ADF RMC, General Service Officer Questions

[Axon]

Hi, as i have mentioned in here before, my first preference for joining the ADF is as a Psychologist, however, it is good to have backup plans/options. So i have a couple of general questions

1) As i understand, GSO training is for 18 months. I have a family & am wondering (if i get in) whether that if my family stayed at home (West Aussie), how often would i be able to come home & visit the wife & child?

2) Is RMC training run over semesters? & if so how long are the breaks in between?

3) From your experiences or what you have seen, are there many Officer Cadets who take their family over to Canberra with them? & how is life with the family around?

4) With no guarantees of what Corps Cadets will be assigned to at the end of RMC, how many are assigned to Intel? & what attributes would these Cadets have?

thanks

 

[AussieNick]

1) As i understand, GSO training is for 18 months. I have a family & am wondering (if i get in) whether that if my family stayed at home (West Aussie), how often would i be able to come home & visit the wife & child?

18 Months is correct. Your breaks will be few and far between. Xmas, Easter, between courses and semesters... but you can't go home and see them on the long weekend for example. You'll be too busy for that anyway

2) Is RMC training run over semesters? & if so how long are the breaks in between?
Depends. Depends on what you need to do. What courses your on and what class your in, as well as extra-curricular activity and exercises

3) From your experiences or what you have seen, are there many Officer Cadets who take their family over to Canberra with them? & how is life with the family around?
A mate of mine has his wife over there with him, and believe me, if you've got one, bring her along. Otherwise you'll miss her like buggery and the separation can be as bad as being on deployment. Also if your married and she comes to you'll get married quarters (3 Bedroom house VS single bed room in the company lines)

4) With no guarantees of what Corps Cadets will be assigned to at the end of RMC, how many are assigned to Intel? & what attributes would these Cadets have?
Intel is hard to get into. A degree in a relevent field helps. A second or third language helps even more, and deployment experience is a bonus, they like Int officers with "life experience". Your best bet is to go infantry or armour, then do some time and transfer when the position opens. It's often best to prove yourself as a competent officer, not just a competent staff cadet, before you try and get into certain roles. By the way, I've never met an Int officer below the rank of Captain. Your corps preference doesn't mean much really. The army will decide your posting according to three things in this order: Where they need you, where RMC recommends you be posted, where you want to go. Make it vocal as to what you'd like to go, but Int will be a hard task straight from the school.