Quick question about joining the military.

[Serin]

Posting here for traffic, sorry if that isn't appropriate. A young lad I work with on a voluntary basis has applied to the Royal Navy, is he also allowed to apply for the other services as well or is it one application at a time?
He can't seem to find clear guidelines online.

Army and Navy commitment is 4 years active, 2 years inactive and the RAF is actually 12 years but im not totally sure.

What area of engineering is he most into?

Thanks everyone.
User I'm honestly not sure which field of engineering he is most interested in. I think he would be delighted with any!
Really appreciate everyone's help.

I can't see why not. I joined the WRAF many many years ago (the fact I call it the WRAF is a bit of a giveaway) I was only interested in the RAF as the RN didn't offer the trade I wanted to female recruits (this was the 1980s) and the Army just never appealed. That still didn't stop both the RN and the Army recruiters trying to poach me any time I was in the recruitment centre doing one of the many assessments I had to do. There's many things in life I'd do differently if I had my time over but I would still join the RAF, they were some of the happiest years of my life

From a personal experience and observation, I would choose the Navy. The RAF is a longer career progression but a more chilled lifestyle and an excellent opportunity for worldwide travel. The Navy has a good career progression and a nice balance on lifestyle expectations and a good opportunity for travel. The Army has the potential for rapid career progression but the fuck about factor is enormous and especially in engineering the postings are limited in comparison.

@GypsyLee

You mean American Military or UK Armed services. We don't have military in the uk HTH

"We don't have military in the uk"

Or grammar.

The Navy has a good career progression and a nice balance on lifestyle expectations

Yes, the RN has good career progression, but I can't say that I noticed much balance on lifestyle expectations when dh got bounced to go to sea one Christmas Eve. The RN has been working at a constant operational tempo at least since 1986 when I married into it; and I was an RN Officer's daughter, so knew the score. Dh has retired, but done a dip/mil job since, and db, and many of our friends are still in. The workload hasn't lessened, especially in the underwater branch of the RN!

My nephew is in, doing engineering, and will eventually get a degree, and hopefully, a commission. He has spent quite a lot of time at sea recently, but is now shore side for some courses. The RN has done a lot in mapping out qualifications for their engineers, and making sure they are in line with civilian ones.

Dh got his C.Eng by virtue of the engineering jobs he did in the RN.

I'd echo the suggestion about Welbeck, the Defence-run Sixth form college, which specialises in Engineering. That would create stability via boarding and a friendship group, and enable him to explore which fields of Engineering and which Service most appeal. It would also offer potential routes such as Defence sponsorship through university and commissioning if those are possible goals. Worth checking, but I think Welbeck is either free or heavily subsidized, as part of the Defence talent pipeline in Engineering. Good luck to your young friend OP and good on you for taking an interest.

@Vaughan32

I'd echo the suggestion about Welbeck, the Defence-run Sixth form college, which specialises in Engineering. That would create stability via boarding and a friendship group, and enable him to explore which fields of Engineering and which Service most appeal. It would also offer potential routes such as Defence sponsorship through university and commissioning if those are possible goals. Worth checking, but I think Welbeck is either free or heavily subsidized, as part of the Defence talent pipeline in Engineering. Good luck to your young friend OP and good on you for taking an interest.

Wellbeck is no longer accepting students and closes its doors this year

The money as an engineer in the RN once you finish your training is... wow! If he’s bright and motivated he should consider joining as an officer, my partner is still good mates 15 years later with people he met at Naval college.