Finally something worthwhile to talk about!!

I have just recently got off the phone from the nice receptionist who works at the Officer Careers Office in London and I can confirm that I have been given a place on an up coming Potential Officer Acquaint Course!!

When my ACLO told me of the courses after I enquired about them, I was told that it would be most unlikely that I would do the acquaint before doing my FATs as there is such a long waiting list. However, low and behold I have a place on the course in one months time from now and yet no FATs date of which to speak Anyway, I'm not too bothered at the moment, hopefully my FATs dates should arrive in the post any day now

Now, about the acquaint course! As I'm apply as aircrew, I'm obviously doing an acquaint specifically for aircrew. This means that I'm going to have to travel from Canterbury all the way down to RNAS Culdrose in sunny Cornwall, a journey of about 7 hours. Great...

Having not received a brief as to what actually happens, all I am going on for reference is what I can find on the Internet. What I have learnt though, seems very exciting and interesting. Basically you spend four days on the base where you receive various briefs and talks about the day to day routines of the different branches from their respective officers. There is also a brief on the AIB on the last day, which hopefully should prove to be insightful! There is also the chance for a flight in an aircraft, probably a Seaking, and the chance to use various simulators as well. On top of all this you have a tour of the base and have a walk around all the aircraft.

On another website, I also learnt that you partake in physical activity and are put through your paces on the infamous Dunker!! Although I would relish the chance to be locked in a cockpit submerged underwater from which you have to escape, I doubt very much that the staff let you do this as it is obviously quite dangerous!!

When I find out more I will let you all know what actually happens and I will write a full description once I have been.

Until then

Firstly, like the last entry, I will start with an apology for the massive gap between this entry and the last. I haven't got a real excuse as to the delay, just me being lazy and forgetting that I had this blog! So I will continue where the last entry left off: the Interview.

To sum up, I was successful at my interview in demonstrating my knowledge of the senior service, my knowledge of training and my competence to be forwarded to the AIB. Hooray!! I was sent all the forms a few days after my interview and the pack included medical forms, form for a commission, the AFCO form 4 (I think) which I had already filled in and a few others. Now comes my dilemma. If you are apply for the Armed Forces and have had asthma in the last 4 years, you will be refused entry. If you are applying for Aircrew however, and have had any symptoms of asthma or wheeze at all in your life, you will also be refused entry. Now I've never had asthma or wheeze, or have had any treatment for them or been diagnosed with them BUT when I was younger I did go to my Doctor with breathing complaints. This was due to me being a tubby little kid who didn't do much exercise . Anyway, I thought it best to go through my medical records to see what it had been recorded as, to see whether I would have to declare it as asthma. When I finally got hold of my records I saw that it had been recorded as 'Exercise Asthma??' This didn't fill me with confidence. So I decided to phone up the OCLC and see if it meant anything to my application. Thankfully the Medical Officer who I spoke to said that if it hadn't been diagnosed and I didn't receive treatment for it then it wouldn't affect my application. Pheww!! Also in the mass of forms was an eye test sheet and I was required to go to Donald and Atchinson to have my eyes tested. Now for some unknown reason I started to worry about this too. I had only ever had an eye test when I was in Primary School and to the best of my knowledge my eyes were fine, but I couldn't help wondering if they had got worse. So the day of the eye test came and went uneventfully as the optician said my eyes were perfect except that my left eye had a microscopic bubble of oxygen in my lens and he signed me off with VA1, which meant that me eyes were good enough for Aircrew!!

Apart from the above there's not much Navy related news of which to speak. I sent all my forms off, including the very irritating Security Clearance form, and I am supposed to hear from my ACLO soon about a date for my FATs. Hopefully the FATs won't be too long to wait for and I am already practicing my mental arithmetic and speed, distance, time equations to make that part of the tests as easy as possible. The rest of the tests you can't really revise for as they are testing your aptitude, which is something you can't learn from a book. So instead I have booked a few hours flying lessons, not because I think it will help me with the FATs but because my ACLO thought it would show my commitment and my interest in the branch that I want to join to the AIB board members. I agree with him here. By doing a few lessons it shows that you really take your application seriously and that it is something you are really committed to doing and that your not just applying because you think it might be a stepping stone to bigger things.

Also to add, I have started training for the bleep test to be undertaken at the AIB; don't ask me why! I have been running three miles every day without fail and my score is improving from the mid nines to about 10.7, which is good as it's easy marks! I also had ago at the RNFT (Royal Navy Fitness Test) which is the same as the Ratings PJFT. Although I won't be doing the RNFT until I start at Dartmouth, which I am told by my ACLO won't be till September at the earliest, I thought it would be good to be prepared. My time at the moment for the 1.5 mile RNFT is 10.23 mins, which I believe I can get down by a minute if I didn't have to run the massive hill outside my house .

Anyway enough complaining!! If my trial flight happens before my FAT's I'll keep you all posted on how it went and if I get my date through for the elusive tests I will do the same.

Until then cheerio!!

Firstly apologies for the absence of any blogging!! It's been over a month and a half now since my last post and the reason for that is there's not much to tell (application-wise). Secondly, I don't know why I just apologised as I am the only person who looks at this!!!

Anyway ....

As you might be able to tell I have some free time on my hands and thought I might as well jot down some of my thoughts and other ideas knocking around my head that are remotely related to the Navy application. At the time of writing I am currently building up my fitness levels, both CV and muscular, by undergoing a Royal Marines fitness routine that they suggest potential candidates follow prior to applying. I know what you're already thinking: What is he talking about, I thought he was joining the Navy?!?! Well seeing as the Royal Marines are the Royal Navy's amphibious fighting force and the fact that they are the most highly trained, disciplined and fittest of the British Armed Forces, and therefore the World, I thought I couldn't go wrong learning a thing or two from their experience!!

(An apology to anyone offended by the above statement i.e Paras and the USMC )

http://www.royalmarines.mod.uk/training-and-fitness/training-tool.php

I have posted a link above so that if anyone does read this and is interested in getting fit for applying to the services then they have some material at their disposal; similarly anyone who over did it this Christmas (you know who you are!) might also find it useful

Apart from the physical side of things, I have also been learning other vital information that I must be able to show an understanding of for my initial interview with my ACLO next Thursday. These said things have involved learning the training for the branch I am applying for, and being aircrew there's a lot to learn!! Whilst looking into this it suddenly struck me how long this takes. I know it is obvious that a highly skilled job such as a pilot would require prolonged periods of training but I've been so wrapped up with trying to get an interview and focusing on getting into the Navy that until now I never knew the exact length of training. For Fast Jet aircrew the training, including Initial Officer Training (IOT), is around 3 and a half years. On the other hand Rotary Wing aircrew spend roughly a year less than their fixed wing counterparts before they join their frontline Squadron. Ah well, good things come to those who wait; if it's worth waiting for keep waiting....etc etc

Anyway, enough for today! I shall post another entry before my interview next week and update you all *tumbleweed blows past* on my progress. Until then

Finally something to smile about!!!!!!! After nearly three months sitting in the dark there is finally a faint glimmer from the night light of hope that is getting an interview!! After being told that my ACLO would give me a phone call this week and the end result that he didn't, I decided once again to phone up the London AFCO. Again the very kind receptionist couldn't understand why, after three months and an RT test, I still had no interview. However, instead of fobbing me off with some excuse about him contacting me in the 'near' future, she gave me his mobile number (now we're getting somewhere ). So I decided to give the number a ring and see if I could get through to him. I have just this moment got off the phone to him and finally I can say with some pride and relief that I have a date for that allusive interview . Although this is only a small step in the eventual marathon that I must run, I still feel a great sense of achievement in persevering until I achieved my goal however small. On the down side however, the interview has been scheduled for the 24th of January which is over a month away; and will mean that the total time I have waited for this interview will be around 4 months! Although this is slightly annoying as it means I will have to wait further still, at least I know that the date is definite and the anxiousness I suffered from worrying about when they would contact me is over. Now I just have to sit back and wait for the 24th. Easier said than done.

Whilst on the phone to my ACLO I decided to ask, for my own piece of mind, whether I would be able to be eligible for selection before I went away to uni in October. Thankfully he reckoned I should be able to if I pass my FATs and AIB well enough but it might go right down to the wire. This info is a huge weight off my mind as I was worried that, what with the process being so ridiculously long, I would end up going to Uni for about a month paying my tuition fees and accommodation then being told I had a place at BRNC. This would be a total waste of time and money I don't have.

So now the weight begins, and I'm sure that like an engine that wont start, once the application process gets going it wont stop (sorry for the poor analogy ). Next stop the 24th.

A useful place to start, in most cases, would probably be the start of an event or period. Useful as it is, it is not a luxury that I can enjoy. The start of this blog should have come a long time ago when I first started along the path that I wish to pursue. This path will hopefully lead me through the front doors of one of the most respected and revered of all naval colleges: Britannia Royal Naval College. Along the way I will no doubt have to face many challenging obstacles and tests, such as FATs (Flight Aptitude Tests), the AIB (Admiralty Interview Board) and definitely countless interviews and briefs. If you haven't all ready guessed or you don't already know me, my one ambition in life, my one true calling is to join the Royal Navy as a Pilot. You may ridicule this with the original and unimpressive attitude that most have i.e. the Navy is for gays. Well go ahead. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I can take it. I spent most of my time at school being called a gay for various reasons, reasons which are to this very day still a mystery Anyway...

I have decided to keep this blog for a few good reasons. Firstly by keeping this blog I will be able to share my story and experiences with people who are in the same situation as me or who are contemplating this avenue of employment (though in my own opinion I believe that the Navy is a career that you must fall in love with first before you apply - and they say the Navy's for gays). Secondly I write this so that friends and relatives will be able to read and understand what I am going through and how I cope with it. Lastly, I am writing this blog in order to unburden some of my thoughts and feelings about the whole process and how it is effecting me mentally and physically. Also I'm writing it because now that I have left school I don't do much and thought this would be a good idea to stop my brain melting through lack of use.

The reason I cannot start at the start is because it was a fair few months ago. In about May, once I knew I wanted to join the Royal Navy and in what branch, I visited a local AFCO (Armed Forces Careers Office) to have an informal chat about what I wanted to do and the next step forward. This next step turned out to be filling in an Officer inquiry form which declares your interest in the service and a commission. I STUPIDLY thought it would be a good idea to wait until after my A-level results were know to send this form off!!! Due to waiting this long I am still in the process of applying, where as if I had filled it out in May the process would probably have been over by now; and I may have been on the list for a January entry at BRNC. As a result of sending it away in September, I am sorry to say I am still waiting for my initial interview!!!!!!!!!! This is the part that is driving me insane. I received a letter from the Navy on the 14th of September to say that they had received my form and would be arranging an initial interview with my ACLO (Area Career Liaison Officer) i.e. the guy that helps me prepare for selection. And here we are. Its nearly 3 months later and still no interview!! I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: But Dominic, have you not teleophoned these gentlemen at Her Majesty's Royal Navy and let them know of your vexation? Yes actually, I have. Many a time and always to the delightful answer that my ACLO was unavailable but was aware of my situation. Great. After a few more phone calls and at the beginning of November, around two months of waiting for an interview, I was told by one of the nice receptionists that because I was for some reason being made to wait so long, I would take an RT Test. These tests are a basic psychometric aptitude test that all hopeful entries to the Royal Navy must complete, whether they're applying as a Rating or an Officer. They're pretty simple tests really and comprise of verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, mechanical and numerical tests. There is a threshold of around 50% (I believe) needed to pass as a rating and higher for an officer. In preparation for this I did numerous practice tests on my own and thankfully they paid of as I managed to pass, with what I was told was a good score. Yay!! I was then told that my score would go up to London to be put in my file and my ACLO would contact me within two weeks for that elusive interview. You do not need to be remotely intelligent to guess that this didn't happen at all (mainly because I have already said so above ) And so the wait continues. I shall be phoning again soon to once again try to unearth the mystery around the lost interview, and hopefully in a few posts time I will have something to write about. Until then I will be continuing with my rather stressful but simple life all the while preparing myself for what I will ultimately have to undertake in good time: the AIB.

This entry is just a little snippet of what this blog is about just to set the scene. My entries will probably be irregular and few because I'm pretty lazy and because the application process is not a smooth one, as I have previously alluded to.

P.S Don't ask me why there are so many smileys in this, even I don't know......