |
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Hezzy posted:I am really hesitant to join the RMP because of their reputation within the Army and I think it would be too close to what I already do as a Civilian. However that being said, I am only considering it because I have a relevant skill set. I went through Sandhurst with an ex-Policeman who quit because he was bored with his job. He thought that the RMP in the Army, like you, would be appropriate as he has a civilian policeman background. The reality of the situation is that he was taking a pay cut to start at the bottom of another insitution who do exactly the same thing that he was getting fed up with in the first place. He made it about 10 weeks into the training, initially keen but rapidly started on a downslide before binning it. Something to think about. You say that "I have recently started finding police work mundane as the vast majority is just domestics and drunken violence;" this is literally all that you will be dealing with as an RMP. I could go on for hours about what you've written, but I think the best option, if you are serious for us to talk. I'm going to PM you my phone number. Send me a text and if you're around the London area we can even go for a beer or something. It would be a lot easier to have a face-to-face. Im not a recruiter, but I don't mind giving some time to assist you in your decisions.
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| # ? Nov 8, 2011 12:07 |
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mootmoot posted:I went through Sandhurst with an ex-Policeman who quit because he was bored with his job. He thought that the RMP in the Army, like you, would be appropriate as he has a civilian policeman background. I see where you're coming from! At the moment I'm a Special Constable, so I don't get paid for doing the job. What I'm really looking for is a job that is challenging and will push me. I find that the police, while being a disciplined organisation, is still too laid back for my liking. Thanks, got your PM and will be sending you a text shortly. I live in pretty much the opposite end of the country to London but that being said, I do visit friends there every now and again and there's a possibility that I will be in the area policing the Olympics next year. Pr perhaps even sooner if a training course comes up. I really appreciate your time.
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| # ? Nov 8, 2011 13:02 |
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The only place I think as derelict as Catterick is probably Grantham and that's more to do with the area itself than the barracks I think.
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| # ? Nov 8, 2011 13:17 |
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Posting to express my joy of being taken off crimbo duty and can now fully enjoy my 3 weeks off without a 600 mile round trip drive over Christmas. Ps the tank park is boring and mundane. MonkeyLibFront fucked around with this message at Nov 9, 2011 around 22:38 |
| # ? Nov 9, 2011 17:34 |
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Well I'm not in the navy quite yet, I start my training at Dartmouth in February, going in as a Weapon Engineer officer, but if anyone has any questions about the officer recruitment process I've just been through it and will try and help. Are there any particular things I need to watch out for at Dartmouth? Also can in anyone in the RN get me a clear answer on this, are there still bounties for engineering officers, since after the treasury asked for a £1.5m tax bill a few months ago not a single ACLO knows if they withdrew them after that or not. Orange Someone posted:We do it slightly differently in the navy. Our seniority starts once you join Dartmouth and it's 2 years as Midshipman, then 3 years as Sublieutenant before Lt. If you have a uni degree then you gain 3 years of seniority, which means you'll skip middie completely and promote to Lieutenant 2 years after entry into Dartmouth. I think that must have changed since you started since I've been told that it's 6 months midshipman, 18 months as a Sub Lieutenant, then a minimum of 6 years as a Lieutenant till you can get Lieutenant Commander, you get 6 months seniority for a degree and 1 year for a masters. So for me as an WEO, I do Dartmouth and my engineering training at HMS Collingwood as a SLt and then get my Lieutenant at the end of that. I even got quizzed on that in my SIFT and AIB and they told me it was right. Orange Someone posted:The Navy has just started to introduce an Intelligence stream, but you still have to go warfare first for a few years and then cross-stream later. There was a CPO on my AIB trying to come in as a Senior Upper Yardsmen who was already doing that and had just come back from Afganistan a few weeks beforehand. He was aiming to be in the first officer stream for it IIRC.
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| # ? Nov 9, 2011 21:34 |
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major_calamity posted:
Hey, wait, what? That means if a middie joins in your intake, he'll get to Lt before I will? I've just got to subbie; I'm still 3 years from Lt. I'm assuming those seniority dates start from Day 1 at Dartmouth. That means a guy (or gal) avec masters will hit Lt 5 months out of BRNC? That sucks, we've got too many Lts already, and you can never tell if they've just left training or they've been around forever. Though, that does mean that noone will leave Dartmouth wearing middie tabs. I assume that's the reason, it's hilarious visiting RAF and Army bases and watching them not have a clue what a Midshipman is. To be honest, half of our ratings think Middie is still a training rank. What will you wear at Dartmouth? OC tabs? Rank slides and OC tabs? Bare shoulders (what I had)? I was chatting to an ME Lt today, and she was saying that they've been told time in rank at Lt before Lt Cdr is 8-10 years. *edit* Didn't even see the question, went straight into the rant. major_calamity posted:Are there any particular things I need to watch out for at Dartmouth? They were talking of changing the pipeline/course when I was on holdover, so I may be out of date, but I'm probably the most up to date person. If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask. I'll add anything if I remember more. Orange Someone fucked around with this message at Nov 9, 2011 around 23:56 |
| # ? Nov 9, 2011 23:50 |
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Yep those are from Day 1, I think it might be to bump graduates up higher on the pay scale, particularly the engineers. When I was down at an aquatint at Sultan and Collingwood before my AIB all the were all SLts or if they were having their boards at the end of their SEMC were getting their Lt. Yeah the tabs don't look anything anyone else has, dosen't look quite like an officer. Also I think my dates were slightly wrong, it's 12 months as a midshipman and 12 months as a SLt, but the seniorities are 12 and 18 months for degrees and masters. But Dartmouth on a SLt's salary should be fun. Yeah, there's been a few more WEO shortages but, I was told 6 min, 7 if you're good, 8-9 otherwise. When did you go to Dartmouth? Are you still in observer training? *Edit* Yep, been told by a lot of people to get a good iron. They've switched to four intakes a year now and I'm the first lot on that, so I'll be the guinea pig for the new stuf! major_calamity fucked around with this message at Nov 10, 2011 around 00:06 |
| # ? Nov 10, 2011 00:02 |
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Gah, now I'm starting to question myself about those times and seniorities, I'm absolutely certain that with a degree I go to Dartmouth as a SLt, and finish my SEMC as a Lt and a masters gets you an extra 6 months seniority, but I can't find any of the bits of paper that had it all on and the bits on the web got swallowed up when they changed the website. I'm guessing you can find out from your DO exactly what it is.
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| # ? Nov 10, 2011 00:34 |
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The extra 6 months seniority for a masters is correct (or was when I started). All graduates are SLts, and all engineers have to be graduates. Normally, you'd get promoted to Lt 2 years after joining (or 18 months for a masters) but I did hear a dit that you got Lt on completion of professional training if you didn't have it already. I understand why they do it, it's to get graduates to get more cash and thus be competitive in the post-uni jobs market, but I still think there should be more time spent as subbie/middie. Give them more pay, but don't give them the extra rank. major_calamity posted:Gah, now I'm starting to question myself about those times and seniorities, I'm absolutely certain that with a degree I go to Dartmouth as a SLt, and finish my SEMC as a Lt and a masters gets you an extra 6 months seniority. That's right as far as I know. There are complicatons sometimes, because you get 3 years seniority as a graduate, but you spent 2 years as a middie, sometimes people count it as 1 year seniority as a subbie. Never mind, don't sweat it. I started Dartmouth last september, now I'm on hold waiting for observer training to kick off. I'll still be in training for 2 or 3 more years.
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| # ? Nov 10, 2011 07:17 |
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Hey guys, been waiting for a British Army thread for a while lol, and when it does pop up, some one's already asked what I wanted to! Currently I'm trying to make my mind up between RMP and intelligence (non-commissioned however). At the moment, I'm getting my BMI down (lost 2 stone since August) and my general fitness up. I've seen the requirements for the two day ASDC course, will the actual basic be much tougher or will that general level of fitness be enough?
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| # ? Nov 11, 2011 06:02 |
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Entry level, phase one training is more intense on the physical scale of things, but it is designed to bolster your fitness so that you do benefit from it. As much as the PTIs like to make you think otherwise! My advice is be as ready as you can be really, both for selection and phase 1 and you'll benefit from it regardless.
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| # ? Nov 11, 2011 12:05 |
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Flipswitch posted:Entry level, phase one training is more intense on the physical scale of things, but it is designed to bolster your fitness so that you do benefit from it. As much as the PTIs like to make you think otherwise! Thanks very much mate! *Edit* - Hope Remembrance Day goes quietly for everyone, lest we forget!
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| # ? Nov 11, 2011 12:14 |
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No problem. For me it'll be watching how many people in my unit forget how to march mid-stride. One thing to add on the fitness is don't burn yourself out getting ready too, I've seen a lot of people do that and they're absolutely dead by the time they get to Pirbright or Catterick and it does them no good. Good luck.
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| # ? Nov 11, 2011 12:48 |
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Had a meeting with a Colonel earlier today who answered a lot of my questions. I'm going to be visiting the RMP and the Artillery in January next year, and Intelligence once / if I pass the Briefing
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| # ? Nov 12, 2011 00:22 |
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Hezzy posted:Had a meeting with a Colonel earlier today who answered a lot of my questions. I'm going to be visiting the RMP and the Artillery in January next year, and Intelligence once / if I pass the Briefing In the UK recruiters are officers? An O-5 at that?
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| # ? Nov 12, 2011 21:15 |
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MooMoo posted:In the UK recruiters are officers? An O-5 at that? There's normally recruitment officers that look after officer recruitment. When I joined up, my ACLO (Area Career Liason Officer) was a Lt Cdr, but his replacement was a Lt. When you're looking at joining specific outfits/regiments, then you might talk to anyone, particularly with specific requirements like Int. Question. I was told that normally to join the Army as an Officer, you join Sandhurst, do the Initial Officer Training and then get pinged for whichever regiment you'll join. If you're joining RMP or Int, do you do the same training but get pinged before-hand or is it still open? Do you do the same training as everyone else at Sandhurst?
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| # ? Nov 12, 2011 21:29 |
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Orange Someone posted:There's normally recruitment officers that look after officer recruitment. When I joined up, my ACLO (Area Career Liason Officer) was a Lt Cdr, but his replacement was a Lt. You select which capbadge you commission as while you are at Sandhurst itself. You are expected to have three choices, of which you will drop one in the first term, then you go to your first and second choices to get a good look at them and vice versa. If they like you, you will get your first choice, but it also depends on the amount of cadets applying for the limited number of slots in each capbadge, The Paras for example, get loads of people applying for a very limited number of places due to the 'allyness' of the capbadge. By the time you leave Sandhurst, you will be badged to a regiment/branch and will proceed onto specialist trade training.
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| # ? Nov 12, 2011 21:47 |
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MooMoo posted:In the UK recruiters are officers? An O-5 at that? He is a University liaison officer, but is retired. Very nice chap and he built a good rapport with me very quickly. I can build rapport very well with people at a reasonable rate, but his skills were amazing! Orange Someone posted:There's normally recruitment officers that look after officer recruitment. When I joined up, my ACLO (Area Career Liason Officer) was a Lt Cdr, but his replacement was a Lt. To be eligible for a commission at Sandhurst you need to be sponsored by a regiment. It isn't legally binding - they are not obliged to offer you a place in the regiment nor are you obliged to accept one. You visit the different regiments, they take a look at you and you take a look at them. You can usually do this before any of the interviews with the exception of the Intelligence Corps, who will not see anyone till they have passed the "Breifing" interview. Once you've done your year(?) at Sandhurst, you choose your regiment and hopefully get accepted. If you don't, you choose another. Ad infinitum until you get into one. Then you go on to do your trade training. All the training at Sandhurst is the same, regardless of where you're going in the Army! Also what is ally at the moment? Is it still "Operator" rigs?
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| # ? Nov 12, 2011 23:48 |
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Hezzy posted:. . . You can usually do this before any of the interviews with the exception of the Intelligence Corps, who will not see anyone till they have passed the "Briefing" interview. Awesome. That definitely clears things up. All the training at dartmouth is the same, regardless of where you're going as well. It's somewhat geared towards warfare officers (your normal naval officers), so it's amusing to see aircrew or engineering trainee officers getting frustrated by chartwork or small boat handling.
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| # ? Nov 13, 2011 23:38 |
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Awesome. Just spent two weeks hanging out with the RAF Regiment. I was just using their base as somewhere to sleep whilst doing other stuff, but they're a good bunch of lads. I'd assumed they did airfield defence, particularly Anti-Air, turns out they have zero AA capability (Royal Artillery has it now). They do more vehicle patrols in the surrounding area, neutralising surface-surface and surface-air strikes. It's funny, its quite easy to get anyone to talk about their job. The RN blue working uniform does stand out a lot in a sea of MPT and DPM. In other news: First UK JSF rolls out of factory Slightly misleading title, as it's a trials aircraft designed for us to get used to the airframe and define operating parameters and such. As an Observer, I'm in the rotary world, but there was a slight longing that the government would buy Super Hornets instead and suddenly need fast jet backseaters. I think I'm too tall anyway, but it was a nice pipe dream. It's nice we're getting cats and traps, it doubles the internal missile load (from 1 to 2) and thus we can kill twice as much stuff whilst staying stealthy.
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| # ? Nov 24, 2011 09:47 |
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Last I'd heard about the F35 was that the airframe structure was failing in about a tenth of the flying hours it was supposed to, they'd made it light weight and IIRC the new material they were using wasn't behaving as advertised. They were having to practically try and retrofit in a whole extra airframe to support the original one.
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| # ? Nov 24, 2011 10:43 |
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Orange Someone posted:Awesome. Just spent two weeks hanging out with the RAF Regiment. I was just using their base as somewhere to sleep whilst doing other stuff, but they're a good bunch of lads. They are unfortunatly, the butt of every infantry joke. They are not taken seriously anywhere, by anyone who isn't in that 'infantry for girls' clique. They're a defence force. They dont do strike ops and are only deployed at the back. The reason why no one takes them seriously is despite thier REMF status, they think they're the poo poo. They don't even do infantry courses - theres no external validation. I have three memories of the RAF Regiment: 1. "If you want to be taken seriously, don't turn up with 'RAF Regiment' written on your sholders." - A Brigadier. 2. One RAF Sargeant was convinced that the RAF Regiment has, pound-for-pound, more people passing selection for SF than any other regiment. Yep. I'm sure it's not the Paras, or the Guards which have an entire Squadron devoted to them. 3. There was an RAF Regiment bloke waiting to use the phones in Bastion, as was his habit every day after a gruelling 4 hour stag on the airport. He was getting more and more irate as 2 Scots (infantry) had just end-of-toured after the summer, waiting to go home and had lost quite a few blokes so the queue for the internet terminals and phones was longer than usual. So this little dude is getting more and more irate as his comfortable schedule is getting interrupted. Finally he gets to the front of a queue, about to use the phone and OP MINIMISE is called (for those of you who don't know, OP MINIMISE is called when a UK soldier gets very seriously injured or killed so the MOD can inform the family formally before they just find out about it). So the RAF Regiment vociferates, "loving hell, I wish the blokes on the ground would stop loving monging it." This then cues him getting filled in by two Figians and no one giving a gently caress.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2011 08:51 |
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Still the best motivational poster I've ever seen. They are pretty good at what they do to be fair to them, even though its a job avoided like the plague by every other nation in NATO (I mean Tongan Marines?! Really?!). I was talking to one of their guys while I was on tour and he knew their AO like a policeman would know his patch, everyone's names, daily routines etc. I suppose that's what you get when you spend almost 10 years rotating through the exact same job. Generally what people see though is their QRF sat outside a green been sunning themselves and trying to be as ally as possible, which is difficult considering they sleep in air con rooms on mattresses every night and have to wear their lumi-belts like every other mobbit. I'll never forget seeing one of them get a bollocking by the GSM because he was caught sat on top of a Jackal, wolf whistling at a female contractor going into the DFAC. From hero sleeved defender of democracy to weedy crab airman in 2 seconds flat.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2011 19:57 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 01:37 |
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Red7 posted:I'll never forget seeing one of them get a bollocking by the GSM because he was caught sat on top of a Jackal, wolf whistling at a female contractor going into the DFAC. From hero sleeved defender of democracy to weedy crab airman in 2 seconds flat. So are they kind of like teenagers acting cool but their parents come along and drag them off by their ear? I have been asked a question recently about treatment of Prisoners of War after being released. She asked if they could be punished by their own country for being captured in the first place. My gut instinct is that the Geneva Convention would prevent this but I can't find anything in it to that effect. Any ideas? This is what I have so far after a little bit of Googling and research (copied from facebook so sorry for the lack of caps!); Question posted:"what is the maximum term of imprisonment a POW may receive as punishment for being captured?" Me posted:part 4 section 1 article 74 could give a clue; "No repatriated person shall be employed on active military service." Hezzy fucked around with this message at Nov 27, 2011 around 23:22 |
| # ? Nov 27, 2011 22:38 |
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