POCs this year

[DannyW]

My AFCO chief has told me he thinks the last POC this year is June, could anyone verify this for me please please please please please?

If so I need to start harassing my doctors to hurry up and sign the medical letter you see, and then get my PJFT and sift through ASAP

 

[Ninja_Stoker]

Yep 14th June is the last POC for 2010 batch (21st June for previously injured candidates) - even then you'll have to go some to pass POC and get an AIB boxed-off no later than 17th july before they close for Summer Leave, in the hope of passing both in time to make selection for an August 30th (yep, Bank Holiday) start in this years batch.

Good luck.

 

[alfred_the_great]

N_S - are the rumours true about this years batch...

 

[Ninja_Stoker]

N_S - are the rumours true about this years batch...

Not sure.

It's doubtfull they can all be that way inclined... :wink:

Seriously though, we were struggling to get sufficient high calibre guys earlier this year, but it seems to be that we're doing better than envisaged - if that's the rumour to which you refer. Standards remain as inflexible as ever.

My own thoughts were that there are already plenty of exceptionally high calibre Other Ranks, eligible for Corps Commission if they did not manage to get enough Direct Entry Officers.

Interestingly, had a chat with a recent Captain AIB just last week & he reckons we've been having problems with getting Officer candidates of a high enough calibre across the board. I wonder whether our standards and expectations are possibly failing to keep pace with society in general. It's always the case that our successors can never be as good as "we" were, but maybe we need to reflect the change in society with regard selection.

People come with different skill-sets - they're no lesser in general terms but may appear so if we teach them in school different to how we examine them for suitability in the jobs market. In other words, since our jobs and trade training has changed so radically in the last 20-30 years, maybe our selection process needs further updating too.

(Just to add, to lengthen the odds of my legs & face getting broken, the second sentence was a joke.)

 

[DannyW]

It's good to see that careers advisers recognise that social changes have been vast recently, but I do see myself as more than 'the best of a bad bunch', heh.

It appears I will need more than luck to get through these phases in such rapid sucession. If I'm nice enough to the right people in the right places, could I be placed on the injured course if time was really working against me?

 

[alfred_the_great]

N_S - are the rumours true about this years batch...

Not sure.

It's doubtfull they can all be that way inclined... :wink:

Seriously though, we were struggling to get sufficient high calibre guys earlier this year, but it seems to be that we're doing better than envisaged - if that's the rumour to which you refer. Standards remain as inflexible as ever.

My own thoughts were that there are already plenty of exceptionally high calibre Other Ranks, eligible for Corps Commission if they did not manage to get enough Direct Entry Officers.

Interestingly, had a chat with a recent Captain AIB just last week & he reckons we've been having problems with getting Officer candidates of a high enough calibre across the board. I wonder whether our standards and expectations are possibly failing to keep pace with society in general. It's always the case that our successors can never be as good as "we" were, but maybe we need to reflect the change in society with regard selection.

People come with different skill-sets - they're no lesser in general terms but may appear so if we teach them in school different to how we examine them for suitability in the jobs market. In other words, since our jobs and trade training has changed so radically in the last 20-30 years, maybe our selection process needs further updating too.

(Just to add, to lengthen the odds of my legs & face getting broken, the second sentence was a joke.)

Wimp!

sorry for throwing this in - there are some v interesting facts doing the rounds at the moment...

 

[alfred_the_great]

Facts - cold, hard numbers I'm afraid!

 

[ibeveri]

I noticed that one of you guys said that this years btch starts on 30th August, is that a definate?

 

[Scottish_Kiwi]

Perhaps the corps would look at raising the age limits for Officer candidates so they would be in line with those of the army. There are a number of candidates I know, who have been unable to get a commision because of this.

K

 

[Ninja_Stoker]

I noticed that one of you guys said that this years btch starts on 30th August, is that a definate?

Yus

Perhaps the corps would look at raising the age limits for Officer candidates so they would be in line with those of the army. There are a number of candidates I know, who have been unable to get a commision because of this.

K

It's an interesting point. Since the maximum other rank upper age was raised from 28 to 32 from 15th November 2004 onwards, the % failure rate of those in the 28-32 age group was found to be significantly higher than those in the 16-27 group.

Whereas those at the young end of the scale often have problems with regard power/weight during the load-carrying elements of training (not to mention the higher propensity to submit PVR due to lack of independance/separation), the guys at the top-end appear to have been more prone to slow recovery from injury. Whilst certainly no expert in this area, the slower body metabolism of the older guys maybe part of the problem.

Whether things change for Officers remains to be seen, but I'm not aware of anything in the pipeline.

I'm not entirely sure why RN Warfare Officers are limited to the 26 year upper limit, possibly it's due to the fact that those over that age are required with service experience & are drawn from SUYs, much the same as Senior Corps Commission Officers in the RM.