RDF : Infantry or engineers?

Scrambled egg

Well im thinking of joining the RDF in the near future and Ive narrowed my options down to infantry or engineers. What do you people think?:)

Company Sgt

Scrambled egg wrote: »

Well im thinking of joining the RDF in the near future and Ive narrowed my options down to infantry or engineers. What do you people think?:)

infantry The backbone of the army stay away from engineers lazy *****:):D

arybvtcw0eolkf

Engineer's, learn a skill appicable to civilian life too.

Company Sgt

Mairt wrote: »

Engineer's, learn a skill appicable to civilian life too.

ya wont get trade in rdf only pdf and even at that its difficult;)

Hard Larry

If you don't intend having a career in the Defence Forces then RDF Engineers will stand better for you in a civilian career.

Although any RDF service is a bonus on your CV the Engineers have a wider range of compatability with a lot of civilian careers.

minidazzler

Company Sgt wrote: »

ya wont get trade in rdf only pdf and even at that its difficult;)

He never said to get a trade, he said a Skill. and the engineers whatever they do, probably have some skills to offer that are useful in real life.

Infantry stuff, while useless in real life, is great craic.

But Join Artillery if there is a Bty in your Area, it's great craic, and we get to shoot and do almost everything the Infantry lads do, and then we have our Guns, and the New Mortars are coming in.

Go on, go for Artillery.

but failing that, go for infantry, it's better fun.

Company Sgt

minidazzler wrote: »

He never said to get a trade, he said a Skill. and the engineers whatever they do, probably have some skills to offer that are useful in real life.

Infantry stuff, while useless in real life, is great craic.

But Join Artillery if there is a Bty in your Area, it's great craic, and we get to shoot and do almost everything the Infantry lads do, and then we have our Guns, and the New Mortars are coming in.

Go on, go for Artillery.

but failing that, go for infantry, it's better fun.

he never mentioned skill either there only good for drinking t and coffee infantry best running around up to your neck in muck and **** wheras artillery sitting behind big guns that they only take out for ceremonys:):D

Disonyxiated

Infantry. As somebody mentioned above, 'backbone' of the army! Why would you want to join a support unit when you can join the real thing? O.o'

-Chris

Poccington

minidazzler wrote: »

But Join Artillery if there is a Bty in your Area, it's great craic, and we get to shoot and do almost everything the Infantry lads do, and then we have our Guns, and the New Mortars are coming in.

Must... Not.... Take.... Bait....

minidazzler

Poccington wrote: »

Must... Not.... Take.... Bait....

Remember now Pocc. I am talking RDF here.

Poccington

minidazzler wrote: »

Remember now Pocc. I am talking RDF here.

But it's still Infantry you fiend :P

minidazzler

Poccington wrote: »

But it's still Infantry you fiend :P

Best way I can put it is this, my Regt did 72 hrs on the ground this year, (At one time), the lads I know in Infantry who are in around the same time and longer than me, have only ever done 24 MAX. and they are told that is the longest they can expect for a while.

They were also Hotlocked all there food the lucky Bar Stewards.
I acknowledge however that my Regt won't be doing 72 hrs again for a long while because it was part of the RDF Pothential Officers cse.

But still, go with Infantry OP, unless you wanna go Arty.

Sorry for Pimpin my wares in a thread where a specific question was asked but it is relevant because he may have ruled out Artillery thinking that we only do the big guns.

Poccington

I'm only messing with ya mate, you're alright for a drop short

Dazz is right though, if you're going to the RDF head to one of the Corps Units.

minidazzler

Poccington wrote: »

I'm only messing with ya mate, you're alright for a drop short

Dazz is right though, if you're going to the RDF head to one of the Corps Units.

Sorry bout that then, All manner of tone is hard to pick up on on the internet, and I just realised how Defensive my posts seem!!!! Whoops about that.

OP, join any unit you want, you will do a Bde Recruit camp adn if you don't like your own unit you can transfer all you want!!! Just join, you are unlikely to regret it!!! It is good fun.

Company Sgt

Disonyxiated wrote: »

Infantry. As somebody mentioned above, 'backbone' of the army! Why would you want to join a support unit when you can join the real thing? O.o'

-Chris

thats it join the real thing there is support unit in pdf aswell

concussion

Company Sgt wrote: »

infantry The backbone of the army

Think you mean NCO's there don't you? :D

OP, talk to some people in the unit if you can, and if there are a few units in your local barrack check them all out. Some, which may appeal to you, may do feck all while others which you have discounted may actually have a busy training program. Have a look before you commit. Best of luck, you'll really enjoy it if you get a good unit!

Company Sgt

concussion wrote: »

Think you mean NCO's there don't you? :D

OP, talk to some people in the unit if you can, and if there are a few units in your local barrack check them all out. Some, which may appeal to you, may do feck all while others which you have discounted may actually have a busy training program. Have a look before you commit. Best of luck, you'll really enjoy it if you get a good unit!

wat ya mean nco's do privates not exist in your army pal:mad::mad:

Local-womanizer

concussion wrote: »

Think you mean NCO's there don't you? :D

If there is no ptes who are the NCOs going to roar at!!:D

Any part of the RDF would be enjoyable if you show interest imo.You get out what you put in as we are told.

Off topic here,I assume the RDF would bode well for entry to the PDF,coupled with other qualifications obviously?

Hard Larry

Company Sgt wrote: »

wat ya mean nco's do privates not exist in your army pal:mad::mad:

Thats a bad choice of user name if thats your opinion lol :pac:

concussion

Calm down, it's a well known saying that NCO's are the backbone of an army.

Company Sgt

Hard Larry wrote: »

Thats a bad choice of user name if thats your opinion lol :pac:

yeah i should have put my full name and address up instead pal:D

ya have ta start somewhere in this case a private first

ncos can shout at themselves

BCoy62Inf

If you decide to go Infantry, and live in the South Dublin area, then join B Company, 62 Infantry.


Details are in the Units Thread (http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58516606&postcount=14)

Company Sgt

dont join b coy join support d or a :D

-boris

Hard Larry wrote: »

If you don't intend having a career in the Defence Forces then RDF Engineers will stand better for you in a civilian career.

Although any RDF service is a bonus on your CV the Engineers have a wider range of compatability with a lot of civilian careers.

I've heard otherwise,that rdf on a cv can actually be detrimental to your jobs prospects,something of the legacy of fca days.Have you had any experience in the matter?

concussion

Not at all, IMO. Tell them how you've learned how to be a team player and can work well under stress and with time constraints. You've learned time management and have good communication skills. You have discipline and you respect authority (very important for those managment types to know :biggrin:)

I had a particularly gruelling interview a few months ago for my work placement - besides the tough questions we spend almost a third of the interview talking about the RDF as there was a little overlap (workplace drugs testing, nothing sneaky beaky :P). Came out of the interview quite confident and got the job.

greenarrow

Well said concussion.
A lot of skills that you would pick up in the engineers would be skills that can be transferred into the workplace.

Its one of the advantages that being in a corps unit has over being in an infantry unit.

-boris

Still though i'd be wary about what cv i'd put it on depending on what job im going for.some people have unfounded stereotypes and are automatically biased against the army/rdf/fca.They have this"typical army" mentality" really depends on the character of the interviewer i suppose,whether thay are prepared to hear you out or already have their own concreate negative opinion.

greenarrow

I would agree with you there, but a large portion of the qualifications you can gain from being in a corps unit are affilaited with official statuatory bodies.
And doing the course costs a lot of money.

So if you stick down the actual course/qualifications achieved you're going to stand out and prove them wrong. And save them a few pennies too.

A lot of that stigma is based around infantry training. Corps mentality is a lot different.

-boris

True, but most people cant differentiate between the infantry and corps units.Once most people see a dpm uniform,they presume army.infantry,artillery,engineers etc dosent come into the equation and to be frank most people don't know these corps even exist!Most peoples understanding of the rdf is extremely limited and thus all members be they infantry or cavalry,officers or nco's are placed in the same basket.Im an infantryman ,and arguably one could say we have a higher proportion of undesireables who give the rdf a bad name as a whole than corp units,however this stigma also rubs off the corp units!

Hard Larry

-boris wrote: »

I've heard otherwise,that rdf on a cv can actually be detrimental to your jobs prospects,something of the legacy of fca days.Have you had any experience in the matter?

Yep I have had experience of this back when I was in the FCA. My employer snapped me up cause he saw that my hobbies and interests included me giving up my spare time to a voluntary orginization.

But that was the Human Resources crowd who hired me....on the flip side of the coin my shift manager used to grumble his ass off when I told him I couldn't do over-time of a Tuesday night.

The time that you have to dedicate to RDF service may not suit shift workers or those who are expected to work weekends. But IMO any employer worth his salt would be mad to overlook any potential employee with Reserve or Military experience (of at least 2-3 years)

Discipline and motivation would be second nature to the majority of people who served.

The Army has its wasters, bluffers and a$$holes...but lets be honest here...so does every other job.