Hoping To Join The Army - Good Idea?
Discussion
Rider007 said:
Not me but had a distant relative who's son was hanging around with wrong crowd and doing drugs. Father 'frog' marched him into a recruiting office and the rest is history .In it for 10 years , got to see the world and came out a changed man. Got a good job too in security with the 'skill's' he learnt.
"Frog march" excellent!I personally think that advising someone to join the FFL straight away is a bit extreme.
I'm currently an infantry instructor and can testify how much of a difference the 6 month course makes to individuals. Its more than sufficient to turn a man's life around, providing he doesn't choose to leave in the first 12 weeks.
The caveat Is, as with any job, only those who wish to succeed will do well in the army. Anyone can join, scrape through training then do a boring 4 years underachieving, then leave and blame their financial and personal woes on the organisation.
Spent 12 years in the military and have been out for 20 years.
Saw a much better opportunity in Civvy Street and got out.
Worked in Investment Banking and now own a number of businesses.
The biggest thing that you would develop is a bulls
t detector.
It's amazing how many civilians talk so much bullst and don't like it when you quietly point it out to them.......
Saw a much better opportunity in Civvy Street and got out.
Worked in Investment Banking and now own a number of businesses.
The biggest thing that you would develop is a bulls
t detector.It's amazing how many civilians talk so much bulls
t and don't like it when you quietly point it out to them.......Edited by sybaseian on Friday 15th June 14:19
PHuzzy said:
At least you do it quietly.
That was actually the thing I found hardest readjusting to in civvy street, I still have problems now as I can't stop myself from telling it how it is and upsetting people/causing issues or complaints at work.
Shame you can't have a quiet word with them around the back of the guardroom........That was actually the thing I found hardest readjusting to in civvy street, I still have problems now as I can't stop myself from telling it how it is and upsetting people/causing issues or complaints at work.
Edited by sybaseian on Monday 18th June 13:32
272BHP said:
That kind of stuff never really happened though did it? or it was quickly stamped out when it did.
This was usually the training team members offering gobby recruits outside and nothing ever came of it. One lad I went through training with shagged a nurse from sickbay but her RM boyfriend found out and promised to knock the lad out. Instead of waiting the lad got on a train to Plymouth and beat the boyfriend up first. The BF stayed with her and they married but later on she was involved in a sex scandal. A load of us turned up to a welcome brief at a new unit. The G1 advisor asked who thought there were hard and to step outside. No one took him up on the offer but all of us thought he was a grade A bellend.
The only fighting I’ve seen is previous grudges boiling over on the piss. It’s wuickly sorted and punished in severe cases
matthias73 said:
Rider007 said:
Not me but had a distant relative who's son was hanging around with wrong crowd and doing drugs. Father 'frog' marched him into a recruiting office and the rest is history .In it for 10 years , got to see the world and came out a changed man. Got a good job too in security with the 'skill's' he learnt.
"Frog march" excellent!I personally think that advising someone to join the FFL straight away is a bit extreme.
I'm currently an infantry instructor and can testify how much of a difference the 6 month course makes to individuals. Its more than sufficient to turn a man's life around, providing he doesn't choose to leave in the first 12 weeks.
The caveat Is, as with any job, only those who wish to succeed will do well in the army. Anyone can join, scrape through training then do a boring 4 years underachieving, then leave and blame their financial and personal woes on the organisation.
But the lads you meet and the laughs you will have are some of the best you will ever have.
Edited by phil-sti on Sunday 17th June 17:32
The Mad Monk said:
And just supposing the person you want to have a quiet word with is built like a concrete conservatory?
Exactly, which is why you treat everyone under your command the same, anything else is cowardly and marks you out as a bully. The one thing the Army detests above all is a bully and they are quickly weeded out and dealt with.272BHP said:
sybaseian said:
Shame you can't have a quiet word with them around the back of the guardroom........
That kind of stuff never really happened though did it? or it was quickly stamped out when it did.The Mad Monk said:
sybaseian said:
Shame you can't have a quiet word with them around the back of the guardroom........
And just supposing the person you want to have a quiet word with is built like a concrete conservatory?Edited by sybaseian on Monday 18th June 13:35
OP, don't rule out the Navy/RAF.
I've been in the RAF for 13 years next month and despite the changes over the last few years, would still recommend it to anybody. From my experience working in several tri-service environments, the RAF operates more of a meritocracy than the Army, i.e. you get ahead based upon how good you are, not how loud you can shout/how fast you can run 1.5 miles.
The main difference between the Army and the RAF (and I'm aware that this could be a sweeping generalisation) is that the Army tend to wait around or exercise in anticipation of a deployment, whereas the RAF have more of a 9-5 day job. You are still expected to work 24/7 if required and on my team we manage ourselves (big boys rules - as long as the work gets done and nobody takes the piss, everyone is happy).
If you are in any way interested in technology/engineering then go for a trade. I can't speak for the Army/RN (although I expect they are the same), but most, if not all RAF trades are mapped to civilian quals. A couple of trades (aircraft/ICT) run a funded foundation degree scheme and there are plans in place to extend this to a BEng/BSc over the coming years. Plenty of options (again, trade dependent) to gain professional certifications that will stand you in good stead when you come to leave, examples (in the IT world) including Prince2, Cisco, CISSP, SANS, Microsoft, Juniper, etc. Tie this up with a security clearance and you shouldn't have any issues gaining meaningful employment. Likewise, with the aircraft trades there are opportunities to gain valuable experience on certain platforms and perhaps civilian licenses. Remember, this is part of your job and all paid for.
Day to day work depends on your role. A good idea would be to look online at the careers websites and make a note of any roles that stand out. If you live near a unit I'm sure that they would be happy to accommodate you for a day to show you around and explain what the work involves.
Pay is above reasonable IMO; for the first few years it will increase steadily. After that it will depend on promotion. Word of note, promotion tends to be quicker in the Army as they work to a 22yr career. The RAF works to age 55yrs+ so promotion can be slower, but if you perform you can definitely advance.
Benefits? Top class training, a decent leave allowance, a non contributory pension (nowhere near as good as what it used to be, even compared to some of the other posters on here, but still better than anything else in the public sector), adventurous training, travel, life experiences, friends, etc. It can set you up for life if you apply yourself; mates of mine have gone into jobs ranging from F1 through to IT project management, all paying extremely well.
I've been in the RAF for 13 years next month and despite the changes over the last few years, would still recommend it to anybody. From my experience working in several tri-service environments, the RAF operates more of a meritocracy than the Army, i.e. you get ahead based upon how good you are, not how loud you can shout/how fast you can run 1.5 miles.
The main difference between the Army and the RAF (and I'm aware that this could be a sweeping generalisation) is that the Army tend to wait around or exercise in anticipation of a deployment, whereas the RAF have more of a 9-5 day job. You are still expected to work 24/7 if required and on my team we manage ourselves (big boys rules - as long as the work gets done and nobody takes the piss, everyone is happy).
If you are in any way interested in technology/engineering then go for a trade. I can't speak for the Army/RN (although I expect they are the same), but most, if not all RAF trades are mapped to civilian quals. A couple of trades (aircraft/ICT) run a funded foundation degree scheme and there are plans in place to extend this to a BEng/BSc over the coming years. Plenty of options (again, trade dependent) to gain professional certifications that will stand you in good stead when you come to leave, examples (in the IT world) including Prince2, Cisco, CISSP, SANS, Microsoft, Juniper, etc. Tie this up with a security clearance and you shouldn't have any issues gaining meaningful employment. Likewise, with the aircraft trades there are opportunities to gain valuable experience on certain platforms and perhaps civilian licenses. Remember, this is part of your job and all paid for.
Day to day work depends on your role. A good idea would be to look online at the careers websites and make a note of any roles that stand out. If you live near a unit I'm sure that they would be happy to accommodate you for a day to show you around and explain what the work involves.
Pay is above reasonable IMO; for the first few years it will increase steadily. After that it will depend on promotion. Word of note, promotion tends to be quicker in the Army as they work to a 22yr career. The RAF works to age 55yrs+ so promotion can be slower, but if you perform you can definitely advance.
Benefits? Top class training, a decent leave allowance, a non contributory pension (nowhere near as good as what it used to be, even compared to some of the other posters on here, but still better than anything else in the public sector), adventurous training, travel, life experiences, friends, etc. It can set you up for life if you apply yourself; mates of mine have gone into jobs ranging from F1 through to IT project management, all paying extremely well.
Don't forget.
The decisions you make and the actions that you take - all done in good faith - with the information available to you at the time - using the equipment supplied to you - make come back to bite you - hard!
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph...
Still sure that it's a good idea to sign up?
The decisions you make and the actions that you take - all done in good faith - with the information available to you at the time - using the equipment supplied to you - make come back to bite you - hard!
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph...
Still sure that it's a good idea to sign up?
My son joined the Army 2 years ago, I did a thread on it as he had some trouble managing the selection process (bit of a culture shock for a mollycoddled 18yo), so hopefully I'm reasonably qualified to talk about it.
Roll forward two years, and he is a different person. Disciplined, confident, technically-minded (he joined Signals so is learning a trade) and just a well-rounded individual. That might not be relevant to the OP as he is perhaps more mature and worldly-wise, but the Army drums something into you that really does give off an air of confidence and positivity that is so valuable.
Is he enjoying it? Yes and No.
He gets told off - a lot. Usually little things, but the reaction seems disproportionate and that's just the way the Army is.
He's not all that busy, but that's a the nature of the role and he is learning a trade, but he does get bored sometimes.
But, he's already travelled to 3 countries and seen a bit of the world. He's been skiiing, mountain climbing and orienteering for weeks on end and ultimately he's earning £20k and has practically no outgoings. It's almost like a savings plan as they just have so few options to really spend money, and they are being trained by probably the most respected institution in the country, knowing that if he plays his cards right he can walk into another job in the future with all of the qualifications he needs.
As far as his mum and I are concerned, we are encouraging him to stay in as long as possible and that is the the best feedback I can give you.
Roll forward two years, and he is a different person. Disciplined, confident, technically-minded (he joined Signals so is learning a trade) and just a well-rounded individual. That might not be relevant to the OP as he is perhaps more mature and worldly-wise, but the Army drums something into you that really does give off an air of confidence and positivity that is so valuable.
Is he enjoying it? Yes and No.
He gets told off - a lot. Usually little things, but the reaction seems disproportionate and that's just the way the Army is.
He's not all that busy, but that's a the nature of the role and he is learning a trade, but he does get bored sometimes.
But, he's already travelled to 3 countries and seen a bit of the world. He's been skiiing, mountain climbing and orienteering for weeks on end and ultimately he's earning £20k and has practically no outgoings. It's almost like a savings plan as they just have so few options to really spend money, and they are being trained by probably the most respected institution in the country, knowing that if he plays his cards right he can walk into another job in the future with all of the qualifications he needs.
As far as his mum and I are concerned, we are encouraging him to stay in as long as possible and that is the the best feedback I can give you.
Jefferson Steelflex said:
and they are being trained by probably the most respected institution in the country.
Apologies for cutting your post down but I just had to comment on this bit specifically.This is a very common misconception, the training in the Army at least for certain things is definitely not on par with the training you'd pay for in civvy street.
They're under pressure to fulfil some roles where lots of money has been spent on that persons training and it means that more often than not, they will pass people on training and certification who definitely should have failed.
During my electrical phase there were 3 of my colleagues who commited critical mistakes which in the real world could be dangerous enough to cause harm to people and they were glossed over due to time constraints and were then signed off and certified.
Not just in trade training but also regular military stuff too. I've seen first hand people fail their ACMT 2/3 times in a row and next time round be given a magazine with an extra 10 rounds in.
PHuzzy said:
Apologies for cutting your post down but I just had to comment on this bit specifically.
This is a very common misconception, the training in the Army at least for certain things is definitely not on par with the training you'd pay for in civvy street.
They're under pressure to fulfil some roles where lots of money has been spent on that persons training and it means that more often than not, they will pass people on training and certification who definitely should have failed.
During my electrical phase there were 3 of my colleagues who commited critical mistakes which in the real world could be dangerous enough to cause harm to people and they were glossed over due to time constraints and were then signed off and certified.
Not just in trade training but also regular military stuff too. I've seen first hand people fail their ACMT 2/3 times in a row and next time round be given a magazine with an extra 10 rounds in.
This post is absolutely on the money. The training (including technical training delivered in house) is not all that great.This is a very common misconception, the training in the Army at least for certain things is definitely not on par with the training you'd pay for in civvy street.
They're under pressure to fulfil some roles where lots of money has been spent on that persons training and it means that more often than not, they will pass people on training and certification who definitely should have failed.
During my electrical phase there were 3 of my colleagues who commited critical mistakes which in the real world could be dangerous enough to cause harm to people and they were glossed over due to time constraints and were then signed off and certified.
Not just in trade training but also regular military stuff too. I've seen first hand people fail their ACMT 2/3 times in a row and next time round be given a magazine with an extra 10 rounds in.
More of a case of 'this is how it should work, when it doesn't, follow this flowchart' rather than 'this is how and WHY it works'.
I have seen a Signals tech try to resolve a routing issue by pinging the other end of the satellite tunnel - the router two hops from him (1.5m away) wasn't powered on.
The Mad Monk said:
Don't forget.
The decisions you make and the actions that you take - all done in good faith - with the information available to you at the time - using the equipment supplied to you - make come back to bite you - hard!
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph...
Still sure that it's a good idea to sign up?
He didn't make a decision, he had an ND with a machine gun! The decisions you make and the actions that you take - all done in good faith - with the information available to you at the time - using the equipment supplied to you - make come back to bite you - hard!
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph...
Still sure that it's a good idea to sign up?
dai1983 said:
The Mad Monk said:
Don't forget.
The decisions you make and the actions that you take - all done in good faith - with the information available to you at the time - using the equipment supplied to you - make come back to bite you - hard!
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph...
Still sure that it's a good idea to sign up?
He didn't make a decision, he had an ND with a machine gun! The decisions you make and the actions that you take - all done in good faith - with the information available to you at the time - using the equipment supplied to you - make come back to bite you - hard!
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph...
Still sure that it's a good idea to sign up?
Taita said:
This post is absolutely on the money. The training (including technical training delivered in house) is not all that great.
More of a case of 'this is how it should work, when it doesn't, follow this flowchart' rather than 'this is how and WHY it works'.
I have seen a Signals tech try to resolve a routing issue by pinging the other end of the satellite tunnel - the router two hops from him (1.5m away) wasn't powered on.
You get bad techs in all organisations, but if this involved a piece of kit that is also a bird of prey then it doesn't surprise me... More of a case of 'this is how it should work, when it doesn't, follow this flowchart' rather than 'this is how and WHY it works'.
I have seen a Signals tech try to resolve a routing issue by pinging the other end of the satellite tunnel - the router two hops from him (1.5m away) wasn't powered on.
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff