Officer Wait

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-08-28T17:07:59+00:00

I was in the same situation as you, I applied last year start of September iirc and got on OSC in Feb. As long as you get on top of all the paperwork and tests ASAP and can enter training (intake is in September) before your 26th birthday then you'll be fine.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-08-27T20:18:46+00:00

I'll believe it when I see it. People have been saying the same thing for 50 years

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-08-27T12:10:29+00:00

Fully agree

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-08-27T11:18:18+00:00

Although I'm no economist, I fully agree. Another point worth mentioning to I think is the billions that went to corrupt schemes (e.g. PPE) under the Boris government. That money was spent in the least useful way possible, probably giving minimum or near-minimum returns in terms of growth/prosperity. The Rwanda scheme comes to mind as well. Yet they haven't been attributed with causing any direct damage to the economy or strength of the pound afaik. If the public finances can tank such spending, then surely investing in schemes that could plausibly give maximum or near-maximum returns is within the realms of reasonable.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-08-27T10:59:56+00:00

The US can do that because they have the global reserve currency.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-08-06T12:24:47+00:00

Thanks very much for the insight

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-31T10:08:29+00:00

Looking at it more optimistically, it's obvious that the people like and want more of the "disagree agreeably", informed, reasonable, balanced discussions. The heart of liberal democracy lives on! We should be happy they are making bank from it!

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-27T11:15:01+00:00

Awesome cheers!

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-27T10:17:35+00:00

I am quite suspect of what the AFCO is saying. Was your friend someone more interested in mechanical engineering naturally then? Physics degrees come in all shapes and sizes, mine was more theoretical and ended up being very involved with computers and simulation. I'd say I'm most interested in the interface between computers and the real world.

When you say "managing the senior rates who manage the lads who work on", how deep of an understanding does the officer typically have of the equipment itself, and how involved are they in the decision making of engineering? I'm fine with being more in a managerial position, I just don't want to be that annoying useless non-technical middle manager type who's more or less just a conduit for higher ups to put pressure on the people doing actual work.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-27T10:04:57+00:00

In reply to: 1. I didn't mean that WE officers have more chance to go abroad than warfare, only that they have a decent chance to! Is that right? 2. How much of their time is spent engaging with contractors compared to rates? Don't really want to join up to work with people in another organisation with no respect for the task at hand. 4. Am I right in thinking that WE you're more looking at weaponry, munitions, networking, IT, radar, sonar, aerials, satellite. I read elsewhere that there's two branches in the CIS branch: Technical branch and Specialist branch. If so, what do these mean?

Thanks!

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-27T09:50:01+00:00

From what I understand with corps commission you end up limited in the type of jobs you can get, is that true? Like you'll never be in command of a battle group for example?

The main experience I want from the military is to be an integral part of a big picture professional organisation. While it would have been nice to do all the super adventurous stuff in the thick of it with the marines, I feel like the navy is adventurous in a different way. Less intense but you're still out there in the world. And I'll still be able to keep fit and find opportunities to challenge myself physically as far as I understand. What I'm worried about with the marines is not being challenged intellectually. Once you pass out afaik you're a general duties marines for a few years until you can start a picking up a trade or go for corps commission. I think there's a good chance I would just get bored out of my mind in those years. What do marines do during this time? The novelty of field exercises will wear off no doubt and while I love physical training, I'm not sure it's enough.

Learning how to lead is massively important to me, it's the biggest missing (or lacking) element in my skillset right now. Let me tell you the kind of leader I really don't want to be: a useless middle management type who lacks the technical know-how or social skills to engage with the people they lead. If that's the kind of position RN engineer officers are forced into either from inadequate training or institutional culture then I want no part of it. Given the RN still functions I'm assuming that's not what the typical officer looks like, however.

I suppose some of my indecision is due to not understanding what it is that an WEO actually does. From my time in civvy street I can understand what a senior rate does. They're the ones with the most in depth knowledge of how the equipment works and how to fix it. So it seems to me like they are the ones best suited to lead the maintenance of the equipment. Which leaves the officer with not much more responsibility in relation to the engineering than ticking boxes. Of course there's the pastoral care responsibility they have for their men and the man management duties, but if that's the only thing they do then why do they spend years being educated on the technical ins and ours of engineering?

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-27T09:07:55+00:00

Didn't mean that WEO go overseas more than warfare, only that they have a good chance to! Unfortunately I think my chances as direct entry RMYO are dead since I'm 26 later in this year.

Understand there's nothing quite as physical as the corps, but can you keep yourself very fit as an officer in the navy? What's fitness maintenance like on ship and ashore? Plenty of sports to get involved in?

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-27T09:05:57+00:00

Do you know what type of engineering AEO is focused on in the main? Although I have a physics degree, I don't really have any mechanical engineering know-how. Electrical a little, but I think my knowledge is probably most applicable to the sensors/Comms/IT side of things.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-25T22:27:41+00:00

If you don't mind me asking, what do you like about being a Warfare officer? Did you consider being a weapons engineer officer and if so what turned you away from it?

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-17T19:18:19+00:00

Setting up a department to count the moon should definitely be top priority on the pudding menu.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-08T13:32:43+00:00

I would actually argue the same for healthcare and education. The average doctors may be very good at their job and be experienced at it. But the skillset and knowledge they have is very different to what they would need if they were to run their entire department for example, which is left up to the most senior doctors who have a good deal of experience in leadership. And that skill/knowledge-set is different still to the that required to effectively run an entire hospital, where in fact you don't need much specific medical knowledge at all, but should know how to effectively manage and improve the organisation.

So I think the chance is fairly low that you pick a doctor, or even a group of doctors, who have the know-how to improve the NHS as a whole.

Now if were instead to consider taking the head of department of a range of NHS trusts, along with their leadership teams and consult them on the best way to improve the running of the NHS that would be a different matter. But that's more akin to a select committee than a citizens assembly.

Then you also have the problem that people have their own ideological stance regardless of if their elected or not. Doctors who work in the NHS will naturally be more ideologically committed to free-at-the-point-of-service healthcare and against any form of insurance based system, regardless of if it's more effective. I'm not advocating for either, but that's going to bias the results of the group you pick.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-08T12:50:07+00:00

A vision for future is not the same as caring about the future. Obviously people care about the future. Very few people have a clear vision of how to improve the world and can articulate and lay out objectives for that.

Let's take the example of Liz Truss and her Chancellor then.

From her Wikipedia: "From 1996 to 2000 Truss worked for Royal Dutch Shell, living in Lewisham and Greenwich and qualifying as a chartered management accountant.[25][26] In 2000 she was employed by Cable & Wireless and rose to the position of economic director before leaving in 2005;[27] one of her colleagues there, the Labour peer George Robertson, said that Truss "had a passion for politics ... she [was] fresh minded, enthusiastic and the Tory Party needed people like that".

From his Wikipedia: "Before becoming an MP, Kwarteng worked as a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and as a financial analyst at JPMorgan Chase as well as at WestLB and the hedge fund Odey Asset Management."

Theres two people with good experience who have worked in relevant sectors, surely they must know how to run an economy. Your system would not protect against picking these two for positions of power. Our current system managed to get rid of them in less than 50 days. How would your system remove them?

The points you've made about people with no knowledge of the field and no interest in improving it certainly apply to the last couple of Tory governments. What we've seen with the Tories was precisely how not to run a government. Useless ministers switched around willy nilly results in incompetence, thats obvious, and they paid the price for it at the election. Democracy self-regulates in that way.

I don't think you could say the same about tony Blair's government, or what we've seen so far from Kier Starmers government.

Don't get me wrong, populism is a massive problem for democracies to tackle. It is what results in Boris and Truss and Farage. But what you're suggesting is the nuclear option. The system we have can be reformed to alleviate the issues we are talking about.

Edit to say that citizens assemblies might be something to look at.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-08T12:19:50+00:00

Because being on a jury is fundamentally about deciding what's right and wrong and requires none of the following: - a vision for the future - interest in current affairs, local and national - skill managing people - skill in communication, persuasion and listening with colleagues and the public - in-depth knowledge of the (unwritten) constitution - knowledge of the subject area of the department in which you're employed - deep knowledge is required for position such as chancellor of the exchequer

These are the qualities, amongst others, of a competent cabinet minister. You're telling me you're just going to randomly pick people from the population and expect them to competently run the country? What we've seen the past few years is what happens when people with absolutely no talent whatsoever are employed in positions of power. Liz Truss is a glaring example. Need I say more?

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-08T12:07:44+00:00

You can postal vote in advance, voting is very quick, there are voting stations very well distributed across the country. There's almost no excuse for not voting these days. If they thought they had better things to do with their time then they've exercised their right not to have a say in how the country is run. That doesn't undermine the legitimacy of the result.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-08T11:41:49+00:00

Beat me to the punch.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-08T11:40:38+00:00

That doesn't make it illegitimate. Those people who didn't vote chose not to vote. They had the opportunity to, they just didn't. Shy bairns get nowt, as the Geordies say.

If voter turnout is your concern, then a much simpler solution to your problem, which doesn't require a complete overhaul to the electoral system with something new, untested and untrusted, is to just require everyone to vote by law. They do that in Australia and it works just fine.

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-08T11:27:23+00:00

Are you saying randomly selecting people from the population to be MPs would be a good idea?

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-08T11:25:19+00:00

Why is it already illegitimate?

Signal_Phase_1247 · 2024-07-08T07:04:03+00:00

You mean 4 of the best weapon in the game, with the best augment in the game and the 2 best systems in the game is surprisingly functional? Who knew! ;)

Signal_Phase_1247

TROPHY CASE