RAF selection

http://www.cranwell.raf.mod.uk/

http://www.cranwell.raf.mod.uk/function/FUNCTION.htm

http://www.cranwell.raf.mod.uk/function/MAP.htm

If you want to be an “Electronics Technican” or ground trade you’ll do basic recruit training at RAF Halton, Buckinghamshire.

http://www.rafhalton.co.uk/

If you want to go RAF Regiment (Non-Commissioned) then you’ll spend 2-3 days at Halton then off to the RAF Regiment Depot at RAF Honington, Suffolk.

Link to map of RAF Honington can be found at:

http://www.reserve-forces-anglia.org/RAAF.htm

TJ

Alex – Cranwell is near Sleaford in Lincolnshire. It’s the home of the OASC and various other flying units. My advice to you Alex is to aim as high as you can. If you have doubts about the Regiment now well your better off trying something else within the RAF. I would seriously suggest that you aim for aircrew if you possibly can or indeed would like to !
You can join the ranks and remuster but it’s a long and difficult task. I have friends who have done it from Junior Technician to Junior Engineering Officer but they are comparatively few . The RAF will push you as far as you will let them – the rest is up to you . You will find the tests both stimulating and rewarding at Cranwell if you try them. I went to Biggin Hill and did the few days there – with hindsight I should have reapplied after two years but I decided to join as an airman
and the rest is history.
Give it a try but please aim high and you will get the rewards !

Cranwell, this is I take it where I will be doing basic training and selection? Where is it? – yes I know it’s in England but where 🙂

Steve , we heard you only left the RAF first time round as you couldn’t get an AI Op job on a Beau and they tried to stuff you into a Nimrod.
I did the OASC at Biggin Hill ( one of the last ones run before it switched to Cranwell ) , I tried to get in as Loadmaster , Air Electronics Op or Flight Eng , made it through the week and was one of only 15 to make it right through , thought I did ok but still got the “no thanks ” letter , I still have the cheesy photo of myself and 4 other guys in B team , one was an AEO who had left and was trying to get back in , one was an NCO trying to get a full commission . One of the guys I met ( another Alastair ) ended up flying Chinooks . I did try again 2 years later but never even made it as far as the OASC.

Alex, there are plenty of opportunities for physical challenges whatever branch you go into. The RAF (and indeed all three services) actively promote sports and other activities. Three Peaks and Nijmegen are two which spring to mind, and believe me, they’re a challenge! 😀

Thanks Steve and yes to be honest I have sat up at night and thought “Is the RAF Regiment what I want to aim for? Should I be setting my sights higher?”
I still have a few months of gearing up my fitness level before I throw myself at anything so I guess I ‘ll use that time to sit and think what I should be aiming for.
The only reason for the Regiment is its a physical challenge, but I know I can aim a lot higher with the qualifications I hold.
Keep u informed to my choice in 3-4 months. 🙂

Alex, lots of wise words on here from chaps who are currently serving. Weigh up all the pros and cons – for example, RAF Regt might sound good and sexy now, but ask yourself this. When you’ve served your eighteen and you’re ready to come out to civvie life, how much use will it be? Fighter Controller – be ready for huge amounts of stress, same with ATC. Loady – if you get onto SAR and you end up pulling people out of the water, it’ll be one of the most rewarding jobs you can ever do.

Seafuryfan has mentioned one very key piece of advice though – be sure in your own mind that you are making the right choice.

Let me tell you a story. My scenario was some years ago, but might give you an idea of the pitfalls. I always wanted to fly, ever since I could crawl. It sounds like a corny old line, but it was true, and my sincerity and insistence on that point helped to get me accepted for AEOp (a now dead trade I believe) back in 1989. I pitched up at Swinderby, breezed through Recruit Training, and then suddenly woke up one day and wondered what the hell I was playing at.

With absolutely no disrespect intended to anyone who may read this who has gone the Airman Aircrew route, it wasn’t what I TRULY wanted. I wanted fast jet, and nothing else would do for me. For reasons I still can’t quite fathom, I’d accepted the AEOp route when it was offered. Now I had a quandary; A) stay in, get through Finningley (as was), do three years on Nimrods and then ATTEMPT to re-muster as a Pilot and go through Cranwell for the commissioning course… or B) leave the RAF, go through the whole application process again, and try to get a Cranwell place as a Direct Entrant.

As Seafuryfan says, option A is almost impossible. You have to be absolutely gleaming to get it. And if you’re in a job, and you’re any good, your CO won’t want to lt you go.

I chose B. It was a hell of a leap of faith – I was leaving the service I had always dreamed of joining, and I was going to have to convince the OASC that I had done it for a reason, and that my motivation was absolutely 100%.

I was extremely lucky. Two years after leaving Swinderby, I walked in through the door at RAFC, as a DE Officer Cadet, going for Pilot. I’ve since heard that is almost unheard of for somebody to join, leave because they’ve had second thoughts about their choice, and then successfully get back in. I managed it, but I’m a very, very rare case.

Unfortunately I got chopped at the end of the course and never got to achieve my dream, but that’s another story. At least I tried.

The point is this – I screwed up in my initial selection. I chose what I thought would be a ‘close enough’ match for what I wanted. It wasn’t. It cost me another two years of attempting to rectify my mistake.

But if my c0ck-up story makes you sit down and work out EXACTLY what you want from the RAF, it will have been worth it. Learn from my mistake. I wish you all the very best.

I’ll send you a private message, Alex.

Thanks Seafuryfan,

I’ve thought about trying out for various occupations in the RAF. Loadmaster was one and Fighter Controller was another. I’ve got the qualifications needed (3 A-Levels in English Language, Biology and Environmental Science plus GCSE’s including Physics) but the RAF Regiment seems to offer more of a challenge.

P.S.

What do u do as aircrew, do u work on an E-3 or something 🙂 Should I be addressing u as Sir??? 😀

Hi Alex, I’m RAF aircrew.

In no particular order….

Have you accepted what the careers office have said or do you fancy flying? The AFCO will always try to steer you to trades which they have slots for. But there may be something that you prefer. Do you have the qualifications for a commission? If so, aim for the top if you can, and go for that. Or, how would you fancy flying for a living, but not as a pilot? The non-commsioned aircrew side would see you ‘down the back’ in one of loads of different types – and you get flying pay. Engineering and the RAF Regiment are fine occupations, but just be sure it’s what YOU want to do.

As for the training, wise words from our correspondents. I went for a six month training programme of running (wearing a good pair of boots), combined with multi-gym exercises to stop me geting bored and build up my strength a bit. About 90 mintues a night in total, with 1 day off per week. If you enter the RAF really fit, the beasting you will get will be tolerable to your body. Your brain will also sharpen up with all that exercise.

Be meticulous and dedicated in your physical training targets, and this will also help your self-discipline when it comes to your RAF training.

Finally, it’s alot harder to get a Commission from the ranks than it is to go straight in from civvie street!

Best of luck for your future career,

True about the tread mill being different to running down the street or off road. I noticed that when I was at school! I could run quite a distance on a tread mill but as soon as I ran cross country my legs were knackered.
Currently focusing on running laps around a local park, currently I can do 1.5 miles in 11 minutes..really need to work on both speed and endurance.

Thanks for the tips about carrying bottles in a rucksac etc. 🙂

Gonna investigate local gyms or fitness centres so I can use better equipment than I’ve got.

Alex,
In any of the forces you can never be fit enough. working on a 3 – 4 month regime now will always help.
First start running, road then off-road. The beep test works but you do it in the gym, where its hot and you aint got any wind working against you. If it was as easy as always running indoors then running on tread mills is ideal. But you would be knackered as soon as you tried running in the elements.
After you feel comfitable running 4-5 miles outside try running with some weight. You will be expected to carry a bergen and weapon across roads, fields and hills. Buy a ruck-sack or similar and put weights in like wrapped up bricks or big bottles of water, but make sure they are secure and dont jump about too much as you run.
If you aint used to them, start press-ups now. Do 10 then rest for a minute, do another 10 then rest for 50 secs, another 10 then 40 secs rest etc. After a few weeks of counting down to the last 10 secs rest you feel you can do 100 straight off. Honestly mate its easy and you soon notice how fit you become. When in training you will also be one of the fittest!
Practice pull-ups where you can, ie down the local park or any metal frame. If you can do 10 easerly then you will pass the BFT no probs. The NCO’s will always push you so if you can do 10, push for 20….. always aim that little bit more.
Good luck

Thanks TJ.

Now all I need to do is work on my press ups, running and chin ups and I’ll be in the clear…I hope 🙂 .

The RAF has a very basic annual fitness test which was introduced in 1994. The most intense part (if you can call it that) of it is the ‘Bleep Test’. This is an aerobic test in which you run 20-metre shuttles at an increasing pace governed by an audio sound track. The RAF Regiment has added tests on top of this with the RAF Regiment Battle Fitness Test and RAF Regiment Combat Fitness Test. As you will be classed as a ground support trade then you won’t have to officially pass the RAF Regiment tests or even attempt them. The only requirement should be the basic RAF Fitness Test which consists of the shuttle run ‘Bleep Test’ followed by a series of press-ups and sit-ups. The standards are set by age brackets and gender. At 39 I have to reach 7.2 on the Bleep Test and complete 11 press-ups and 23 sit-ups. Obviously being a youngster you have to meet higher standards! Every couple of years the standards are raised slightly. The Navy has introduced a comparable fitness test and the Army one is to a much higher standard and is quite intense.

You can download the 20 metre ‘Bleep Test’ at the following link:

http://www.uswebfoundry.com/sitemap.html

‘Bleep Test'(right click on it and save as) transfer it to a CD or tape and follow it on either a boogie box or personal audio system.

Bleep Test explained (This one has the conversion chart)

http://www.edinburgh-refs.co.uk/ERRSFitnessTests.asp

TJ