to get into the British Army?

No specific requirements except for technical jobs

Andy

cheers Andy

You will do various tests as part of the joining process and based on your scores they will tell you which jobs you can do.

And you can get qualifications in the Army too.

An insatiable fascination with sand and checking car boots?

a pulse.

and you do not even need to be British

ability to point gun in general direction of enemy whilst pulling trigger and not afraid to die in pointless war. Most cities have a recruitment office google it

I assume there is an age limit as well?

32 iirc higher for TA – not certain though

32, surely its not that old? 17 years must be the minimum

if you want to get bored and sweep garages, dewead areas, and litterpick, but get paid well for it join up! the travel bits a load of bollox, unless you like class afghan as travelling!

A clean criminal record I believe, that's about it.

Assuming you are considering it – Ignore a few of the above, do some research, talk to the AFCO and make your own decision, it isn't for everyone, especially aspiring middle class poverty spec BMW driving screwfix reading dross who spout their inane self important ramblings on here. 😉

Hope that helps.

Ignore a few of the above, do some research, talk to the AFCO and make your own decision, it isn't for everyone, especially aspiring middle class poverty spec BMW driving screwfix reading dross who spout their inane self important ramblings on here.

Oi – you mean me?

I did my time!

Unless you're a scientist or a Doctor/Dentist -the age of entry is higher.

What army job were you thinking of?

As someone who hasn't enjoyed the world of work and needs a bit of adventure/excitement, I've often wondered if it would have been a good move to have joined the army. As an officer, probably in the Royal Engineers or the REME.

I knew a few people who failed to get a commission when I was at uni, some of whom were very much army-barmy types, so I'm assuming that it is fairly tricky to get through. Having said that, I've never had trouble with interviews or selection tests.

I'm too old now and the enforced re-location every couple of years wouldn't have suited me anyway.

the travel bits a load of bollox, unless you like class afghan as travelling!

😕

Well I would class going from Britain to Afghanistan as "travelling" ………..what would you call it ?

Obviously it's not the same as island hopping in the Caribbean on a luxury cruise ship,
but I don't think many people expect that when they join the army.

No it's def not me! I'm checking for a friends teenage son. He's dropped out of school and his "plan" is to join the army . . . .

😉

good option for school drop outs… however, my wife worked with a lot of school leavers who "planned" to go into the army, only to find that the army can be quite fussy!

Education is boring as hell but you get lots of time off and get to meet girls. Work is hard, and the novelty soon wears off. I had a lot of frieds who left the army to go to uni for that same reason.

He's dropped out of school and his "plan" is to join the army

The rumblings are that the Services are in the happy position of being able to be more picky than usual. If I were him, I'd be off down the AFCO sharpish to find out a) what kind of wait he's looking at (some RN trades are apparently >24 months waiting list for starting basic training) and b) whether there's anything he might do to improve his chances (possibly including joining the TA).

andy

My friend dropped out of sixth form and joined the army. He's currently in Germany driving tanks, earns enough cash that he can drink a lot while he's out there, and when he came back last he bought himself a brand new car!

Anyone know how fit you'd have to be physically to join as a "sciency" person?

He's currently in Germany driving tanks, earns enough cash that he can drink a lot while he's out there, and when he came back last he bought himself a brand new car!

You get little chance to spend your cash when you're in the army, and drink is very cheap in NAAFI, so people do tend to have a bit of cash kicking around when they come home.

The basic army fitness tests aren't very exacting from what I understand

The travel isn't bollocks, there are plenty of adventure training excercises you can go on. I learned to ski in the french alps and got paid for it 😆 some of my friends did 2 week's sailing around the med or the baltic. Others went to Norway, Grand canyon… Even when training we did camping/sleep deprivation in some Norn Irn forests which was good fun in retrospect. I'll never forget the look on this family's collective faces on comming across a platoon of army people with guns pointing in their direction.

Fitness standards aren't that high, infantry is harder than non-combative roles 1.5 mile run in 10 or 11 mins? (I think) or 13mins for girls. But I don't think you have to be that good to join, just that's what you should be capable of after/during training. pressups is 44 in 2 mins for men I think.
(That's based on my experience with TA, I failed all of them but then again so did maybe 50% of us but you get fitter fast) The food isn't bad either, I was suprised by the edibleness of the new ration packs chicken arriabata mmmmm.

The forces are having a field day at the mo. I know the raf are turning the dross away as they have ooddles of folk queueing to get in. They are trying to get rid of the unfit and lazy who are in as well so as to make space.

I would assume with the advances in technology used by the services that you would need a higher standard of recruit than in the past?

my wife worked with a lot of school leavers who "planned" to go into the army, only to find that the army can be quite fussy!

yes the number of young people who cannot stand or cope with the routine of school or being told what to do who think the army is a good career choice is trully staggering. Kids eh 🙄
There will be an army prep course near him – E2E probably where he can get the full EMA – apply now as they are changing the criteria for next academic year so get in a 09/10 EMA pack ASAP. It gives people a taste of the real army it has a high drop out rate a s reality of marching at 4 am after 2 hours sleep whilst a scary man screams at you kind of bursts the bubble for a lot of people. It lasts 13 weeks Princes trust usually do some course to improve fitness as well. Avoid publi services courses BS in my opinion. You can mail me if you want further info the jargon translating

LOL when I tried to join the marines years ago they said my maths wasn't good enough so I couldn't join but he said to come back in 12 months when i've fully left school as I still had about 4 months to do and try again. Then he said my marks were good enough for the navy and gave me a list of jobs I could do with my test score. I quickly learnt you don't need maths to be a missile operator or radar/sonar operator or diver.

Even my mate who also tried was told the same and he left school with A level maths. I think they had their quota for that intake and didn't need anymore.

A blokes son at work is in the marines and is currently stationed at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. He's been to Afghanistan,Norway,Belize,Brunei,USA and a few other countries so it sounds like if you want to travel join the marines.

Army
Navy
Air Force

or jail…

My dad was in the army. He carried a bag of heads around for the Gurkhas at one point.

HTH.

Don't worry though, I hear they do things differently nowadays.

I hear they do things differently nowadays

Yeah, you would think that Gurkhas probably carry their own stuff around these days.

You get little chance to spend your cash when you're in the army, and drink is very cheap in NAAFI, so people do tend to have a bit of cash kicking around when they come home.

A misconception. Once at unit, you are not confined to camp out of working times. You can go shopping, drinking or if in germany, whoring seems to be a popular pastime.
I didn't have you down as forces, junkyard.

aspiring middle class poverty spec BMW driving screwfix reading dross who spout their inane self important ramblings on here.

It's like you read the "personal info" section of my CV!

an ex colleague was a para in the falklands war, yes he travelled, this was the early 80's so Northern ireland, Germany, Belize i think, plus a few other places. But the little he would say about the falklands was along the lines of it isn't nice seeing your mates die around you. Which i think in the current era of Iraq and Afghanistan is something to think about.

His original reason for joining, crap job prospects and getting paid to kick s**t out of people beat the regular old firm punch ups in Glasgow.

Join up if you want, but a soldiers job is ultimately to fight and to maybe to die for their country, so think.

I think you need to be able to tell loads of jokes. I shared a flat with a squaddie once, all him and his friends seemed to do was trade jokes all day !

I think you need to be able to tell loads of jokes. I shared a flat with a squaddie once, all him and his friends seemed to do was trade jokes all day !

Also having the ability to have the urine extracted constantly. It's no holds barred too 😆 I've been into civvy workplaces (IT world and office world) and they scared me, the words blimming and dull come to mind. The banter and the great mates I have made whilst being RAF is teh immense 😀