On Tuesday, I went to the town center to go and do my BARB test again.
I got there, in true me fashion, just in time, and having got into the deserted office just in time, ended up sitting for the next 20 minutes, while various sergeants came in, asked our names and went out again.
If I haven't already explained, I finally went to the army carreers office to tell them I now felt ready to do the final stage of selection. Of course, since like an idiot, I'd not been in touch with them for a while, they cancelled my application.
So I started a new one - the BARB being the second part of said application. The first consisting of reams of paperwork wanting to know everything from how often I exercised, to whether I thought pepsi was better than coca cola. Well, mostly.
Anyways, we got taken down to the testing room, and signed in for the tests.
"Please tick this box to say you have read and understood the introduction and sample questions booklet".
"Uhm, I haven't been given one".
Bugger I remembered being given one last time. I explained that no I'd not been given a booklet, yes I have seen one before (back in 2007 I think). Yes I was okay to do the test, and if my results were lower as a result of not having revised, then so be it.
So I started the test. And despite the semi broken touchscreen that only let you press one of the answers if you touched it in the right exact place every time, the incredibly uncomfortable headphones that seemed to give me a headache, and the fact that every once in a while, my finger would go and tap the answer to a question even as my mind was saying "no that's the wrong answer", I think it went okay.
Eventually, the tests finished, and we sat and waited.
I had a little interview with the sergeant afterwards, and it turned out my BARB score this time round, was 76. It was 87 last year. Bleh.
But hey, I've just found out the average score is around the mid forties, and the sergeant himself told me that I had a "very high score" so hey, I rock!
We went through the list of jobs I was eligible to do, which was most of them. I still put Tank crew as my first choice, but my second and third seem to be a punch up between Armourer, Air Dispatcher, and Vehicle Mechanic. One of them is going to have to go.
After leaving the AFCO with more forms to fill out, I went to the local store to trade in my little remote control UFO (the one I got for christmas, that stopped working) for a new one. They didn't have another UFO so I paid extra and got a little RC helicopter instead. Only a tiny little one.
Anyway, wednesday morning, I went out to take it for a test flight. No breeze, and it was nice and quiet, so off we went.
The helicopter lifted off slowly, then started leaning to the side as a slight tiny breeze picked up. The helicopter climbed further, at which point I realised - half with a laugh and half in horror - that it was disobeying my commands. It climbed even further, the little rotors whirring away, until it was too high to land in the garden, then too high to land in the gutter, then too high to land on the roof.
Up it went, over the roof, and I lost sight of it as it disappeared :(.
After an hour of searching six gardens, I didn't find it :(.
So meh, that's no good. I'm now helicopterless.
Still, I managed to sell my horrible little 8500 graphics card for the princely sum of £19. plus £6 postage.
Maybe I can use the money to buy this.
Have fun.
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