Potential Regiment Officers Acquaintance Course

The Potential Regiment Officers Course (PROAC) is a 3 day assesment course that, since April 2008, requires mandatory attendence to all young men wishing to be selected to train as an officer in the RAF Regiment.

This course is designed to compliment the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre, for men wishing to become an RAF Regiment Officer.

The course is held, on average, once a month; The remaining three weeks of the month are typically reserved for the Potential Gunners Acquiantance Course (PGAC), a course for those who wish to enter the RAF Regiment without commision, as a Recruit.

Candidates

Only men aged over the age of 171/2 can attend. Candidates must have at least 5 GCSE's graded A-C and two A-levels (or equivalent educational certifications). The candidates must have a British passport.

Location

The course is held at RAF Honington eastern part of the UK. However, transit to other bases may occur.

Contents of the course

The course is designed so as to determine if the have the leadership qualities and determination to lead a flight of men in high pressure situations. On top of this, the course sets out to assess your communication abilities and your overall fitness.

All of the above is determined by the following exercises:

Gym session

Consisting of:

Multi-stage fitness test

Push-ups

Sit-ups

wimming

The candidate is required to swim six lengths of a 25 metre pool followed by treading water for 60 seconds. All of this must be done in succession, without touching the sides or bottom of the pool.

Assault Course

Here the candidates aretaken through the RAF Regiment assualt course as an initial introduction, and invited to try the obstacles individually. Once the candidates are familiar with the course, they are ordered the run the course, which begins and ends with a one hundred metre sprint around evenly spaced barrels. The course is timed

Group Discussion

The candidates are taken to the Officers Mess, given current affairs topics and are invited to discuss among the rest of the group their views on the subject at hand. The Assessment Officers will occasionally promt the candidates to steer the conversations in their desired directions.This excercise is not only to assess whether the candidate can express his views and to test his knowledge of current affairs, but also discover whether he will dominate a discussion when everyone is trying to get a point across.

Low Ropes

The "Low Ropes" are desgined to test leadership skills. The course is split into two and each group is given mission requirements without the knowledge of the opposing team. Candidates are assessed on how and if they take charge of a situation, as well as how they commnicate their ideas to both their team and the counterpart team.

Essay Writng

This assesment is designed to discover how a candidate expresses his thoughts in written form. The candidate is given a current affairs topic and exected to communicate them via writing and then present a brief summary of the essay the follwing day.

Presentation

The course is split into groups no larger than three and together, after a visit to the RAF Regiment museum, they are expected to present to the course, a brief history of the RAF Regiment. Once again, this is designed to test communications skills, as well as physical presentation, delivery and control over a large group of people when delivering vital information. Along with the course contents detailed above, a potential officer is also assessed by less traditional means. For example, during time at the Officers Mess, for meals and drinks, you are assessed on how you interact socially with other members of the course, as well as the Assessment Officers themselves, in an informal setting.

Typical Course Structure

Tuesday

Arrive at RAF Honington

Opening address and Course administration

RAF Regiment and Junior Regiment Officer Course (JROC) presentations

PROAC Dinner and Officers Mess meet and greet

Wednesday

Fitness assessments & Swim Test

Assault course

Group discussion - Current events

Weapons Demo

"Low Ropes" Leadership Exercises

RAF Regiment Museum visit

Essay writing exercise

Careers Brief

Thursday

Student Presentations on RAF Regt history

Essay Presentaions

Interviews

Course Dispersal

References

*cite web|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafregiment/careers/potentialofficersacquaintancecoursepgac.cfm|accessdate=2008-07-09
title=RAF PROAC webpage
publisher=MOD

*cite web|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafregiment/careers/proacprogram.cfm|accessdate=2008-07-09
title=RAF PROAC program webpage
publisher=MOD

*cite web|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/stations.cfm|accessdate=2008-07-09
title=RAF bases
publisher=MOD

*cite web|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/careers/jobs/rafregimentofficer.cfm?tab=thefacts|accessdate=2008-07-09
title=RAF Regiment joining requirements
publisher=MOD