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Stick with the RE and do P coy.

It dosent matter what trade you pick in the RE you all do combat engineering. Plus when you come out you will have a trade then.

9 (or 59 with whom I served) wont have you fitting pipes alot mate, you'll be outdoors doing what all the other paras do except you'll have a jcb to dig it with.

its well worth looking into and both sqns have a high rate of applicants to SF, brains and brawn you see.

but then again if you saw the sqn bar on tour you wouldnt see alot of brains (unless they are being pushed back in by yours truly after another bar sliding contest!)

Yeah i can see where your coming from and i will cerrtainly have a think about it.

Isnt there a limited amount of time you can spend in 9 Squadron and 59?

Could i still transfer to 1,2,3 para?

Cant i just specialise in the paras or even transfer to the RE and learn a trade if ive had a gutsful.

Cheers for the help.

chris

Go with what you want to do mate, I have A Level equivalents and one year of Uni, but I've decided to go for Paras as first choice, the LI as second choice. Initially, the AFCO wanted me to go for a technical job, or trade, but they could see Infantry was what I really wanted to do so they put me forward to RSC for Infantry. Think about it, but make your own decision. Don't go join the RE if you've always wanted to join the Paras. And like you said, you can always transfer to a Corps if you've had enough of the Paras after your 4 years (I believe it is 4 years, correct me if I'm wrong).

Look if you become trade specialist attached to Para's then a transfer across to them would not be impossible, BUT an infantry mans trade is a lot different to one of the trades that you have been talking about . What I would suggest is that you stick to your trade as you would have spent some time learning it, then having to learn another trade would not help you gain further promotion starting from the bottom again.

Tab wrote:Look if you become trade specialist attached to Para's then a transfer across to them would not be impossible, BUT an infantry mans trade is a lot different to one of the trades that you have been talking about . What I would suggest is that you stick to your trade as you would have spent some time learning it, then having to learn another trade would not help you gain further promotion starting from the bottom again.

So what your saying is go for something and then stick to it. Are there qualifications in the paras to be obtained which are usefull in civvie street tab?

Edwards 159
I never learnt any thing in the Para's that helped me in civiy street except how to look after myself in more ways that one. It has worked well in giving me an air of confidence that trouble has passed me by, and I have have had to work in some very dodgy areas on my own. Now if you wanted to work for a private contractor in Iraq then you have will have a very good CV.

You could always try to become a PTI, but i guess there are loads of lads who would try to do that. The Ex para PTI at my gym is making a mint out of doing 1-1's.

But if you were to do that you would be Farked after you hit about 30-35.

Edwards 159

Most of the lads that I know in the Regiment are carrying injuries by their mid thirties, that is why I am always on about it being a young mans game in the Para's. When I was with them last November it was a hard enough job to lift their bergen let alone carry the bloody thing for 50 miles a day over all sorts terrain. Also when I left the Army I had a very good job to back to in Civive street and my Army career was just an interruption in that career.

Well neway ive decided to go for paras as first preference. Passed my final interview about 2 weeks ago and the recruiter told me that i should be doing RSC at the end of the month and that he'l contact me through the post.

Howver i have not yet been contacted.

Lads how long did it take before the AFCO contacted you with a date for RSC??

Regards
Chris

Passed RSC for paras, 8.47 run and passed all the rest