RAF officer - what do we do?

Hi girls,

Im hoping you can help us out by letting me know about your experiences on this one, I will become a forces wife in a months time and currently my fiance is an SAC. He has been advised to look at becoming an officer by his seniors as they feel he would do well but we have reservations and lots of questions.

Firstly if he decided today he wanted to go through the selection process how long before he would be called for the 3 day assessment, also how long between being accepted and training starting? He is assuming he has to go through all the training again but seen as he has been in for 7 years would he be able to miss any out?

Lastly my concerns are that he would be sent on detachment more often and be moved frequently. I come from kent which is a long way from the majority of bases and I dont really want to move away from home as we own our own place and this is what has put him off partly before. It could seriously mess up trying to have kids for example.

I would love some advice, im not sure what to think at the moment!!

Thank you x

Hi Fillyfod,
It takes a while to go through the whole process, he will need to apply and then have an interview with the station commander who will then decide whther or not to take the application further. If it does then yur h2b will go to Cranwell for his selection, it depends on when there are places. Then he will wait anything up to 2 weeks to find out if he has passed and then will need to wait for his IOT course. This course lasts almost a year and he will need to do all of it. Even though he's been in for 7 years this unfortunatley won't count. It will definately help him during training but he will still need to do the whole lot.
Officers tend to move every 3 years and it would depend on his job as to how often they'd get detached. Generally they do a 3 year tour followed by a detachment but again this depends on his job.
With regards to where you'll be posted that again will depend on his job and where he's needed. Unfortunately environmental posts don't exist anymore so we generally have to go wherever we are told.
I'm in the RAF (not an officer!!) and know a bit about it, if you have any questions just give me a shout.
And good luck for your wedding in a month, it's the greatest day ever xx

Thank you kittyhen, advice much appreciated.

We have always seen it as him leaving when his 12 years are up (about 3 years time) but the lure of officer with all the benefits that go with it are enticing especially in the current financial climate. His bosses really want him to try and I dont want to hamper his career as I think he really excels at his job and is destined for greater things!

I just know when a friend of mine recently joined the police, the interview was about 3 months after application and the course was another 6 months after the interview, so the whole process was so drawn out.

Its a hard decision to make at this stage, when we want to settle down, get a new house within the next year or so and start a family. I know it may sound obsessive but I always like to have a rough 5 year plan in my head and with this I cant tell how long it will before we have a bit of "normality". I could never have chosen to be in the military myself as the uncertainty does cause me stress.