My RAF Cranwell experience – It’s beginning!

So, it’s that time of year that I am coming to the end of my Master’s Degree and I’m now in the process (as well as writing up my thesis) of finding a job!

For those of you who don’t know, RAF Cranwell is the first place you go (sometimes second, as a few had already done a P2 Presentation by then) when you apply for a position in the RAF.

Why did I apply to the RAF, I hear you ask? Well, for a number of reasons:

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(Image source: https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/raf-college-cranwell-set-for-expansion-1-7746191/)

1. If you didn’t know already, I am completing a Master’s Degree at Cranfield University, this is located on the UK’s Defence Academy. I therefore have met a few that are either currently surving or have served in the Military; RAF, Navy and Army (from different countries too, and other people from different backgrounds, but that’s a different story!)

I had a conversation with a fellow coursemate a while ago about finding work after my Masters, and the RAF came up in conversation. I brushed off the idea, I didn’t like the idea of being stuck in a job I wasn’t too happy with for a few years. But after a chat, not only with my coursemate, but my other military friends/acquaintances, I realised there were a few advantages to working with the RAF.

2. 12 years service? At first I thought this was rough, I had to commit my life to the RAF for 12 years. But then someone said, “Yeah, but think of it as being guaranteed a job for 12 years!” I never thought of it that way before. But then, I thought, what if I get bored though? In that position?

3. Bored? But you don’t have to stay in that one position for those 12 years! As I’m a Military Noob, I had no idea that you could move about within the RAF (maybe even between services; Navy and Army). They have put you through training, you’re a valued assest they’d want to keep. Therefore, if the position I applied for wasn’t what I had hoped, I could move on to a different position!

4. What about the fitness and medical? This was another one of my concerns. I had images of having to be ripped, have muscles everywhere, and be able to stop a speeding car! (Okay, that last one was a slight over exaggeration!) But it turns out, the RAF isn’t as bad as I thought. I mean, yeah, if you’re a little overweight, it might not be, but they do have a 12 week training programme on their website you can follow. But I worked out that I was supposed to be able to run 2.4km in about 13 minutes. I walked 2.5km in 26 minutes. Yeah, pushups and all that, but that wasn’t a problem for me, I’ve done them before. But my medical, I wasn’t too sure about. I have depression and anxiety on my record, as well as heart issues (the tests came back clean) and a few other issues, but I was told by an ex-RAF friend that as long as I haven’t tried to kill myself I should be fine, and the others don’t seem like a massive issue.

5. Training. Lots of training. I mean yeah, this can be seen as a negative. Having to go through basic training, and then training for your specific role. But on the upside, you get training paid for. You can opt to learn a language, do specialise courses, learn to fly, and it’s all paid for!

6. Extra activities. No negative to start off on this one. This one really excited me. If you didn’t know, I’m a massive motor head (I like my cars!) and I found out RAF have a lot of different motorsport clubs – from rally to motorcross. Outside motorsport, they have their own bobsleigh, archery, skydiving, sailing, tennis. Then outside the sports, you have other activities you can do too, “scuba diving in the Red Sea, climbing in the Himalayas and kayaking the rivers of Canada” (I got that straight off https://www.raf.mod.uk/recruitment/social-sports-and-adventure)

7. Military discounts. Of course, another positive, you can get discount on a lot of things. Including discount on dominoes pizza (here’s a negative; not very good if you’re trying to stay fit and healthy!)

I realised as I got to this section that I was starting to think of more advantages to joining the RAF, but that wasn’t the reason for writing this… I was trying to write why I decided to apply for the RAF.

Of course, the main reason, not just the ‘advantages’ of joining the RAF I have already mentioned, was that after I finish my Masters Degree, I’m hoping to get into something like Intelligence, Analyst, or Data Science sort of role. And the RAF had an Intelligence Officer role that was paying REALLY well.

So, I applied.

The application was pretty easy. Fill out your educational details, work experience, the basics really. No compentency based questions (they will probably come later down the line, I imagine)

Not long after I submitted my application, I get an email to log into the portal as there is a new message. Excitedly I log in…. only to find that someone was just asking me for my GCSE results for English and Math (never mind I was completing a Masters Degree).

After supplying my GCSE English and Math results, I then get an email not long after saying that my details had been passed to the local ACIO (in Oxford). Looks like I got through stage one of the application already – I meet the entry requirements at least. I’m off to have a P2 presentation.

Next thing I know, I’m getting a phone call (granted, I missed this phone call and had to ring back while on a break from the lab) and I was being booked in for an Aptitude test (apparently that was first, not the P2 Presentation).

It was booked for the 6th of August! I was off to RAF Cranwell on the 5th of August, staying the night, doing an Aptitude test and then travelling home the same day!

But, not only is there a bit of a hickup with the travel there, but the test doesn’t go as well as I hoped.

Watch this space for the next part (decided to cut it up into chunks as it was getting long – and I’m hungry!), where I explain about the long day travelling, the Aptitude test (CBAT) and the journey home!

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Also, if you liked this, please do check out some of my other blog posts.

I walked the Salisbury Plain for charity (The HALO Trust – reducing landmines) – 34km!

Winning Earnesty Writer’s Award!

Dealing with low days

New Full Book Trailer! For Rose Garden Sanatorium

Rose Garden Sanatorium