IS-Potential
Lantern Swinger

Ninja_Stoker said:Good point. Got a meeting with the head honcho in this area coming up soon, so will give the feedback, with regard the brevity of Officer factsheets.
To be honest, my personal view is that we have got serious problems with too few people passing AIB - think it's down to about 30% at present.
There are a variety of possible causes for this, partly because a lot of educational establishments offer truly crap careers advice - they are more focused on generating revenue by creating value-less qualifications rather than preparing people for the workplace as well as educating them with regard pertinent qualifications.
For out part, my thoughts are that the RN (not AIB themselves) assumes too much with regard Officer candidates. Yes, there's an AIB DVD (very good too) and there is a page or so on the RN website about AIB, an out of date AIB leaflet & that's it. There is no single point of reference offering comprehensive guidance for Officer applicants - ACLOs will relate their experience of AIB "x amount" of years ago, Careers Advisers don't even visit the AIB or witness one, let alone get taught very much on the subject on the CA3 course or Careers Advisers Update Briefs, so everything is shrouded in mist, myth & secrecy - an archaic outward perception that unless you're in the "secret circle" or funny handshake gang, you ain't privy to what happens.
The thing that irks me the most is the very lazy attitude often heard in AFCOs: "Potential Officers should take the initiative, use their officer-like qualities & find out themselves rather than expect all the answers". It's almost as inane a comment as those writing a report using the generic lazy phrase: "Not enough attention to detail" Aaargh, typical old-school FOST logic - the retort being "specifically where?".
Another point is that the IS leaflet seems to be a reworded WE leaflet, and its a lot more brief than the previous IS leaflet that actually had information within it.
Thanks though, hopefully if someone in the future wants IS information or the chance to talk to someone within IS they can get the opportunity.