Future prospects as a roadside Patrol

[hackett]

I'm thinking about changing my career. RAC/AA patrol man is probably my ideal job. Thing is my wife thinks sensibly. I have a family to support and she reminded me that i'm currently in a really secure job (military) with almost no chance of redundancy.

The way i see it is people are always going to break down though surely??

What do you guys think should i wait until this crazyness is over or shall i just go for it?

[hackett]

I love driving (don't we all) but don't want to just drive for a living. I also love fixing cars. I currently fix big heeps of ste that most people think are amazing but in reality after 7 years of trying to make these things fly and getting no thanks from the toff tossers who drive them then the AA/RAC can't be much worse.....surely.

Oh and timmy the terrorist doesn't want to kill AA patrolmen in Basrah 4 months of the year.

[hackett]

snotrag said:

FYI - I got a tow the other week, and the chap had told me that RAC had cut ALL recruitment comp-letely, and were downsizing many of their patrols.

Thanks for the info. 22 years in this job here i come then

[hackett]

miniman said:

hackett said:

Oh and timmy the terrorist doesn't want to kill AA patrolmen in Basrah 4 months of the year.

True but I think you'll find sleepy Polish truckers and half-blind pensioners mow them down in the hard shoulder with quite disconcerting regularity...

Hmm when you put it like that..........yep changed my mind....i think

[hackett]

Thanks for great replies guys.

A little more info about me. I've been an aeronautical engineer in the RAF for 8 years. i'm also a mechanic for the RAF rally team and the chairman of the RAF motorsport club. I work part time for an ex coleague when his garage is very busy. He uses me as he trusts my ability and knowledge of car repair, i started doing it with my dad as a kid and carried on as i got older.

The AA said this was great and because i had proven mechanic skills on aircraft and if all of the above i could supply referenced for then they would snap me up. They said the guy for my area is off sick and has been for a year, i live in the north scotland and they said they are struggling to fill the position up here. At least theres no motorways here! The AA said they do a skills assesment and that would soon show my knowledge base, i'm confident i could pass this test as i already have experience using most of the kit/tools the patrols use inc laptops and i do quite a lot of fault diagnoses

The RAC said i was not qualified but if i applied it would be solely upto my areas hiring manager and i happen to know he is ex RAF and was the same trade as me. As for the bad weather remember i live in the north of scotland and work crazy shifts that can go from being a nice 8 hour shift to a 14 hour non stop shift trying to get a jet fixed in horizontal rain sleet snow.

As for the wife well she is used to me being out of the country for 4 months of every year (just think about that for a second!) which means i've been away for nearly 2 years of my 5 year olds life. I'm sure she would be fine with me working weekends.

Thanks again for the great replies folks any more info greatfully recieved

[hackett]

Ranger 6 said:

hackett said:

...i'm also a mechanic for the RAF rally team and the chairman of the RAF motorsport club...

Do you spanner on the LRs that do the BRC - I think there's an RAF one in that team?

No mate they are all stuck up their own arses i spannered for the Nova from Marham. Don't do it any more as im at Lossiemouth now.

I don't fancy the naval thing much if i couldn't do the patrol thing then probably just stay in the RAF.

[hackett]

Well scrap all that guys, i just found out tonight that i'm going to afghanistan in April. Here we go again.......

[hackett]

cheers mate