Royal Air Force - News & Updates

Iman Qureshi meets Jo and Elle Kirk-Harris – Manchester Pride’s RAF representatives

So we all kind of have the hots for Kelly McGillis in Top Gun. The aviators, the uniform – it’s all pretty yum. So what’s to stop you signing up to the RAF? Well, nothing, RAF corporals Jo and Elle Kirk-Harris will tell you. The happily CPed couple are both employed as suppliers in the RAF.

But before you read on, be warned, there are no romantic mile-high dates in the sunset – damn you, Hollywood. In fact, the majority of the jobs going in the RAF are not even flying ones. Though you may be called an airman/airwoman (they don’t seem to have received the memo about non-sexist job titles) this doesn’t mean you’ll actually be flying aircraft. From photographers to dental technicians, the title encompasses just about every job imaginable.

Jo and Elle work in logistics: "It’s quite a varied trade," Jo tells DIVA . "We can actually work in quite a variety of jobs – fuels, desk jobs, accountancy, stores, receipt, and dispatch and delivery."
All this sounds pretty ordinary, but Jo assures e that it takes a certain kind of character to join up. "We go on operational tours – they’re real war zones, it’s not just for fun," she says seriously. Jo did a tour of Afghanistan in 2007, and Elle, having previously been to Iraq, is due to be deployed to Afghanistan this September.

Will it be harder this time round, considering they have a one-year-old son, Rafe? "It’s my job, it’s what comes with it," Elle assures me. When I asked her what her tour of Iraq was like she replies, "Absolutely fine, enjoyed it!" Sensing my surprise, Jo explains, "It’s what we’re trained to do, you just roll with it".

You may or may not be relieved to hear that woman are not allowed to apply for roles in the RA F where the job is "to close with and kill the enemy". For potential female applicants, this excludes signing up to the RAF Regiment. Nevertheless, 96% of jobs are still open to women, though they only still only make up just over 14% of RAF personnel.

And if anyone’s concerned about how the RAF feel about sexual orientation, Jo and Elle assure me that there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.

"The military has come so far in the last 10 years," says Jo. "Both Elle and myself have been able to be openly gay, have a civil partnership, have that recognised, get equal rights just like everybody else, we’ve had a child, and the RAF have done nothing but support that."

If you don’t believe Jo, Stonewall is there to back her up, having placed the RAF 97th in their list of the top 100 employers for the LGBT community.

Although there are no records of how many homosexuals are currently employed because the RA F don’t track this, their active involvement in Pride demonstrates the RAF’s support for its LGBT staff. Manchester Pride has appointed Jo and Elle as this year’s RAF representatives – the aim is to bring Pride and the forces closer together.

Incidentally, Top Gun’s Kelly McGillis turned out to be a lesbian in real life, so for all those wanna-be Charlie Blackwoods out there, perhaps the RAF is for you after all.

Are you eligible to join the RAF?

Age: 15 years and nine months for airmen/airwomen, and 17 years and six months for officers.
Under-18s need consent from parents or legal guardians.
Nationality/Residency: You must be a British citizen or national, commonwealth citizen or irish republic national.
Fitness: required to meet standards appropriate for age, gender and position you are applying for.
Qualifications: Different jobs have different minimum academic requirements.
Health: People with certain health conditions may be ineligible.
Disqualifications: You are not eligible if you have extremist views, criminal convictions, a record of substance misuse, tattoos that are either visible in uniform or offensive, or piercings.
Commitment: Signing up is usually for a 6 to 12 year commitment

Further details at  http://raf.mod.uk/careers
For more information about homosexuality and the armed forces, check out the pages on Proud2Serve.net

[readon1 url=http://divamag.co.uk]Source: DivaMag.co.uk[/readon1]