Andie makes her career in the military police

Andie Jones is bursting with pride as she embarks on a career in the Military Police. Having completed her basic training, Andie is now well on her way to completing her police training and her ambition is to become an RAF dog handler. With a passion for sport, a fabulous team player and never one to give up, Andie is demonstrating many of our school values, of which Respect and Resilience are also core values of the RAF. We are so grateful to Andie for sparing the time to offer some advice to any students who are considering a career in the RAF, and the many opportunities available to what makes it such a great organisation to work for.

I decided to join the military police as it is a great opportunity to be part of a close-knit family, as is all of the RAF, but you may also get to save lives further down the line in your career. The military have a great lifestyle with many benefits for their personnel. You have the opportunity to go on deployment and travel to various parts of the world, for me this was a big selling point. The trade I have picked is very rewarding and I think being in the RAF is a massive reward in itself and something that I am very proud of myself for. I am very interested in going into dog handling as my career progresses.

I joined up in May 2020, started my training on 13th July 2021 and graduated on the 6th October. My training was ten weeks and consisted of many different challenges, both mentally and physically. My family and friends have been a massive support to me during this time, as there were parts that I really struggled with but when we graduated and I saw my parents and younger brother for the first time in eight weeks it was all worth it to see how proud I had made them. I could not have done it without their support.

Since graduating, I had three weeks off to recover and have some down time with my family and friends, and then I headed to Portsmouth to start my 22 weeks of police training to become qualified. In this time, I will learn about law enforcement duties (including civilian and service legislation), investigations, reporting and recording of service and civilian offences, personnel training, arrest procedures and police interviews. I will also be trained in the principles of security which includes: personnel security, protective security, counter terrorism and aviation security and much more. As I wish to go for dog handling I am hoping to be selected for dog-handling duties and then have a training period where I will be taught how to care for and work with the RAF police dogs.  I will also have the chance to enrol on an advanced level 3 security first line management apprenticeship.

My current rank is Aircraftsman (AC). Once I have passed my training I will become an Acting Corporal and will be posted to a station permanently somewhere in the UK where I will start serving as Police. I won’t find out where my posting will be until I have finished the training.

So far, my favourite part has been the people. I have met some exceptional people who will definitely be friends for life! Living with the same people for ten weeks is something we had never experienced before and to say that we all came out the other end strong is an understatement! Also the challenges that I have faced whilst being there both mentally and physically have made me realise that I am stronger than I think, certainly mentally. Whatever I put my mind to, I can do and I won’t give up. It changes you as a person, it gives you a new sense of pride and purpose.

Throughout my career I’d definitely like to climb the rank ladder, working hard and doing my best at everything. I’d like to try different sections of the Police and see where it takes me, deployments are high on my list, hopefully many of them!!

If I were to give students advice I would just say ‘Don’t give up, anything is possible if you put your mind to it.‘ If you are wanting to join the RAF then definitely do it! There are so many benefits and it has a healthier lifestyle and they are always there to support you, no matter what situation you are in.  The RAF is a massive family and there is always someone you can talk to, most of all you will make friends for life! Work hard and you will achieve anything you want to.

The RAF are looking for people with the right attitude, who are willing to always do the right thing no matter the situation. RISE: Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence. These are the core values of the RAF, if you have all of these you are most likely going to succeed. These are the core values that they look for in their personnel and what the RAF is made from.

Experiences I had during school and college definitely helped me when I was training. I took part in various sports events which developed my leadership skills, growing my self-confidence  and this helped me a lot with verified activities whilst being away. Having sport being a big part of my life has always taught me to be resilient and not give up if you want something, this definitely helped when we went away on exercise for five days – it was the best but worst week of my life! It mentally made me stronger as there were times I wanted to give up but I thought about the end result and the people I had around me supported me. Teachers at school, especially my sport teachers, helped to teach me resilience, teamwork, excellence and being an individual. They always believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. PE was always my favourite subject throughout all my educational years as it was physically demanding and always pushed me further than I thought I could go. This has definitely been a big help for me during my training. I would like to say a massive thank you to the PE staff at Richmond for always doing their best!

ANDIE JONES