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I’m doing a college course at the moment and will hopefully be joining the armed forces in the next few years but I’m having trouble deciding what regiment to join I originally though bout joining the RAF reg but after reading some of you guys opinions of them I maybe changing my mind…I’m now re-weighing up the options, so can I have your opinions on what regiment a young fit and extremely ambitious person should join

Replies always welcome

Lew

The Royal Engineers. When you leave you will have endless skills which you will find useful after your time is up.
Unless you are determined on infantry unit that is...

Thanks for your reply I was leaning more toward infantry though

The RAF Reg are excellent, if we put them down it's only 'cos we like to tease a little Oh, and if you're 'leaning' more towards the infantry role then do not even think of applying for the Reg unless you've failed selection for Her Majesty's Royal Marines That's like chewing your arm off before you tried to lift off the boulder! No offence Tony Dean (where has he gone to?).

rabby wrote:The Royal Engineers. When you leave you will have endless skills which you will find useful after your time is up.
Unless you are determined on infantry unit that is...

9 years in the RE qualified plant mechanic and the only job i can get at the moment is a multi drop driver I guess it depends what jobs are about but yes the RE have every trade you can think off and they also have their own Para and Commando squardrons which you can apply to go for

adj125 : Ever based in carver barracks?

9 years in the RE qualified plant mechanic and the only job i can get at the moment is a multi drop driver

Sorry to hear that, guess it must depend on what jobs are about, because my Grandpa learned electrics in the RE, left and set up his own electrician company, went on to be the third largest in Britain at one point.

I think there's a popular misconception regarding the skills attained during service with so called 'technical ' trades.

Rabby I agree its all down to what you make of it but I bet when your Grandpa left the RE electricians were a lot thinner on the ground - there's s*it loads of them these days, fighting for jobs on building sites.

Put it this way - if you leave the Army/RN/Corps/RAF as anything less that articifer/technican/officer then the technical side of things isn't worth much - unless you are lucky enough to get into some specialised unit your going to need to pick your resettlement course very carefully.

My advice is to choose your career based on what you really want to do - not some outmoded train of thought that goes back to national service days.

I remember reading a study that some US professor had carried out - he surveyed 1138 uni students and classified them as followed:

grp 1 - chose their course because it offers a well paid job at the end of the course

grp2 - choose their course because its what they are really interested in and like doing.

20 years later he returned to see how the students had got on, there were 102 millionaires - apart from one they were all from grp 2

Cronkilla wrote:adj125 : Ever based in carver barracks?

no EOD was never my strong point was based in Aldershot,Tidworth,Waterbeach and germany

if ya young fit an ambitious join the marines, no being serious make sure you get recognised qualification, me da left after 24yrs wid loads qualification he couldnt use(ended up doin truckdrivin) now hes back wid da army doin what he does best, teachin. like hes said to me explore all career prospects, make sure you get qualification, and o yer you gotta enjoy wat you do.
alex

Do what u want and OPEN uni

I’ve been paying some serious thought to the Para’s lately but what ever branch of the armed forces I go into I want to go in at officer level that’s why I’m still at school, first thought was to join the raf regt but after serious consideration and taking into account of what I’ve read about them and what they do I figured I would prefer being in the Para’s!!!

praps do a sniper course never know


lew

lew wrote: praps do a sniper course never know

lew

Sorry to disappoint, mate, but Officers don't see action as snipers. You might get qualified, but you'll be posted to run a sniper school or something far up the line like that. Not even SNCOs go on ops.
At the end of the day, officers are supposed to lead - and theres precious little leading to do when youre alone or with one other guy sneaking through a forest.

Never thought of that can officers do commando courses as I’m seriously thinking of Para’s and not marines ???

They probably can, but it depends on what their superiors say/availablilty of places/whether you're needed elsewhere. But yes, you can.

If you want to be a Commando officer, might as well join the marines (be advised, its tough). But then again, who wants to join the marines anyway ?

If you want to be an officer in the para's it tough on a different levels, since quite apart from the obvious physical fitness and leadership skills, the reg might not need any new officers (its a small unit) so you might be disappointed.
That said, there's no harm in trying and giving it 100%. Just don't take success for granted.