I am looking at joining as a Household Cavalry Soldier but I wanted to know the pros and cons of been in the Household Cavalry so if anybody has any could you please post them. Thanks

Pro - Armoured
Con - Mounted unit

Real Pros & Cons? Mounted is very hard work, but if you're single - Great life on the town, married? two year posting with only 3 weeks (at summer "piss up" camp) per year, plenty of family time. Plus plenty of good photos to remember. Armoued is away more, but less hard work in the days, tours, various roles to do, not same old same old as Knightsbridge is.

Overall - You'll probably only ever be posted in Windsor or Knightsbridge, unless say you go dept as instructor. Makes family life eaiser to handle.

And of course what 99% of soldiers say - It's a fucking good regt, Wether you go LG or RHG/D.

Go for it, you won't regret it.

Originally Posted by ex_donkey_man

Pro - Armoured
Con - Mounted unit

Real Pros & Cons? Mounted is very hard work, but if you're single - Great life on the town, married? two year posting with only 3 weeks (at summer "piss up" camp) per year, plenty of family time. Plus plenty of good photos to remember. Armoued is away more, but less hard work in the days, tours, various roles to do, not same old same old as Knightsbridge is.

Overall - You'll probably only ever be posted in Windsor or Knightsbridge, unless say you go dept as instructor. Makes family life eaiser to handle.

And of course what 99% of soldiers say - It's a fucking good regt, Wether you go LG or RHG/D.

Go for it, you won't regret it.

What he said. I never did mounted but I did see the seriously good social side of the HCMR.
As for the HCR you will never regret it great Regiment. Plenty of opportunities. Formation Recce (probably not even called that these days) is undergoing some real changes and development. Great time to be joining. Feel free to PM me with any specific questions though some of my info will be dated I've been out a while.

AH, since this has popped up, I have a matelot argument that hopefully someone can solve. Argument went something along the lines of "You still need an extra income of around £50K a year to be in the Household Cavalry though, don't you?" now me, being junior but having spent a brief weekend at Bovington, once, and having chatted to the YO's going through their FR training there remembered being told that (and this was 2007ish) that that was bollocks, and it's no better or worse than any other regiment's Officers Mess nowadays.

Can any green members please confirm or deny either side of the argument? VMT

So you like shoveling shit?.....................lol

Donkey wollaping!

you know they make you do things with the horses?
Strange things. Kinky things!

Seriously, look up para and marine deviant goings on, multiply by 12, and add beastiality and you're there.

Originally Posted by Yeoman_dai

AH, since this has popped up, I have a matelot argument that hopefully someone can solve. Argument went something along the lines of "You still need an extra income of around £50K a year to be in the Household Cavalry though, don't you?" now me, being junior but having spent a brief weekend at Bovington, once, and having chatted to the YO's going through their FR training there remembered being told that (and this was 2007ish) that that was bollocks, and it's no better or worse than any other regiment's Officers Mess nowadays.

Can any green members please confirm or deny either side of the argument? VMT

Nope, i knew one whose family owned most of western Austrailia and also Heathrow land (penny a plane) and another whose dad drove a taxi, so its yes and no i guess.

HCR has a good reputation. I have worked with individuals from the regiment, most of whom have been pretty good.

Yeoman, This old chestnut again? No, you do not need a personal income to become an officer in any regiment nowadays. If you are asking whether it would it be helpful to have a personal income, then of course the answer is yes; extra money is always a good thing!

Originally Posted by Yeoman_dai

AH, since this has popped up, I have a matelot argument that hopefully someone can solve. Argument went something along the lines of "You still need an extra income of around £50K a year to be in the Household Cavalry though, don't you?" now me, being junior but having spent a brief weekend at Bovington, once, and having chatted to the YO's going through their FR training there remembered being told that (and this was 2007ish) that that was bollocks, and it's no better or worse than any other regiment's Officers Mess nowadays.

Can any green members please confirm or deny either side of the argument? VMT

People said it was 25k when I served (10 years ago) but that ran through the whole of the Guards regt's, not just HCR.
I remember when officers joined, they earnt less than a Lance jack, I think living in the mess probably was expensive and needed a 2nd income, but with a bit of planning, living off barracks would probably be cheaper. But regt's like this (I'd say the rule could cover all Inf & RAC) are like families and families work on qualities and loyalty, rather than income.

Saying that, if everyone plays polo and you don't, a gap could form.

Edited to add: I was only at the dizzy heights of Lance jack when I left, plus it was often and fairly considered rude to ask an officer his income or how much it cost him to live.

Well, HCMR has just turned outrageous, its all just gone totally old school, morale has plunged to levels not seen since the 1990s and all the hard work thats been done to make Knightsbridge somewhat bearable has been thoroughly undone, summer camp is not the 3 week unwind piss up it once was, more like get thrashed riding in the morning and then roll through section attacks, CTRs and tabs all afternoon. On the plus side, horses smell nice and are comforting to stroke and contrary to popular belief won't kick the shit out of you if you just show them some compassion and understanding.

Armoured life is currently just marking time until Christmas leave, intense vehicle maintenance in all squadrons (except B, who just seem to love running everywhere), getting a few courses in here and there, uplift to BOWMAN 5.4 (fun fun fun), and then knuckling down to some prairie thunders and pre deployment training next year, which will probably entail less time off than the poor buggers up town. But lots of tasty LSA.

All in all though, I'd say the HC is one of the better regiments to join, (the ruperts are generally pretty sound, apparently 30 cadets put their names forward for 2-3 places per intake at the factory, so we do get the pick of the crop) and the regiment is slowly wriggling its way out of the cape of 18th/19th/20th century household division rigidness and into something more like 2010s flexible modern soldiering. You're never going to be posted all around the country every 2 years, and Windsor isn't a bad posting in the slightest, but stay away from Slough. Also driving CVR(T) at full chat across Salisbury Plain is pretty damn good fun, even when its raining.

I wouldn't discourage people from joining totally, but you've got to think long and hard that HCMR is a chuffing thankless, hard graft for 2 years that has broken a few people and come close to breaking many others, but HCR is the constant light in the tunnel that keeps you going, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.