Looking for advice. Which career gets the most travel etc.

[jahes]

Hi
I'm looking for a career change and I have been looking at the Royal Navy and RAF. One of the reasons why I'm thinking of joining is because of the travel opportunities. I have a few questions if somebody can help me out.
1 Which career in the RAF (non officer) gets the most opportunities to travel to other countries.
2 How often do you get to travel to other countries and how long do you stay for.
3 Do you get to travel to other cities and spend a few days in these cities or do you only travel to an airport in the middle of nowhere.
4 Do you only visit European countries or do you get to visit countries in the far east.
Thanks for any help, and if anyone was any other advice it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[blodwyn]

Try aeromed, they fly out where ever british forces are operational all over the world, you could be ferrying casulties back from basrah one day or picking up a jack tar whos gone off his head in the bahamas the next.

[flynn101]

Hows about the royal fleet auxilary i imagine they go everywhere where the forces are

[aes69]

Apart from air crew, the most travelled trade within the RAF is UKMAMS.
UK Mobile Air Movements (part of the supply trade). They're the unit responsible for travelling with virtually every transport aircraft (AT) ensuring the cargo (from normal hand baggage, to weapons or even air frames) is loaded correctly and conforms to UK civil and military air cargo regs. They assist the air load master in configuring the aircraft for the different loads and they all have fork lift, Atlas and HGV qualifications (or they will have once they've been on the Sqn a while). You name a country, they've been there recently. There is no other ground trade within the RAF that travels as often or to as many different countries.

[jahes]

Hi
Thanks to everyone for all the information. I'm male. The jobs that interest me the most are:
Air Loadmaster
Aircraft Technician
Communication and Information Systems Specialist
Aerial Erector
Weapon Systems Operator Crewman (Air Loadmaster?)
I will need to pick up some more information from the RAF careers service and talk with them about the options I have available. Also weigh up travel opportunities against job satisfaction/enjoyment.
If anyone has anymore advice please post it.
Thanks.

[aes69]

Wow, that's a varied trade list.......

Air loadmaster, good job, loads of travel, but be prepared to join 10/101 Sqn....... the arse end of the AT fleet. Start there, get good numbers, then get onto the C130's or C17's. If you're very lucky you might get rotary.

Aircraft technician......... you couldn't be more vague. Propulsion, fairy, frames, mech??????

Weapon systems op? Do you mean fast jet of rotary? Wpn sys op's in fast jets is the derogatory term for navigators, however, if you mean rotary the air loady (or even RAF Regt)

Comms & Info spec in what field? Doing what, that term covers a multitude of sins.

Aerial erector.......... nah. Bum job. Normally offered to those people who don't get high aptitude results at AFCO.

You've got to ask yourself if you've got the staying power to make your job in the armed forces a full term career. Most say the will, but very few do. To that end, do you want a trade you can transfer to civvy street? I've been in for 17 years, I get crap pay (comparative to my civvy counterparts) but I love my job! Good luck, any more advice required, just ask away. Oh, and make sure your maths q's are good, most of the above require good grades for maths & a science.

[jahes]

Hi
Thanks for the reply aes69.
Air Loadmaster sounds like a good job from what I've read on these boards.
I'm waiting for more information from the RAF careers service concerning Aircraft Technician, the only ones I know of are avionics and mechanical.
Weapon Systems Operator Crewman, with rotary. Another name for Air Loadmaster?
The only information I have on Communication and Information Systems Specialist is from the RAF web site, I will need to research this more.
Aerial Erector, I thought this would be similar to a BT Telecommunications technician. I suppose Telecommunications technician would be within the field of the Communication and Information Systems Specialist.
A trade I could transfer to civvy street would be good, but for me its not the most important thing to consider. I had good GCSE results, but that was a long time ago so I would definitely need to brush up on my maths and science.
Once I believe I have a good basic understanding of RAF life and RAF jobs I will start my application, I don't want to turn up at the careers cervice ignorant of these things. First impressions are important. Thanks again to everyone, you've been alot of help.

[Biggles1211]

Weapon systems op? Do you mean fast jet of rotary? Wpn sys op's in fast jets is the derogatory term for navigators, however, if you mean rotary the air loady (or even RAF Regt)

Weapon Systems Operator (WSOp) is the new generic term that covers all Non-Commissioned Aircrew, as they now specialise (ALM, Winchman etc) AFTER they complete NCA training at Cranwell. Many people still conduse it with Weapons Systems Officer which is hte new term for Nav.

Comms & Info spec in what field? Doing what, that term covers a multitude of sins.

Communications and Informations Systems Operator/Maintainer is a new trade in it's own right. It replaced the old Telecommunications Operator trade. It's an excellent trade by all accounts, but they just stopped recruiting for it this year.

[gr4pilot]

Weapons Systems Officer which is hte new term for Nav.

Does the WSO Brevet still have the N in a single wing or is it WSO or RAF etc?

[Biggles1211]

[rockapemk1]

Biggles on a side note have they published how officers they are looking to take in the near future?

[Biggles1211]

They don't 'publish' it...and it is broken down by a branch requirement, coupled with training capacity.

[rockapemk1]

Again London AFCO doing a fine job with correct terms and information, im staying away from that place from now on....