Thread: ETS Officer

Was wondering if anyone new anymore information about becoming an ETS officer than I already know...

All I know so far from reading up on the Army websites and from pamphlets given out at the Careers Office is that

-You have to attend sandhurst and get commissioned

-You need to be a graduate

-You need to be selected by the AGC as well as it being your choice

-After finishing sandhurst you attend a 9 week course (What does this entail by the way?) at Worthy Down

-After attending the 9 week course the Army sends you to Southampton University to attend a 2 year sandwich PGCE course along side teaching

But what happens after you get trained up?

Where can you work, UK and Abroad?

What would your job be whilst in the UK and Abroad? (Teaching entirely or other things incorporated as well)

What is your role on operations?

Who will you be teaching? Officers? Soldiers? Recruits?


If anyone has previous experience working as an ETS officer this would be a massive help obviously, but any comments are appreciated :D

You need to go on an ETS fam visit. All is answered.

ETS fam visit? Please elaborate :D

Fam visit = familiarisation visit.

They are, as you might have guessed, a visit (usually a few days) to a regiment where you tag onto the junior officers and get a kind of work experience with that unit. Some regiments run formalised courses, other just invite potential officers along as and when interest arises. There will usually be some interviews mixed in as well.

These are the only truly effective way of getting a look at what life in any giving regiment is likely to involve on a daily basis.
If you haven't already, you'll need to get in touch with your local ACA (Army Careers Advisor), via the recruiting office. Once you've had a meeting with him/her, such visits can start being arranged.
Best of luck.

That definitely sounds like a good thing to do before you start jumping into something you hardly know anything about... so cheers for the advice :D

I've heard of the Look at life course, which is about two weeks long. But I hadn't heard of the fam visit.

So I'll get that sorted, I've got my interview in april so hopefully I can ask about organising something like that soonish after!!

Posh_91 - What stage are you at in the recruitment process?

91 - I believe that the Look at Life course is aimed at potential soldiers as opposed to potential officers. Your interview should give you a better idea of familiarisation visits and how it all works.

Originally Posted by Exwing

Posh_91 - What stage are you at in the recruitment process?

I have my first formal interview on the 15th April.

But I'm in the T.A so I've been through some of the recruiting processes, but obviously not officer, soldier.

I have A levels to go in, but I think I'm going to get my degree first because I have a place for september and I won't be able to do ETS without one, I'll have to do a different job.

I'm hoping to be considered for the bursary as well.. But with the budget I highly doubt i'll be getting one.

Good thinking. I did my briefing at 18, passed and decided not to go further as I didn't want the obligation. Obviously that bursary would have been a nice bonus whilst being skint at Uni!

Thanks.

Thats if I even get it though... If you do recieve it, you have to join otc and be committed for three years after as well, so i'll probably end up doing briefing in year two and main board in year three, maybe sooner.

Just hope I'm good enough really. I'll really have to kane the fitness. I want to be able to run my pft in 10.30, so I'm not constantly thinking about fitness standards when I'm there.

I'm sure there will be much more to worry about.

Whats your experience been? And whats it been like?

Obviously some highly qualified spark will put me in my place...

... so they would like to think, but for what it is worth I struggle with the concept of the ETS officer.

Duty rumour has it that the ETS (read RAEC) put Labour into power in 1945 by mobilising the military vote. The Welfare State has brought Britain to its knees (discuss). Ergo all Britain's ills are directly attributable to the ETS. I kid you not!

Back to my original point.

The ETS offers a paradox that is unfathomable to me:

You attend possibly the most comprehensive military leadership training course that the best Military Academy in Surrey can provide in order to deliberately not lead soldiers.


Why is the ETS not completely PQO?

Originally Posted by barbs

Obviously some highly qualified spark will put me in my place...

... so they would like to think, but for what it is worth I struggle with the concept of the ETS officer.

Duty rumour has it that the ETS (read RAEC) put Labour into power in 1945 by mobilising the military vote. The Welfare State has brought Britain to its knees (discuss). Ergo all Britain's ills are directly attributable to the ETS. I kid you not!

Back to my original point.

The ETS offers a paradox that is unfathomable to me:

You attend possibly the most comprehensive military leadership training course that the best Military Academy in Surrey can provide in order to deliberately not lead soldiers.


Why is the ETS not completely PQO?

Understood.

Some people want to teach, just not school kid brats though...

Best of both worlds for me.

You could claim the militarys probems are all 'down' to ETS officers whatever, buts its clearly not the case. It's a group's decissions issue to be fair!

Originally Posted by barbs

Obviously some highly qualified spark will put me in my place...

... so they would like to think, but for what it is worth I struggle with the concept of the ETS officer.

Duty rumour has it that the ETS (read RAEC) put Labour into power in 1945 by mobilising the military vote. The Welfare State has brought Britain to its knees (discuss). Ergo all Britain's ills are directly attributable to the ETS. I kid you not!

Back to my original point.

The ETS offers a paradox that is unfathomable to me:

You attend possibly the most comprehensive military leadership training course that the best Military Academy in Surrey can provide in order to deliberately not lead soldiers.


Why is the ETS not completely PQO?

I did wonder about that, particularly as a number of PQOs actually do more green stuff than the ETS.

Originally Posted by jew_unit

Originally Posted by barbs

Obviously some highly qualified spark will put me in my place...

... so they would like to think, but for what it is worth I struggle with the concept of the ETS officer.

Duty rumour has it that the ETS (read RAEC) put Labour into power in 1945 by mobilising the military vote. The Welfare State has brought Britain to its knees (discuss). Ergo all Britain's ills are directly attributable to the ETS. I kid you not!

Back to my original point.

The ETS offers a paradox that is unfathomable to me:

You attend possibly the most comprehensive military leadership training course that the best Military Academy in Surrey can provide in order to deliberately not lead soldiers.


Why is the ETS not completely PQO?

I did wonder about that, particularly as a number of PQOs actually do more green stuff than the ETS.

What are PQO's btw??

Professionally Qualified Officer. This category includes Doctors, Nursing officers, Dentists, Lawyers and Chaplains. They do some specific training within their own corps about how their profession relates to the army, and only do a few weeks basic officer training at RMAS on the 'vicars and tarts' course. This allegedly teaches them to fire a rifle and but up a BASHA, but if you read the opinions of medical officers on ARRSE then this seems to be unsuccesful.