Commissioning from the ranks...

[3wheeledtechie]

I am no fan of incompetent or ineffective officers, as anyone who's read many of my posts will be aware, however I have to disagree with you Stingray. Ex-rankers tend to make either the best or worst officers, both of the types below I'd categorise as the latter; however I worked for one ex-ranker who was exceptional - in fact I worked for him twice, and the second time was by choice.

Anyway I agree with the advice:
1. To fail to prepare, is to prepare to fail - do something to address the weak areas
2. Let OASC decide if you are officer material, even if you don't get through, they'll give you feedback on why

 

[stingray888]

I am no fan of incompetent or ineffective officers, as anyone who's read many of my posts will be aware, however I have to disagree with you Stingray. Ex-rankers tend to make either the best or worst officers, both of the types below I'd categorise as the latter; however I worked for one ex-ranker who was exceptional - in fact I worked for him twice, and the second time was by choice.

Anyway I agree with the advice:
1. To fail to prepare, is to prepare to fail - do something to address the weak areas
2. Let OASC decide if you are officer material, even if you don't get through, they'll give you feedback on why

I didn't say there weren't any, I said I'd never met one. I'm sure there are good ones.
I might be old fashioned but i always believed the best officers were the ones that started there careers as officers, but I've never believed that being an officer made you better than me, just different!

 

[harry the df]

Jllong, just my opinon but with the bare minimum qulifications for a commission and an apparent lack of self-confidence then I think that you may be correct and you could be wasting your time going to OASC at this time of your life. IntO is a branch where you have to regulalry stand up in front of a whole room of senior officers and argue your point in a convincing and confident manner.
There is nothing wrong with joining as an airman and then going for a commssion later in your life when you have had a good look at the RAF. Also, I would disagree that it is harder to get a commssion from within the ranks than it is as a direct entrant; you have exactly the same chance and it will all depend on you, what you have done and how you perform. One final piece of advice though, if you do decide to join as an airman, dont start you career focused on being an officer, enjoy what you are doing, make the most of it and see how you feel in the future.

 

[jlong951]

Thanks Harry,

Best piece of advice yet!

Ive got my mind set on applying as an airman so chances are this is what i'll do! I agree with you, that you need to do something you'll like even to start off with. I really want to do the intelligence analyst role, and im most definetely NOT mapping out my career in the RAF at this time, I might get a commission, I might not, I might love life as an airman, or I might hate it and realise the RAF isn't for me... there are lots of things that could and probably will change.

All I know is, right now, I want to go down the airman route, which I think I will enjoy - and that is more than enough job satisfaction for me at this stage to keep me going, and give me a good start in the 'real' world.