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Can i quit if i don't get the job i want?

hahaha, i suppose i set myself up for this.

I was actually being serious though. If a person applied to be a civilian teacher and didn't get a job they wouldn't be forced to be a garage mechanic or restaurant chef instead... they would just go apply for whatever job they wanted elsewhere. Obviously the military is different to civilian work and i just wanted to know if you could leave or if you would have to take whatever job they had going.

I have always wanted to be a pilot, and if i can't be, i'd probably go do a postgrad in uni or go to med school. I graduated in psychology and could go that route. Everyone's got to decide what they do and don't want to do in life, and that's what i want.

I wouldn't mind being infantry, and i reckon it looks like good fun, but i want something that will provide opportunities for a civilian career after my service (eg. commercial pilot). People i know who've been in the army say that being in the infantry etc leaves you with little to do afterwards.

So whilst there are other jobs in the army that i reckon i'd like, the only one i think i would like more than my civilian opportunities is to be a pilot.

Its a shame you're too old for the RAF. You sound perfect for them...... 'I just want to be a pilot and dont really give a shit about being an officer'.
 
Wow, i'm surprised there could be so much judgement going on with so little information.

Regarding the comment on my choice of degree, i have always been interested in psychology so whilst maybe a degree in a (proper) science or something might have been more attractive to the military, i wanted to do something that i would enjoy to fall back on.

Regarding my age. The reason i didn't join earlier was due to family and medical issues, and i'm pretty confident my reasons would be acceptable if i explained them in an interview.

Finally, i do want to be an officer and i do want to lead men. If i didn't then i'd just become a civilian pilot or i'd learn to fly in my spare time. But is it really so absurd that someone would want a particular job in the army? I want to be an officer but i also want to be a pilot.

Honestly, i think i would like being an infantry officer or any of a myriad of army officer roles. But if you asked me to rank potential jobs that i could try for, it'd be pilot first, then psychiatrist, then psychologist, then other army roles. So the decision i have to make is whether to forego a career in the health service for a career in the military where i may in fact end up with a job that i think i would enjoy less than those two civilian jobs i mentioned.

Just to add a note, if i became a psychiatrist or psychologist then i would probably aim to do so with the military. Lots of my family have served and i have a lot of respect for the military so if i went into medicine i'd want to be helping soliders. But nonetheless, this is not something i could just do from sandhurst, i'd have to go back to school first.

I hope this clarifies my original question, which i admit must look like i just want to have fun flying choppers and not really care about the service. That's not the case. I tried to be blunt and as to the point as possible so as not to bore you all with the details of what i want from life and why i haven't joined yet. I just wanted to know to what extent i'd be free to do whatever career i wanted.

Some of you have provided useful responses, and i now know you join the army as an officer first and a pilot second.
 
Here's how it works. You tip up at the recruiting office and say 'I want to be an officer please and I'm interested in becoming an Army Pilot too'. You then get offered the chance to go through selection. If you'd posted your last reply as an opening gambit, you would have got useful advice.

You do see that you go through RMAS to become a member of the Officer Corps and then wherever you are found to be suitable, are streamed in to that particular role. If you have the aptitude, you may be allowed to go pilot. If not, you will be offered another role. If you choose to take that alternative because your heart really is in becoming a leader of men then thats what its all about. If you chin it off cos you dont fancy it then that too is your choice. You are more than free to become a plastic doctor with a random degree.

I'm still not sure you fully 'get it' so I would still suggest you try the aggressive wing of EasyJet for a job.
 
If you want to be a head shrinker working with the forces, if your app for pilot doesn't go through you could always apply to be a phsyco in the forces...

We have phsyc nurses, so maybe we have officer type head feelers too.
 
You can leave Sandhurst right up until the moment of commissioning. However as you get closer to midnight on the day, the measures you need to take will have to take to get out quickly will be more severe!

27 is quite old for AAC mate tbh.
 
Hey,

I want to be a military pilot, and i'm too old for the RAF or Navy (I'm 27).

If i apply and get sent to Sandhurst, and then find that the AAC aren't interested in me... can i just leave? I'm not really interested in any other job in the Army.

Thanks!

Mattt

Yep, just boldy announce to the CO, "**** this for a game of soldiers Colonel!....have that man with the shiny boots and the piece of ornamental 4 x 2 under his arm fetch my bags will you?..there's a good chap! Oh...and have the Adjutant fetch me a brew whilst I am waiting for my taxi. ******* RMP Officer indeed! If I'd wanted to do an admin job, I'd have joined the ******* civil service!"
 
Amazingly, someone in my Company did leave RMAS when he didn't get either of his choices. I actually thought it was a bit of a sh*t system at Sandhurst for Regimental Selection Boards; why wait until Senior's to find out where you're going?

But if you want to go to Sandhurst; learn how to type properly for ****'s sake.

Nick, it is imperfect, however they have moved RSBs back into Term 2 in order to make it "better". Really they are only ever tinkering with the balance of power between candidate v regiment/corps. It has been out of kilter in favour of one or the other for at least a decade.
 
I know very little in comparison to everyone else on here but what I do know is that you won't be able to rock up and just say 'I want to be a pilot'. You have to have at least 3 options in mind.
Also, I showed interest in the AAC and was refused straight away because of my height and my hayfever. If there is something specific or obvious then they'll refuse you straight away as soon as your doctor fills out a report on you. And then you have an extensive medical at RAF Cranwell which you have to pass before you can even go on a FAM visit to the AAC.
I suppose what I am getting at is that they weed you out pretty early on anyway but if they don't and then you get all the way to your third term at Sandhurst and then they say no then I guess you're screwed?!?!
 
Having had a think about this, I seem to recall that officers have to start the Army Pilot course before their 28th birthday. If this is the case the original poster (currently 27) will be too old to start the course on completion of Sandhurst and thus ineligible to join the AAC.
 
Having had a think about this, I seem to recall that officers have to start the Army Pilot course before their 28th birthday. If this is the case the original poster (currently 27) will be too old to start the course on completion of Sandhurst and thus ineligible to join the AAC.

Probably a good thing........!
 
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