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Forces sweethearts

If you have a family member in the Royal Navy, RAF or army, find support from other Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

thinking of joining the airforce as medical person

11 replies

pukkapatch · 13/03/2008 11:36

anyone here a doctor with the airforce? she, my sisster, will have to sign up for six years, but what if she got pregnant? she definitly wants kids, but hasnt found the right person to have them with, and doesnt want to choose a career where she cant for a specific period, iyswim.
any info/advice appreciated

OP posts:

McDreamy · 13/03/2008 15:04

She can come out on maternity grounds if she wants to. That's why I left the airforce. Is she a student? Or qualified? She will do a shorter basic training course too!! Basic training is usually 6 months in the RAF but I only did 8 weeks think it might be 10 or 12 now.

Notyummy · 13/03/2008 15:13

She will get a reasonable maternity package as well, i.e 9 months off paid (not sure all of it is on full pay) plus an additional 3/6 months unpaid. Thedre is a childcare voucher scheme, and mosst of the big bases have their own very good subsidized nurseries with priority to RAF personnel (my dd was in one for 6 months until June last year when we moved). It was £2.75 per hour for a 6 month old baby (cheaper for older kids), very well run and quite often the ratio in the baby room was higher than it needed to be...1 member of staff for 2 babies etc. The nursery we use now is alright, but we pay substantially more.

The downside is that she will be deployable from when she returns to work from maternity leave, and doctors do deploy fairly regularly. I have a friend (not a doc) who deployed to Afghanistan for 6 months when her ds was 6 months old . The nursery did videos of her son twice a week to send to her so she could see his development.

Overall, I wouldn't necessarily let that put her off, because she can leave after having the baby, as McDreamy says. In other ways it is a great life....and a good hunting ground for meeting blokes, as there are considerably more of them than women

McDreamy · 13/03/2008 15:50

Just note that the deployments for medical officers are less than normal though. Currently 2 months but that does mean they come round more often

VanillaPumpkin · 13/03/2008 19:13

Don't panic. They can't stop her having a baby . They won't make allowances once she has children though and that can be tough ie the out of areas.
I agree with NotYummy, it is a good hunting ground and if she marries RAF she can enjoy the lifestyle with him .

Original poster

pukkapatch · 15/03/2008 08:42

lol
thank you all for advice. i will pass it on. she is qualified surgeon, but career going nowhere fast, and no bloke, life in a rut. she needs a complete change.
at the hunting ground comments. i suppose that could work. .
so consensus is that joing the raf should not be considered negative for having a family?

OP posts:

Blandmum · 15/03/2008 08:51

Forces medical is carpola, with minimal hospital faciilities in the UK. It is shrinking fast. She can expect to spend large portions of her time on detatchment.

Most RAF docs are civvies.

pruners · 15/03/2008 09:18

Message withdrawn

saltire · 15/03/2008 09:21

I used to childmind for an army couple who were both medics. One year they were both on detachments he was away from the October to March, and during those 6 months, she sent her 12month old child to live in Wales with his granny as she was doing shifts, then he got back in March and she was away for 6 month, so the child had another 6 months with the granny in Wales - 12 months in total

McDreamy · 15/03/2008 14:58

She will have to do her time on detatchment but I would disagree with saying she will spend large portions of her time on detatchment.

The military medical services based in the UK are now more and more NHS based to maintain skills required for deployment. So the chances are her day to day job won't change much until she gets deployed.

I would also disagree that most RAF doctors are civvie (although I agree they are not 100% manned).The medical centres doing use CMP (civilian medical practitioners) but most of the time this is on purpose to maintain continuity when others go on detatchment, posting etc.

I think the main problem with the medical services is retainment of the senior experienced Drs. Not sure how they are going to tackle that!!

Good luck to your friend if she chooses to join, I loved it and DH still does.

Just my opinion

Original poster

pukkapatch · 16/03/2008 21:39

thank you, we want everyones opinion.
her career in the nhs is going nowhere,. and she doesnt watn tospend it forever doing temp jobs until something else turns up.

OP posts:

sal1309 · 25/03/2008 16:47

when i worked in a raf rmc doing admin the drs went away on 2 month dets. I know one of the drs was from civvi street originally and he got a cash sum for joining up as well not sure if this is still a perk.

as with maternity she will still have the same rights as she would in civvy street as far as im aware.

im sure if she spoke to the careers office they could give her a number so she could speak to a dr and ask his experiance

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