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Subject: Potential RAF Regiment Officer's Acquaint Course
Dimitri    10/25/2007 3:59:09 PM
Does anybody have details or experience of PROAC, the pre-OASC, pre-officer selection requirement for those wishing to become RAF Regiment officers? With the RAF Regiment's role being quite different from the remainder of the service, I'm thinking it is probably not only a familiarisation but there is likely to be an assessment on the candidate, probably physical; if anyone knows what the fitness tests are, that'd be a great aid to training... Any wider insights on the RAF officer selection process or Regt also welcomed... ;)
 
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Dimitri       10/30/2007 11:15:58 AM
What, no takers? For shame! Come on, these are the blokes deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan at the moment, and who were to valiantly beat back Spetsnaz assaults on their airfields in a contested Germany...
 
 
 
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Yimmy       10/30/2007 11:49:39 PM
I think more likely it is just that nobody here really has any expertise concerning the RAF regiment.  I do know that the RAF being centered around pilots, there is a lot of fast maths and basic physics involved in their officer selection, which I assume is the same as for the RAF regiment.
 
There will certainly be a physical element of the assesment board.  I would guesstimate that you will need to be able to run a 7 minute mile, and do 60 press-ups and sit-ups in two minutes.  Or something of that kin.
 
It is true that the RAF regiment have a different role to other infantry based forces, however are you really sure you want to be a rock ape?  I am certainly no expert on them, but what with Rapier gone, the Para's including the new Ranger battalion taking the pick of air-assaults, and NBC basically sucking if being interesting in theory, the RAF regiment don't have much which would appeal? 
 
If you join the RAF regiment you guard the vicinity of airfields (feel free to correct me).  I am not quite sure where they were when our Harriers were destroyed on the ground in Afghanisan.  If you join an army infantry regiment such as the Rifles, you are part of a far more robust family, where you can experience Light Role, Mechanised, Armoured and Commando infantry taskings, and so become a far more experienced and rounded an officer.
 
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Dimitri       10/31/2007 7:27:25 PM
I understood it was the RAF Police's responsibility to guard the airfield per se, after all thats what they do in a benign environment say in UK - security.
 
The RAF Regt's role I thought was to aggressively patrol the surrounding area, dominate the ground - to find fix and strike the enemy before they got to the wire... So probably more scope for individual initiative, after all you have your flight acting probably quite independently from other ground troops.
 
A major attraction for me is that the FAC world is apparently going to be dominated by the RAF Regt in the future, in a similar way to how the USAF control CAS for the US Army... Now I know it is possible to go FAC through other routes, and I know there will be some RAF Regt officers who haven't been an FAC in their careers, but if the stakes are highest in that neck of the woods for such a job, and thats also where you get to do the platoon commander job, well what an appealing combination that'd be.
 
It also struck me as being a job with quite a bit of variety - point taken on the different infantry roles but Light/Armoured et al are different ways of getting to work. Granted NBC or ceremonial role may not be the most exciting but it is another role, as is running a STO team instructing RAF personnel and acting as OC Security of an airbase, as is SFSG, as is combat SAR, as is the parachute role, and the likelihood of exchanges both with the Army and in generalist jobs within the RAF or the training world.
 
Pity some of their roles such as Air Defence and Armoured are gone but there you are I suppose... Out of all those roles, only NBC and ceremonial don't sound too exciting, but to be honest theres probably a bit of science to the NBC role, and lets face it, less-inspiring jobs come up for officers in every service. I'd rather they be the exception and chance for a bit of a breather between infantry-type jobs, rather than the norm!
 
Given the fact that the infantry are getting turned around back on ops at short notice I'd be surprised if there wasn't a call for RAF Regt to start taking a turn in that world as well, similar to how other non-infantry or specialised units with a particular role are required to... I'm not sure as to the odds for attachment to another unit, or whether RAF Regt units get employed as line infantry wholesale, but it can't be beyond the stretch of the imagination, and is probably quite likely in the current climate.
 
To be honest being a platoon commander, then having the far higher chance of doing Forward Air Control seems a damned good combination to me. I'm thinking of it as the typical infantry officer pipeline but with a fair few other unusual out-of-area jobs open to you...
 
 
 
 
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Yimmy       10/31/2007 7:41:24 PM
Well, you certainly sound up for it.  I wish I could give better advise, but as I said I don't think anyone here knows much about the RAF regiment.
 
Have you seen your local recruiter yet?  I went to an RAF officer recruitment session out of the novalty, and it was a rather boring group affair, with I believe individual pass/fail interviews to follow, but I am sure at the armed forces recruitment center you would be able to find someone to talk to informally about the regiment and its requirements.  As with all of the services they also drown you in reading material.
 
 
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Dimitri       10/31/2007 8:04:20 PM
Not seen a recruiter yet, nor really discussed it properly with anyone in the know... Asking about the RAF Regt on ARRSE doesn't exactly get you constructive advice... ;)
 
I was also thinking of getting involved at university, but I'm torn between the UAS for the RAF-ness of it, or the OTC for the shooty side of life in green...
 
Do you really think the RAF Regt will be constrictive compared to the Army? I'd thought of it as typically the Army route but with a few more airpower-orientated jobs thrown in, opening up more rather than less, especially the FAC world... Although if I'm thinking of this line of work, then it probably wouldn't hurt to consider the Army too.
 
 
 
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Yimmy       11/2/2007 2:11:18 PM
I don't really know well enough to comment, but in my opinion the RAF regiment would be more constrictive yes.  They will always be the RAF's infantry, while the army infantry will always be far larger.  Also, as a sub-unit of the RAF, I don't know what the chances for progression and promotion are.  In the army, an officer will change jobs fairly regularly throughout his career if he is successful, with battalion posts alternating often with staff posts.  The army being made up of regiments, all officers have an equal chance as it were.  I would assume the RAF to be somewhat biased against their infantry (although I may be completely wrong, I picture them to be poncy flyboy types at the top) :)
 
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phil222       1/2/2009 4:13:21 PM
I know that the PGAC course is a 3m run in 24mins and 25 sit up and press-ups in a miniute i also know that you have to complete there assualt course and score 10.5 and above on the bleep test. Also for the people who are saying about the RAF regiment, they are an elite fighting force who were used to defend air bases around the world. They go out to 24miles out side the bases the raf police patrol a 4mile radius (correct me if im wrong on that one) but at the moment the RAF regt are being used on operations such as OP Herick and OP telic both in afghanistan and Iraq these are both involiving 1sqn, 2sqn, 51sqn and 63 QCS sqn. They work alongside the SBS aswell in the Iraq rivers patroling. If you have any questions feel free to contact me and ill give you the best answer that i know.
 
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phil222       1/2/2009 4:27:37 PM
I know that the PGAC course is a 3m run in 24mins and 25 sit up and press-ups in a miniute i also know that you have to complete there assualt course and score 10.5 and above on the bleep test. Also for the people who are saying about the RAF regiment, they are an elite fighting force who were used to defend air bases around the world. They go out to 24miles out side the bases the raf police patrol a 4mile radius (correct me if im wrong on that one) but at the moment the RAF regt are being used on operations such as OP Herick and OP telic both in afghanistan and Iraq these are both involiving 1sqn, 2sqn, 51sqn and 63 QCS sqn. They work alongside the SBS aswell in the Iraq rivers patroling. If you have any questions feel free to contact me and ill give you the best answer that i know.
 
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