Working As An RAF Gunner In The UK
What is the best thing about being on base?
The best thing about being on base is the fact that you've got everything at your disposal and a lot of the camps. I mean some of the camps have cinema on, bowling alley, and pubs that are cheaper then your normal high street pub. I mean you get a pint of beer for less then two pounds which is something that everyone is going to smile at these days. You've got really good gym facilities and swimming pool. You've got all these things at your disposal and it would be like a little world within itself, a little community. So that's probably the best thing about being on base and the fact that you're living on a block with a bunch of lads, who are the lads you work with, your friends. It's like living with your brothers and having a good time at the same time.
Do you work at a particular base as a RAF Gunner?
What will happen when you successfully graduate from your basic gunner training is you would be posted to a field squadron within the Royal Air Force regiment. Each field squadron is based at a particular base. My current base is RAF Lossiemouth which is situated just outside of Elgin and Inverness and Aberdeen and that sort of area on the top of the Scottish Highlands. So, yes, you're pretty much going to be based somewhere for approximately 3 years and you're going to stay with that particular unit for that length of time.
Do you have a platoon or squadron that you work with?
I do. I'm currently on 51 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment. That's the field squadron that I'm based with. That's the squadron who I've done the last three years with and I've done a couple of tours of duty with. You make a lot of friends on the squadron. It sort of becomes your family, becomes your home. This would last approximately three years and then you would get moved somewhere else to just to mix it up so people don't get bored and find their career just as interesting as when they first joined the squadron.
Did you train with some of the people you now work with?
Yeah I did. I served in Iraq and Afghanistan with lads who I went through basic gun training with. I think what the RAF tried to do when they post you from RAF Honington after basic training is they inevitably try and post you with four or five lads who you've went through basic training with. The purpose in this is you've made friends, you know how these people work and you're not going to a different environment without knowing anybody whatsoever. But obviously you might get posted somewhere where you're the only one, but with the Royal Air force Regiment, the organization as it is, you're going to make friends wherever you go. You're all in it together and you're all one big family inevitably.
Do you specialise in using particular weapons?
I use the LSW, the light support weapon. You could end up being a general-purpose machine gunner where you'll go through a machine gun course and receive a machine gun box should you be successful on the course. You could find yourself being a mortar man firing a 51-millimeter mortar, 81-millimeter mortar. You could be a normal rifleman or someone who is a gravel belly and find yourself crawling in positions and throwing grenades and doing all the really “Gucci stuff” as I like to say. Or you could find yourself being a sniper. So, as you see, there's a massive range of weapon systems out there to keep you fully entrusted and occupied throughout your career.
Are there territorial members that you work with?
They're not known as territorial members. They're known as Royal Air Force Reserves, and basically they are inevitably territorial members of Royal Air Force Regimen. Usually before a tour of duty to somewhere like Iraq or Afghanistan, you're going to find yourself going out there for approximately six months. If we're short on manpower we call some reserve gunners in, they come and train with the squadron on pre-deployment training for 6 months before we go out there, they get to know us personally, get to know how we work as a squadron, as a section, as a fair team, and then they deploy on operations with us. So you can't actually be in the Royal Air Force Regimen as a reserve gunner.
Do RAF Gunners get paid a salary?
Yes, you do get paid a salary in the Royal Air Force. Every trade does. Certainly, our efforts are included. When you join basic training that's when you're going to be on the minimum amount of money. You're going to find yourself earning approximately about fourteen, fifteen grand a year, but that rises every year with duty when you go up further in a rank, if you get promoted to Corporal, Sergeant, LEC to SCSC. Certainly if you get to warrant officer, you could find yourself earning somewhere between a thirty-five, forty thousand pounds a year, so as I say, the money that you may earn at the beginning might not be too good, but by the end of your career, if you're doing well, you could find yourself on quite a large sum of money.
Do RAF Gunners pay income tax?
RAF gunners do pay income tax when you're in the UK, but when you go overseas for a period of however many months, you'll get your tax paid back to you in a bonus. You'll pay it whilst you're out there, but once you return from your tour, the government will actually pay it all back in a bonus. I think you get a little bit more, so you actually don't do too bad on the income tax side of life.
Do RAF Gunners get their accommodation provided for free?
RAF gunners don't get accommodation provided for free, but you get a very high standard of accommodation provided for very low cost price. I pay approximately around 40 pounds a month for my own room where I've got a double bed, TV, Sky Television, telephone, Internet, a lot of wardrobe space. You've got en suite bathroom. So as I say you're not going to get accommodation like it for the price that you're paying.
Do RAF Gunners get their food provided for free?
The food, also, is not provided for free, unfortunately. But one of the Queen's regulations is "No one will leave the mess hungry," so you get as much as you want, three square meals a day, for approximately £3.58 a day. And you can't buy food that cheap on civilian street. So we don't do too bad on the food side of things as well.
What do RAF Gunners do in a typical day?
A typical day on base in the UK can consist of a lot of physical training. You could find yourself going on a nice, easy 10-mile run. Obviously, you've got to be physically robust, so the physical side of life every day is consistent. Assault courses, running with a burden on your back, doing tabs with machine guns, etc. And you could also find yourself on the range firing a number of different weapon systems, keeping your skills and drills up to a very high professional standard, making sure you can shoot the target like you're aiming at. And you could find yourself in the field on exercise learning different infantry skills, how to survive, and how to operate effectively as an RAF regiment gunner and how to take enemy positions and go down the range. It's almost like a make-believe war in the UK, in a sense, and that's called field firing. Or you could find yourself doing a survival exercise abroad or pre-deployment training to then go away on operations.
What uniform do you have to wear?
A lot of the time, I find myself in the uniform that I am sitting in today. Greens, Soldier 95 uniform is what it is called. Or you could find yourself in Blues. We have something called the Queen's Class Squadron and they do ceremonial duties outside Buckingham Palace. A lot of them are shows-- The Edinburgh Tattoo-- and they put a lot of duties on for royalty, Prime Ministers coming into the country, meeting them off an aircraft, things like that. They are going to predominately wear the number one uniform with metals and blue hats. They are going to look very professional, very smart, shoes nice and shiny. So, you could find yourself wearing a number of different uniforms. Obviously, in the desert you wear something pretty similar to what I have got on today, but only desert camouflage.
Do RAF Gunners wear their uniform all the time?
You do actually get a little bit of time off. They don't tell you that bit very often. But you wear your uniform predominantly when you're at work, down in the aircraft hanger, or when you're carrying out whatever duties you're expected to do. When you go home in the evening, you get a shower, get into your civilian dress and it's pretty much a 9 to 5 job when you're back in the UK. So it's not too bad. It's not all uniform all the time.
Do you have to buy your own equipment?
No, you don't buy your own uniform, that's all provided for you. All your equipment is provided for you as well by the armed forces. But a lot of the lads will spend a bit extra money on a new pair of boots, something that's a little bit more "Gucci" than the standard issue ones. You can also get comfortable backpacks and things like that, that are just going to hold up a little bit better than what you do get issued. But it's entirely up to yourself. Our person use a lot of their shoe kit a little bit tight with your money but you can, as I say, at your own wish to buy something a little bit more "Gucci."
Do you have your own gun?
You don't have your own personal gun that you can take home over the weekend unfortunately. But you do get assigned a weapon system and that becomes your weapon system. The reason for this is you have to align the sight to the way your eye works, and therefore if you're using a different weapon everyday it wouldn't be effective; you wouldn't be hitting targets that you're aiming at. So you will get assigned a weapon. You'll zero it to you personally, and then you'll go to the armory when you need it, as and when and sign that particular weapon system out.
What kind of guns do RAF Gunners use?
I'm currently using the LSW, the Light Support Weapon. The main role of this weapon is basically to provide light support for a section. It's nearly being phased out with something called the LMG, the Light Machine Gun. So I might find myself firing machine guns in the not too distant future.
What hours do RAF Gunners work?
Being in the armed forces, you've got to be expected to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That's the nature of the job. A lot of the time, back in the UK, when you're not on operations and you're not training to go on operations, it's pretty much a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday job. You get everything accomplished during the week and you get your weekends off. If you do have to work a weekend because you've got a particular exercise or something that you need to be involved in, traveling, should it be, then you will get reimbursed with days off during the week. You might find that your weekend is maybe Tuesday and Wednesday one week. But they do try to give you time off and they're very good like that. Out on operations in somewhere such as Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else, you're going to find yourself working weekends and you're going to find yourself working a lot longer hours. It's just that the situation on the ground will dictate how many hours you have to actually work.
Do RAF Gunners get paid holiday?
Holidays on leave are a very important side of life. Obviously, if you work extremely hard for six months on operations and you haven't seen your family or loved ones, then having quite a large chunk of time off is very important to people. If you are doing a six-month tour, you come back and you have six to eight weeks off work to sort of chill out and adjust to life again, back in the UK. The way the job works back in the UK is, you will get, predominately, your weekends off, or if you have a particular something on that weekend, then you will maybe find your weekends are Tuesday or Wednesday. On holidays, you get approximately 30 days off a year to take a holiday. That might not seem like a lot, but you get stand down at your command officer's discretion, so you get more time off than what's given to you. I certainly don't use all my holidays every year, because I end up getting that much time off, anyway. So holidays aren't too bad.
Do RAF gunners work weekends?
You do work weekends but not all of the time. There at my air force, we'll try and give you weekends off. If you get everything accomplished, Monday through Friday, then great. Enjoy the weekend. We've got a little bit of a motto which is "Work hard, play hard." So if you get the weekend off, you'll certainly be getting it.
Can RAF Gunners have visitors to their base?
Yes, you can have visitors to the base. You can bring people on. Sign them on the camp. They can come on and stay with you at camp. So, as long as you sign them on, they've got the correct documentation. People can come on base and visit you and experience a little bit of life in the Royal Air Force.
Do married RAF Gunners live with their wives on base?
Yes, there's something called married accommodation in the Royal Air Force. So, if you're married, you can get a married quarter, that's what it's know as. It doesn't cost a lot for what you're going to get, a three bedroom house, whatever it may be, and pretty much leading a normal life with your wife, partner, off camp, not too far away from the base. So married quarters is, yes, a very good part of the job.
What is the worst thing about being on base?
Probably the worst thing about being on base is feeling like you're never ever away from work. As I say, if I get a weekend off, what I will try and do with my time is use it wisely, wherever I may be that particular weekend serving with the air force. I'll try and sort of go see an area and experience what it's like, try and make the most of it and learn about different places that I've been to. Because if you're on camp it's very military-orientated and it can feel like you're still at work even though you're on your spare time.
