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joining the defence force

nemesis_adrasteia

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hey guys, im currently considering joining the ADF, probably navy or possibly army, ive been looking around the defence jobs website, i have found a few jobs that interest me, i have a few questions for those of you out there who are or have served in the army/navy/air force, so here goes
what was your job? what kind of stuff did you do?
where were you deployed?
what did a you day consist of? is there much difference in your duties whilst deployed compared to when your back in aus?
anything else youd like to add
ill probably think of more questions later

cheers
michael
 

S2_VR_

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i'd also like to know these questions. im thinking of joining the army at the end of the year.....
 

alien

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Well, the two services are different (navy and army). However, with the air force, depending on your job depended what time you would get up. However usually breakfast is served in the mess at 0700-0800. You will be required to march around the base with your unit. As for your job, depending on what it is depends on what you'll do. But usually lunch is another march to the mess and back to work. Then after work, depending on the day, back to billets and then to the mess for dinner or straight to dinner. Thats what USUAL days are like. Expect to be up at around 0600 or 0630 mostly and make sure your room is ok for inspection (you will learn all this). If you live off base it will be a different story for wakeup and what not.

You are also expected to keep your uniform in top notch, but dont worry, you get paid a certain amount for that :)
 

Garth

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was in the navy myself, did 5 years service

i was a signalman, it's now been joined into another job and had it's name changed to communications information systems. was responsible for all onboard ship comunications,
i was deployed to hmas brisbane, hobart, perth, (all three ddg's now decomisioned) and hmas melbourne. ffg05. was onboard that puppy for some time while in the gulf enforsing un sanctions.

ill point this out now, when on a ship, while at sea, your hour's can be either one of the following below
8's about, which is 8 hours on shift, 8 hour's off shift.
5's and 7s, 5 hour's on, 7 hour's off, 7 hou'rs off, 5 hour's on.
6's and 4's 6 hour's on, 4 hour's off, 4 hour's on, 6 hour's off.
or start at 6am, and finish at 8pm. those hour's are various state of operational readyness hour's, normaly it's the top one, depending in what status the ship is at while at sea it can change. the 6am to 8pm one is generaly done by officers, or those who are higher up in the non comisioned officer level, i.e pety officers, cheif petty officers, or god

general sea life consists of doing either ships husbandry, (painting it, or keeping it neat and tidy) doing various exercises to keep you at a operational level, i.e. anti air exercises, or splash target exercises if your billet requires you to do it. or my personal fravorite, dammage control exercises, those suck.

i would recomend the navy if you wanna go and see the world, travel and get paid better than the other forces

the only real advice i think you should listen to, and you should take this seriously, is you wont be in the defence force all your life, you will want to retire, or leave if you dotn like it, so make sure your in a job that a) you enjoy, and b) gives you a national qualification. i.e. marine tech, it's like a diesle fitter mechanic.
 

nemesis_adrasteia

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Thanks for the reply mate, I was in airforce cadets about 5 years ago so I know a bit about uniform and if its not right yourin trouble, I was taught how to march as well as some basic service knowledge, fieldcraft and that kind of thing I found it pretty interesting but I got over the whole planes and flying thing pretty fast.
 

System

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was thinkin of the army reserve, i already have a permanent job, so i wont be goin full time.

Been given mixed responses with the reserves, or the "weekend warriors" as i've been told they r called. But as i always say, its better to join in the reserves then not join at all. Its all the same job in the end.

been told to do the combat engineering because of my civil background, but i'd rather choose something different then the same old job i do normally.

Anyone in the army- is the fitness standard the same in the reserves? What reputation do reservists get around regular army?
 

alien

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nemesis_adrasteia, i was also in the now AAFC. Kicked out for being too old. Cadets is a bit different experience. Just a question, qhat flight or SQN were you in? If you go into the defence force just make sure you DONT mention you were a cadet. If you do a lot more is expected and other people joining dont like those people. Cadets will give you a foot in the door, leave it at that and dont use it for anything else.

System, permanent have mixed feelings about reservists, but most of the time they're fine with them, see them as drinking buddies, more mates e.t.c. Fitness standards, i'm not too sure, might have to ask a reservist. I dont see many of them these days.
 

nemesis_adrasteia

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was in the navy myself, did 5 years service

i was a signalman, it's now been joined into another job and had it's name changed to communications information systems. was responsible for all onboard ship comunications,
i was deployed to hmas brisbane, hobart, perth, (all three ddg's now decomisioned) and hmas melbourne. ffg05. was onboard that puppy for some time while in the gulf enforsing un sanctions.

ill point this out now, when on a ship, while at sea, your hour's can be either one of the following below
8's about, which is 8 hours on shift, 8 hour's off shift.
5's and 7s, 5 hour's on, 7 hour's off, 7 hou'rs off, 5 hour's on.
6's and 4's 6 hour's on, 4 hour's off, 4 hour's on, 6 hour's off.
or start at 6am, and finish at 8pm. those hour's are various state of operational readyness hour's, normaly it's the top one, depending in what status the ship is at while at sea it can change. the 6am to 8pm one is generaly done by officers, or those who are higher up in the non comisioned officer level, i.e pety officers, cheif petty officers, or god

general sea life consists of doing either ships husbandry, (painting it, or keeping it neat and tidy) doing various exercises to keep you at a operational level, i.e. anti air exercises, or splash target exercises if your billet requires you to do it. or my personal fravorite, dammage control exercises, those suck.

i would recomend the navy if you wanna go and see the world, travel and get paid better than the other forces

the only real advice i think you should listen to, and you should take this seriously, is you wont be in the defence force all your life, you will want to retire, or leave if you dotn like it, so make sure your in a job that a) you enjoy, and b) gives you a national qualification. i.e. marine tech, it's like a diesle fitter mechanic.

Retiring from the defence force is something I've been thinking about too because I was considering doing one of the more combat based jobs, I was thinking that after I could either join the police or continue on with my apprenticeship,
 

nemesis_adrasteia

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nemesis_adrasteia, i was also in the now AAFC. Kicked out for being too old. Cadets is a bit different experience. Just a question, qhat flight or SQN were you in? If you go into the defence force just make sure you DONT mention you were a cadet. If you do a lot more is expected and other people joining dont like those people. Cadets will give you a foot in the door, leave it at that and dont use it for anything else.

System, permanent have mixed feelings about reservists, but most of the time they're fine with them, see them as drinking buddies, more mates e.t.c. Fitness standards, i'm not too sure, might have to ask a reservist. I dont see many of them these days.

I was in 409 SQN at east sale RAAF base I quit because I finished all the theory and they got me to start teaching the new guys they were immature little ****s so I decided id learned all I could and quit
 

Galixia

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i joined in 2003 at a reservist operator suppy then changed to full time army at the start of this year as an information systems tech.

reserves was fun and i learnt heaps. you do get paid out a bit by the full timers but in the end u do the same job and the exact same training only you have more freedom and get paid tax free $$$ which is good... like i said i was a reserve storesman based with 39 const sqn. it was good cause i could work as much or as little as i wanted and at one point i lost my job a few years ago so i just worked full time as a reservist for a month while i found a new job so i still had a decent income which was good.

now ive joined up as full time and im living in melb. i switched over to full time cause im doing something i wanted to do which i enjoy and also i have a stable job which is also a great plus. i usually wake up bout 6ish have breakie get dressed ect then at work bout 8ish morno's 1000-1030 lunch 1200-1300 then knock off bout 4ish and do whatever i want after that i live on base which suits me fine so i pay next to nothing for rent ect cause its all substituted the only problem with it is room inspections :p but if ur a tidy person its no problems.

the fitness levels is the same for army reserves and full time but u dont really have to be fit to be in the airforce or navy theres are about half of what the armys is from memory but hey every base has a gym and usually a pool as well which are free to use whenever u want and there are always PTI's there who will write up a program for you to follow to suit what u want or help you train as well as that you have programmed in PT lessons throughout the week as well which is good. as well as every Thursday is a lunchtime knockoff in the army so everyone can play sports all arvo which they normally have a few different ones going.
 
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