RM to NC AIRCREW

[Dave_n]

alright lads,

I left the Royal Marines after getting halfway through training and am now thinking about joining the RAF was a Weapons systems operator (crewman)

what can you tell me about the job? its availability? if its difficult to get? ups and downs? you know all the usual stuff we like to know before we sign 9 years of our life away!

cheers fellas, any info will be much apreciated

Dave

[scottish lad]

alright lads,

I left the Royal Marines after getting halfway through training and am now thinking about joining the RAF was a Weapons systems operator (crewman)

what can you tell me about the job? its availability? if its difficult to get? ups and downs? you know all the usual stuff we like to know before we sign 9 years of our life away!

cheers fellas, any info will be much apreciated

Dave

I got this info out the RAF Careers book:

Weapon Systems Operator (Crewman)
Crewman weapon systems operator help deliver troops and supplies anywhere in the world. Working on board either transport aircraft or helicopters, you could be trained to supervise parachute drops or evacuate casualties. You could also become a helicopter winchman or winch operator on search and rescue missions.

Civilian equivalent:
Search and rescue crewman, paramedic, airline cabin crew or ship’s bursar

Age:
17 ½ - 32

Academic Qualifications:
5 GCSE’s/SCE at grade C/3 or equivalent, including English language, Maths and physics based science subject.

Qualifications you could earn:
A-levels, Degree or Masters Degree

First year’s pay after training:
£30,650 (including flying pay)


I’m not sure about the availability, when I done my AST I got a 63, which was a high enough score to do the weapons systems operator but I wanted to be a gunner .
Its maybe not what your wanting to know but I tought it might help, the pays good though huh?

[Dave_n]

yeah cheers mate I already had that info but thats for replying.

Can anybody in the raf tell me the insiders view of the job? Is it one of those 'prestigious' hard to get SQs?

cheers

[rawli]

Its an exciting job with massive variation. One of e down sides is being away quite a lot, about 4 months of the year at the moment for the SH force. In the helicopter world you could be doing anything from trooping, underslung loads, operating the doorgun. If you go into the SAR world then you could be a winchman/paramedic. You would also be responsible for working out the weights of loads and fuel etc and are a vitlal part of the team when it comes to actually flying the aircraft.

[Fwd 5]

Yes, definitely a good career choice, agree with the above about the variety of roles. As a SH crewman your responsibilities include navigation, emergency handling, operating the aircraft weapons, fuel management, voice marshalling(the art of guiding a pilot accuratly to something he can't see) management of underslung loads and lots of other things.

Also agree with the spending a lot of time away but it's not as bad as it once was, and on the plus side individual dets are only two to three months (mostly!!) there are just plenty of them.

On the down side you can no longer join to be a crewman, you are recruited as a WSOp and streamed during training. This means you could spend the rest of your life vomiting over a radar screen in the back of a revamped 1950s airliner!

As to getting selected, you have to pass OASC which seems to weed out quite a few and there are always plenty of applicants, all you can do is apply and see what they think.

You will probably get the odd question at OASC about dropping out of RM training, they will be concerned that you can hack it through the very long aircrew training pipeline from Cranwell to a squadron. Just need to think of a good answer!

[Dave_n]

cheers for all that,

and my answer will be.. I was too young for such a life changing job.. or along those lines.

I think I will go and talk to the raf about it all!

cheers

dave

[Dave_n]

also... not that it had attracted me to the job, but why is the sallary so high?

dave

[Dave_n]

also how long is WSOp training?

cheers lads

[TJD]

Salary is good as you finish trg as a Sgt. With Flying pay on top of that - not bad at all.

My advice - go for it.

[Dave_n]

how long is the training?

[Fwd 5]

I can't give you a really accurate answer as it has all changed in the past couple of years. The SH crewman training route used to be ;

6 months at Cranwell, basic military training, leadership type stuff, and some basic aircrew stuff.
12 months at Shawbury, helicopter crewmans course.
6 months OCU converting to aircraft type, at Odiham/ Benson depending on type.

Total time about 2 years

The crewmans course and OCUs remain the same but recently the bit at Cranwell was changed, with part of the training moving to Halton (basic recruit training prior to arriving at Cranwell). I cant imagine the total time would be that much longer though.
Also bear in mind that you may have to hold for 3 to 6 months between courses.

[Hyperlithe]

If you call your local AFCO, they should be able to give you a number for the NCA Liaison team here at Cranwell. (Just one of the places you could end up holding between courses...)
Basically, WSOp training goes as follows:
Halton 9 weeks (you MAY get to skip this)
NCAITC Cranwell 10 weeks (quite often 20)
Generic WSOp course 24 weeks, as long as you don't fail any exams.
All of the above can be increased hugely if you get injured!
Then you get streamed, and you may or may not get what you want, but you will probably have changed your mind about what that actually is several times on the way through!

Whatever you end up with you will probably enjoy it.