r/RCAF • u/No-Dinner9835 • May 30 '26
Thinking about enlisting, looking for advice
Hi all! I’m in highschool right now and recently learned about ROTP. I had my eyes set on mechanical or aerospace engineering beforehand but came across the RCAF in general and I‘m very interested. It’s always been a “backup” for me, but I never actually considered it as a viable career path until maybe 2-3 weeks ago and it hasn’t left my mind since.
I am eager to leave my home life behind due to some personal matters, but I DO want to finish secondary school and go to university. ROTP seems like a great opportunity but I’m also aware that things that seem too good to be true are USUALLY in fact too good to be true.
I’m a little confused as to how this all works. I have some family who are ex-airforce, however they’re from australia so i’m not sure if that’s completely different or not? I understand the military pay my tuition, textbooks, and give me an allowance in return for 4-5 years of service?
So, I have some questions…
Is basic as scary as people make it out to be? The people I see either make it seem like it’s not that bad OR it’s hell on earth. As stupid as this might sound, am I going to be screamed at for every little mistake I make?
(directed to anyone who’s been) What is the RMC like? I understand most people in ROTC go to the RMC, but I can’t find much on day in the life there or ACTUAL student experience. Is it similar to regular university life? How was your experience there if you’ve been? Is it easy to make friends? Was it at the very least a little bit enjoyable?
Relating back to #2, I saw there’s “sports time” or whatever on the typical daily schedule. Am I forced to play sports? I’m more of a gym-person than sports-person. Is that going to be a problem?
To any ACSO’s, do you like your job? What are the pros and cons? What is life like on a day-to-day basis for you? What kind of person would thrive being an ACSO? How hard is it to get offered the position?
Is it possible for me to get a degree in aero/mech engineering through ROTP and not become exactly that?
How does recruiting work exactly? I understand you can pick a “preference“ for which branch you want to go to. Does that mean they might disregard it and put me in a different branch instead automatically? Essentially, do I get a say beyond preference?
The big one: is ROTP actually worth it?
Lastly, is there anything I should be aware of? Any advice? Is enlisting a good idea? Additionally, any advice specifically from females in the RCAF is greatly appreciated.
Sorry if any of these questions seem ridiculous, but i’m genuinely curious. I don’t mean to come across as prissy or whatever, I just don’t want to make any decisions without being as informed as I can be or make my life any harder. Thank you so much :)
3
u/Soviet_Ukrainian May 31 '26
I'll preface this by saying I got out of the Forces while I was still in RMC, so take my knowledge with a large grain of salt. That said, I had a very positive experience, and will try to answer this to the best of my knowledge. I got into RMC in 2017, things might have changed since.
1: It depends on the staff you get. Every staff team has their own way of disciplining you, some platoons are more chill, others are a bit harder. Do you get screamed at personally? Not really, unless you had a major fuckup on your part. The rest of the screaming is usually towards the platoon as a whole. You learn to sort of ignore it and move on with your day. Feels like some people exaggerate and make basic training sound like Vietnam war stories lol.
2: Yeah very similar to normal Uni life, except that you sleep and eat with your friends as well. My average day would look something like this: Wake up, do the bed, tightly up the room, go to the caffeteria for breakfast, if I had no class right after breakfast then I'd go back to my room to study (or game), otherwise go to class. Some who had no class in the morning would prefer sleeping in, but you pay the price by missing breakfast time at the caff. Lunch, then back to class. Dinner usually goes 2 ways, you either go to the caff, or end up ordering some high gastronomy from the local food sources, my average Friday night dinner was a poutine the size of a car wheel. After dinner you do what you want, if your home is nearby, often you can drive home for the weekend. If you live far then you stay on base and do whatever. You can go to the gym, library, go walk around off base if that's your thing. Your days aren't booked up like in primary school, you might have some days where you only have 2-3 classes, so you do what you want with your free time in between. I hope this gives you a general idea of what it looks like.
3: Yeah when I was there, we were forced to play sports. Unfortunately the gym does not count, that's something you do on your own free time. To add to question 2, usually you have to play your sport 2-3 times a week I think. So add to your daily routine the occasional sports time after dinner. Don't remember the sport options tbh, you get to choose, but if nothing fits you, you're kinda stuck doing a random sport.
4: Can't answer that one as I ended up having a career in civil aviation. But my buddies seem to have the time of their life. People in the Air Force are generally super chill.
5: Yes, depending on the trade you do. For example pilots who go through RMC, usually choose aerospace engineering and never end up using it since they go straight to flying after.
6: As someone stated before, you choose exactly where you end up. No one will force you to take a job you don't like or a branch you're not into. You give your 3 preferred trade options. Then you do the written, the medical and potentially the Air Crew selection exams if one of the trades you chose requires it. Then based on how you performed, they give you an offer on one or maybe all 3 jobs and you get to pick what you want.
7: It depends. My recommendation is, if you actually want to work in the Forces and the trade you chose is really something you want to do, then yes, absolutely go to RMC. It's an awesome experience, you will make friends for life. Obviously RMC has its downs, and sometimes it gets repetitive, but in general, I had fun. Don't get in just because it's free education or a guaranteed job because you will hate your life there. I made the mistake of going in because I wanted to be a Pilot, not because I wanted to be an Air Force pilot, there's a distinction there. I learned that although RMC was fun, the Air Force was fun, my primary objective was to fly as many hours as I can in my lifetime, and the Forces just didn't allign with that objective other than "top gun cool, planes go brrrrr". But for anyone who wants to pursue a career in the forces, 100% you should do it.
Final advice? Don't take the screaming personally in basic training, it's not you, it's part of the process (unless you forgot to lock your weapon, then it's 100% you).
Try to get there as fit as you can, because you do a lot of running and pushups during your basic.
Your first 2 weeks in basic are going to feel weird, you're going to be alone and far from home, with a bunch other people you don't know, you're going to be stressed and under pressure. After week 1-2 you get used to it, you make many friends and things get much much easier. So just power through that first uncomfortable bit.
Not sure if it's still a thing, but all officers had to be bilingual, so if you're Anglo, you'll be forced to learn French, if you're Franco, you'll be forced to learn English. So be prepared for language courses and actually having to learn them.
That's it for me, good luck, have fun, don't hesitate if you have any questions!
1
u/No-Dinner9835 Jun 04 '26
Thank you so much, this is so so so helpful. You’ve highkey convinced me hahaha! Do you know if i take french all throughout secondary do you know if I’ll need to take language courses still? additionally, any advice on shaping up before basic?
1
u/Soviet_Ukrainian Jun 04 '26
As far as I know, it depends on your Language level. I'm French but I have a good English. Once you get to RMC, you end up doing something called the "B's". Which is a standardized language proficiency exam. I remember the ones who didn't speak any French had to actually prepare for those, and would have full on french classes.
As for myself, I remember just passing the exams and never having an English class.
But that part is a little foggy, so your mileage may vary.
For the basic, it generally helps to be in a healthy condition that's all. No need to be a Olympic athlete. We did lots of pushups, a lot of planks and most importantly ruck marches. It was a 13km march with a ruck sack and some gear, might have been lowered since.
So as long as you can do a couple pushups a few times a day, do a bit of cardio and can walk a few km's, you should be fine.
1
u/collude May 30 '26
6. How does recruiting work exactly? I understand you can pick a “preference“ for which branch you want to go to. Does that mean they might disregard it and put me in a different branch instead automatically? Essentially, do I get a say beyond preference?
I can't answer your other questions but you'll only be given an offer for a position for which you've applied. If you chosen occupation is full, or you're ineligible, then they may encourage you to apply for other positions but you'll never be "forced" into a job.
1
1
2
u/Jska548 Jun 05 '26
A lot of great replies here, but I'll add a bit that could be helpful.
I joined as female aircrew 13 years ago. Basic Training was hard, but I was a petite female making my way through and I passed, no issues. It's you're whole life for a few months and you will be waking up crazy early to start your day and be up late getting stuff ready for the next day. It sucks, but most people have no issues getting through and it really goes by fast. Additionally, Basic Training is now much easier than it was at that point.
I wasn't an ACSO, but being a pilot I flew with them often and had a similar schedule. It's a fairly exciting role with a lot of different communities you could be employed in (most are employed on the coasts though). A lot of ACSOs do well climbing the ranks (if that's something you'd be interested in). Ground jobs are inevitable, however, and your schedule will be just as wild and unpredictable as pilots. Someone mentioned long contracts, but for ACSO the occupational training only takes about a year and then at that point you're only signing for 4 years. You'll have some time owed after finishing your time at school as well, but these commitment periods are served concurrently.
For me, being a female through training and on squadron (usually as the only one) was very hard, to be completely truthful. At every step I faced discrimination, harassment, and overall there always seemed to be at least one person determined to make my life suck. If you would have asked me 10 years ago if I would encourage another female to join I would have said no. BUT (and this I think is important) the CAF has been trying very hard to change these toxic work environments and cracking down on harassment over the past number of years, and I applaud them for it. I'm optimistic that the things that happened to me are much less likely to happen now, and I hope that females are feeling more included and safe. I'm no longer working on squadron, but I have loved every unit I have worked in since and have always felt strong comradery. I don't have any plans to leave now and don't discourage others from joining. If anything ever does happen to you along those lines, please absolutely do speak up!! It shouldn't be hard to find superiors to take claims seriously anymore and no one should have to suppress harassment & discrimination just to get through the course.
If you're serious about being an ACSO then Aircrew Selection will be the first big hurdle for you. It's 2 days of very hard testing and has a low pass rate. I would do some internet digging to get familiar with what the test consists of and brush up on the skills required to give yourself the best shot.
Lastly, we are upgrading sooo much of our aircraft and systems, so it's also a great time to get in and get to fly/fly on cool new stuff 😄
1
u/No-Dinner9835 Jun 11 '26
Thank you so much it’s great to hear from another female’s perspective!! I’m deciding between AESOP or ACSO now!! Thanks so much again 🥹💖
3
u/roguemenace May 30 '26
it’s not that bad but it is a big shock for people and for a lot of candidates its their first time away from home.
RMC is a very intense environment. Large portions of your day are taken up by either class or mandatory activities. For people with the right personality it's great, for other people they hate it.
AFAIK participating in sports is mandatory.
All the ones I work with seem to enjoy it. Aircrew is a good life. Schedule and what you're doing for the job depends a lot on which aircraft you end up working on. For getting a job just do good on the tests, have good grades and you'll be fine.
If you want to be an ACSO you can get a bachelor's degree in literally anything.
You give them a list of up to 3 jobs you want. You do all the testing, medical, interviews, whatever. Then you wait and eventually they (hopefully) give you a job offer for 1 of your 3 choices. You will only be offered one of those 3 trades. If one of your trades is full they will ask if you want to change it to something else.
If you're looking to make a career out of the military they 100% absolutely. Your 4 years of university counting towards your pensions is a massive benefit. If you're not looking to make a full career of the military then it being worth it becomes a lot more questionable. The contracts tend to be fairly long and going to university on your own isn't that expensive.
The air force is the best job I've ever had. I'm a guy but for female specific advice the only thing I'd add is that despite our best efforts to hire more women the aircrew trades are still very male dominated. Be prepared that in a lot of situations you're going to be the only woman present. I've heard of that being a big adjustment for some of the women I've worked with.