Having read the Cardinals thread I realised that sometimes TA soldiers can be a bit odd, so here are my worst, all have now left the unit so...fuck them

Soldier A. Went on ops, ended up being the brew bitch but that was too much for them. Was escorted home after threatening to slot her boss, whilst walking into an O group, holding a rifle

Soldier B. Seemed normal, rtc no problem, trade no problem, deployed to Afghanistan, no problem. Was put forward for an MBE by close family member, soldier then vanished off our radar only to reappear every so often telling stories of FTRS deployments no one in the CoC was aware of.

Soldier C. Not normal, appeared odd from the outset. Became very odd on trade training when found in his bunk wearing an ice hockey mask and holding a large plastic knife.

Do we do psychological profiling on recruits ?

Are these attributes unique to the TA or does the same occur with regulars?

There are ways and means for not accepting 'odd balls'.

I once met a TA (sprog/untrained) armourer who was part of 23 SAS LAD.

He rocked up at Bordon in full jungle kit, sandy beret, the lot and proceeded to regale us all with his Bear Grylls survival tales and how he like to stalk deer and catch them with his bare hands. Eventually he was laughed out of the classroom for telling his instructor how it was pointless him learning about the SA80 because his unit only ever used 'M4 variants.'

Oh he also managed to drop a brand spanking new L115A3 off a tank, fucking it big style in the process.

Ha, the cunt.

Originally Posted by Wishful_Thinking

There are ways and means for not accepting 'odd balls'.

But in our case, the most deranged TA soldier in history has still not been binned 10 years after joining us after the Stab monkeys got disbanded. You could literally write a book on his exploits....

Originally Posted by Judgekid

Are these attributes unique to the TA or does the same occur with regulars?

When I worked at LAND there was a case of a Phase 1 trainee (Reg) who caved his his section Corporal's head in with a pick axe whilst out on the Plain.

Full screw went to hospital and lived. Trainee was, iirc, discharged SNLR.

Nut jobs everywhere, not just passing out of TA basic.....

Waltiest TA soldier I met had to be either the Geordie " former Foreign Legion ' guy at PWOG Bks Grantham or the segeant with an Airborne fetish who tried to get everyone over to Belgium to do ' a weekend jump course which entitles you to wear Belgian Army wings'....I don't think he got any takers in my Unit but I expect there were a few around.

The TA does seem to attract some lunatics. Doubtless the regulars have their fair share, but the lack of 'contact time' in phase 1 plus the fractured nature of instruction (different RTC DS from weekend to weekend and TSC A and B conducted by separate training teams) and the low standards mean that more pass through the net.

Generally this lot can be spotted by their facebook page which will include their employment as 'Soldier, British Army' and their picture cammed up looking like a DPM baked potato.

Originally Posted by Ravers

I once met a TA (sprog/untrained) armourer who was part of 23 SAS LAD.

He rocked up at Bordon in full jungle kit, sandy beret, the lot and proceeded to regale us all with his Bear Grylls survival tales and how he like to stalk deer and catch them with his bare hands. Eventually he was laughed out of the classroom for telling his instructor how it was pointless him learning about the SA80 because his unit only ever used 'M4 variants.'

Oh he also managed to drop a brand spanking new L115A3 off a tank, fucking it big style in the process.

Ha, the cunt.

Hoped he got billed for the Rifle!!

Originally Posted by Tinman74

Hoped he got billed for the Rilfe!!

Unfortunately not, he was only billed for the rifle.

Before i joined the unit. But there was a recruit who tipped up on an intro weekend with his own assault vest loaded with flashbangs he used in airsoft. Then went to do a CQB lane and proceeded to argue with DS, and the RSM who was watching in, on how best to do fire manoeuvre. He absolutely refused to back down because he knew better from airsoft. Sadly it was no brilliant wah and was politely asked not to return.

Another airsofter who was a bit more normal and lasted a bit longer jumped with glee when he got his first bounty. He could not stop talking about how he was going to use it to buy a WW2 British uniform for his airsoft weekends. He soon after ran off to be an AI in the cadets.