Don’t get it twisted, a lot of people may think that a job with the Royal Air Force means getting your Tom Cruise on and flying about at supersonic speeds in a war zone Top Gun style, but that’s not all they’re about. With over 50 different career options available in the RAF, we talk to 35 year old Solomon Mugondi who is an aircraft technician with the force about career opportunities, ethnic diversity and some of the more exotic locations he’s been assigned to… Interview by Kippa Brand

Why did you join the RAF?

I joined the RAF because at the time I didn’t like the direction I saw my life heading in.  I was in a well paid job working for a marketing company.  However, the idea of a 9-5 working in an office for X number of years just lost its appeal for me.  I was willing at that time to take a bit of a pay cut for the experience and training I have subsequently achieved.

Why is it a good place to work?

From day one, you have the opportunity to be the best you can be.  For me that is a big deal. I recall winning ‘Best Recruit’ at the end of my time at Recruits Training School, RAF Halton – I felt very proud.  For people who like competition, working as part of a team and of course recognition for what they achieve. This is a good place.

What training and support does the RAF provide?

Each one of these careers provided by the RAF requires personnel to be trained and highly motivated. Entry requirements for the jobs range from zero GCSEs to professional qualifications such as doctors and lawyers. Once you are in, the training and opportunities for development are ongoing. It has to be on going because we have to be ready to play our part, sometimes at a moment’s notice. If you like your sports, there are plenty of opportunities to excel in this side of your RAF life.  We have serving personnel who are currently training to represent Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics.

What sort of career development opportunities are there?

Plenty.  From my personal experience, I began my career as an avionics technician. That experience gave me the opportunity to learn new skills as an engineer.  Acquire civilian recognised qualifications through training with the RAF, and use those learned skills in different locations around the world. Now, as part of the Ethnic Minority Recruiting Team (EMRT), I have an incredible opportunity to learn and develop a new set of skills.

What has been the most rewarding thing for you for being part of the RAF?

What I do now with the EMRT. So the diversity and being able to give something back if that makes any sense. When I first joined I joined for my own purpose and for my own sake, just to get something out of it in that respect, but since I’ve grown I’ve learned though the Air Force what other opportunities are available and that makes it possible to go into other schools and let other kids know what’s available and to help them make decisions.

Has the RAF taken you to ay exotic locations you wouldn’t have otherwise had the chance to go to?

Yeah certainly, first detachment for example was Bulgaria and I’d have never considered going there, but I ended up there for about three weeks. I’ve been to Romania and to Oman twice. It’s just ranged from really nice luxurious locations to places where I’ve lived in tents in the desert for a month. I’ve also toured different parts of the States and Turkey. I think that’s purely because of the nature of my job, what we call a front line squadron, so it’s a case of going wherever the aircraft go.

So then what would you say is the most memorable of those places? I mean it’s a long list, I’d love to be able to go there myself!

Well Petra in Jordan for me was amazing. Though it’s a case of work hard, play hard. We had the opportunity to get some down time off so we decided to head off. It was a long bus trip but we got the bus from base camp to Petra and we arrived and we were informed, that that’s where they filmed a lot of scenes for the Indian Jones movie, and we had the King of Jordan come and visit just to say thanks for what we’ve been doing, which was awesome.

Do you get a lot of free time? What do you do in your free time away from the RAF?

Yeah, it’s not all about work, work, work. I love playing football, tennis, all sorts of sports, rock climbing and things like that. Every station of a unit gives you the opportunity to go out and do sports, training and things like that. It’s so we can develop people as a whole, it’s not all about just working.

I can imagine each unit having its own football team and you can all just playoff against each other!

Yeah we do stuff like that! We have competitions between different services, even the armed forces and air forces get training to go to the Olympics if they’re good enough, so it ranges for people who just want to go along and have a muck about to want to excel and play their sports at the highest possible level, the opportunities are there but the only limit is people’s mindset.

What about those people who are put off the RAF cos they think they’ll be flying and fighting? Is there anything for them to do in the Force?

Yeah definitely, part of what we do is to try to make people aware of the different opportunities. When I first joined, I didn’t really know a great deal about the armed forces or the air force, I thought what I saw on the news is what I would get, but there is over 50 different jobs you can do. What I advise everyone to do is do your research and make sure it’s what you want to do. Personally I don’t like the idea of being front line so I did my research I discovered there’s  loads of jobs. There’s police, there’s fire-fighters, administration, doctors, dentists, lawyers, just all sorts. I mean my job is to make people aware of that. Bare in mind though there is always a possibility that you’ll be put in a situation where you might have to use front line tactics, it comes with the territory, though I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t been put into that situation. I’m a technician by trade which means I work on 60 aircraft, they go out to do whatever they have to, which is usually 100 miles away, and when they get back our job is to fix them, so we’re quite far away from there the conflict is.

How have you developed as a person through the RAF?

Yeah, certainly, in lots of ways. I’ve certainly realized skills and abilities which I didn’t know I had. The idea of working on aircraft really intimidated me at first but excited me before I joined. Yeah, it’s a big responsibility straight off the top of your head, to think you’re going to actually working on an aircraft.

What’s the most nerve-wracking thing you’ve done?

Surprisngly it’s giving presentations to over 100 people; public speaking terrifies me, but I am overcoming that fear.

Really? Scarier than flying?

[laughs] I think somebody said public speaking is something people are more afraid of then death. But seriously, effective public speaking alone is a good skill to have in any job; I have discovered something within myself that I would like to do in the future after completing my career in the RAF.  If someone 10 years ago had said to me that I would be doing a satellite TV interview about my life in the RAF, I would have thought they were crazy. You never know where life is going to take you.

Tags: RAF