Son wants to join up.

Hi Gents,

I have a few questions to ask you. My son is applying to join the army. He initially expressed a preference for the infantry then changed it to AAC with an ambition to eventually go for pilot.

Myself as an ex-scaley, told him to consider the R.E.

My reasons being that the engineers have a much wider choice of trades. They can have more than one trade. Just about all of them are useful in civilian life. It is just as easy to become a pilot from the R.E. as the A.A.C. The engineers have a damned good esprit d corps.

Now that was pretty much all true when I was still in (left in 2002). Is that still the case?

 

My bold. This in wrong, sappers only have one trade each. Everyone is trained to be a soldier and combat engineer first before going to their A trade which could be Chippy, Brickie, Sparky, Plumber, Painter and Finisher, Fitter, Plant Operator, Surveyor, Draughtsman, Construction Material Technician......

C_of_J

 

I do know a few guys who are multi traded: Cbt Engr, POM 1, Well Driller 1 and MPF for example but that isn't that common.

The Corps does get guys traded but unfortuantly a fair few trades have had their civilian qualifications watered down over the years. As far as I know the following trades still get decent & relevent qualifications: electrician, building and structural finisher, design draughtsman, electrical & mechanical draughtsman, surveyor, construction materials technician, all of the Clerk of Works disciplines, Military Plant Foreman, plumber and plant operator mechanic. I'm not sure what qualifications the mechanical trades such as welder, HVAC etc get so I can't comment on them.

Yeah, we do still have a very good espirt d corps because we are all fecking amazing!

 

Thanks. Do engineers still do their first few years as a combat engineer before training for their A trade?

 

No - as a general rule once they have finished Phase 2A (combat engineer training) they should go straight on to Phase 2B (trade training). Obviously this depends on which trade, when courses are running or whether there is an assessment to do before starting the actual trade course. That's the intent anyway.

 

I was multi traded: Cbt Engr; Armd Engr; EOD. But I joined as a driver electrician originally.

 

Your son should make his own choice ,suport him but don't push him to what you want

 

I am not trying to push him, he will do what he wants. Christ, if I could stop him doing what he wants he would not be joining. I am just after current information to tell him as I think he may like the engineer world.

 

wernt having a go at you mate just saying, i had a simlar problem when i joined up infantry for ACC, RE and RA

i just chose what felt right and fitted the reasons i wanted to join up for

 

Good on you Pal, better than that guy on EASTENDERS!!

 

duff,duff,dun,dun,derrr... or however Eastenders tune goes

 

Advise your Son to apply for The Army Air Corps; direct: Send email or write to General Sir Richard Dannet AAC ret'd., for advice; before final application,
snaijper

 

Infantry gives you alright qualifications if you spend a while in?...i hope so otherwise im screwed

 

I don't want to start a p1ssing contest between Corps' here, I was a scaley and enjoyed it. It is just that out of every other corps that I worked with, the engineers seemed to have high morale the most consistently. IMO, the best AAC trades are actually done by REME and the RLC never struck me as having as high morale as the engineers. Those are just my opinions.

 

If his son wanted to be a blanket stacker he would be posting in the RLC forums. Its in the Sapper forum for a reason, if you like it so much hanging around here, either transfer to us, ask wedge for a date or go back to hanging around with your Trog bretheren.

Speaking to the AAC pilots out here, its an even spread between direct entry AAC and retreads which is unusual as retreads normally make up the majority. However, if you are direct entry and do not make the grade for pilot, your trades are effectively Driver/Groundcrew, Sigs, Store stream or aircrew (gunner). We have 3 JNCO aircrewmen here, two have been in the process of applying for Pilot training, one has just been knocked back because his spinal length is 1mm too long therefore he will not fit in the seats, its a pretty tough selection process.

My thoughts (and they may be wrong!) are that the trade options of applying from the outside of AAC and failing may be better than applying from the inside and failing, hopefully he would pass either way, but it is far from guaranteed. Hope that helps.

Edit to add - If you want a fairly neutral heads up on the Quals given to RE trades PM me, I had a bit of dealing with what they actually get in my last job.