I used to be in the air cadets
until some kid a few years younger but above 'rank' told me to clean my shoes. I thought I'm not having some young kid telling me what to do, and that was the end of my RAF career.

Anyway, I know a few people in/been in the RAF, and here's the bits I know of.

The planes are about 30 years old and are falling to bits. Constantly breaking down and very expensive to repair. The mismanagment would put even the NHS to shame. Even the brand new cutting edge eurofighter is about 12 years old. Thats why everyone in the RAF is an air frame technician, i.e. stop the plane from falling apart in mid-air.
And it all comes out of the defence budget.

Do not turn up late. Ever. By all means turn in at 10 to 9 still pissed or hungover, but arrive sober at 9:02 and its a big black mark.

Officers are mainly postgrads with a bit of training. You don't get promoted from bullet catcher to officer, hence officers know knack all about the job.

The drinking games. Getting trollied on a daily basis quickly leads to boredom, so games help the days along. Someone shits in the middle of a table. A tray is placed on the shit, then everyone places their chins on the edge of the table. Someone else punches the tray as hard as possible. The person with the most amount of shit on their face buys the round and can load up the next tray.
Understandable if its a way of coping with the horrors of war. Not really understandable with your mates at a camp in the UK.

And lets not forget the MOD covering up the institutional bullying and murder at say...Deepcut.
As it said, these are the defenders of our nation.
/cynicism
(wez, Fri 24 Mar 2006, 17:13, Reply)