Your career will start with a 10-week Basic Recruit Training Course (BRTC) at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire. The course is designed to help you adjust to a military environment. As well as fitness and military training, you’ll also learn about the RAF lifestyle.
If you are joining with little or no catering experience, you will need to complete specialist training at the Food Services Training Wing at Worthy Down. This 16-week course will train you to maintain excellent standards of personal, food and kitchen hygiene whilst using specialist kitchen equipment to produce a variety of dishes. You will also undertake a 10-day Introduction to Deployed Operations with No 3 Mobile Catering Squadron where you will be trained to set up field kitchens under tents, enabling you to provide catering support to deployed operations worldwide as well as supporting exercises both based in the UK and abroad.
If you have the relevant qualifications and experience in professional cookery you will be offered the opportunity to undertake a diagnostic test at Food Services Training Wing at Worthy Down. Applicants would need to pass 60% in written and theory tests to be put forward to the fast-tracking process with scores of 80% plus making them eligible for accelerated promotion thereafter.
Fast Track students will automatically progress to the last 4 weeks of the chef course where they will complete familiarisation training and the 10-day introduction to Deployed Operations with No 3 Mobile catering Squadron.
Looking for more from life?
There are over 50 challenging roles with the Royal Air Force from Cyberspace Communications Specialists to Catering and from Air Operations (Control) Sergeant to Logistics.
World-wide travel, learn while you earn – we offer opportunities few civilian careers can match.
Other benefits include six weeks’ leave, subsidised food and accommodation and free gym facilities.