Choosing a role in the British Army!

[kr90]

I've just joined ARRSE so I'm not entirely sure how this forum works, so apologies if this kind of thread is posted elsewhere.

Anyway, I'm going to Catterick soon for a pre-selection AAA with School of Infantry to give me some insight into the Infantry as a whole. I'm 28 years old and I've done sales for ten years, something that doesn't set my soul on fire. I hardly jump out of bed every morning wondering what the day has in store for me. I've earned good money doing it, but sitting behind a desk is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I've always wanted to join the army and I've always put it off due to the fact that I will have to take a pay cut to do so. Now however, I came to the conclusion that money isn't the be all and end all for me, and I'd rather do something that makes me happy, keeps me fit and has some good structure and variety, with opportunities to rise the ranks and earn more later on anyway, plus if I don't do it, I will always regret it, so I put my application in.

I don't have many GCSE's/Qualfications, but I scored 60 on my cognitive/barb test on the careers portal (which I understand is a kind of practice run, as you have to take it again at the Assessment Centre) and according to what I've seen online, the score I got means I'd be able to go for most job roles, however I don't have the GCSE's for a lot of them and I assume you need both GCSE's AND a good score.

Ignoring that for the moment, I've come to the conclusion that regardless of the roles available to me, I want to experience life as part of an Infantry regiment first and foremost. A lot of people advise me againt this and to get a trade...

For some reason, the Grenadier Guards always stood out to me, so I put that as my first choice. Had no idea what I'd like to do as 2nd/3rd choice so I just put Dog Handler and Royal Engineers. In the long term, assuming everything was going well and in an ideal world I would like to serve as an Infantry Soldier and then perhaps a few years down the line if the opportunity presented itself, maybe I would be able to 'transfer' and learn a trade (perhaps Electrician, with Sappers or REME). I obviously have no idea if that is possible of course.

Anyway, after some thinking it appears as though you need certain GCSE's to be a Dog Handler/Royal Engineer and the reality is I just chose those 2 roles to fill the spaces, I hadn't given them too much thought as I'd only really considered the Guards beforehand, so I took some time to really think about the other 2 roles.

As I want an Infantry/Combat role, I thought The Rifles looks like a good regiment and would be a good shout, although it would come without the ceremonial aspect that The Guards has which provides that little bit more variety. Then somebody suggested to me some other roles such as Light Dragoons, Royal Tank Regiment etc. So I've had a good look into those recently aswell. Although they are not (please correct me if I'm wrong) Infantry regiments, the roles include combat, reconnaissance, driving and engineering which is also appealing to me. So worth a think. Not sure if these light/heavy cavalry roles will be affected by Army 2020.

I'm looking to attend the AAA, take it all in and then make a decision afterwards so I can go to the Assessment Centre knowing exactly what I would like to do. After all, if I'm dedicating years of my life to it, I want to make sure I choose the right job.

In conclusion, I've chosen 3 roles but because of how much research I've been doing, I don't have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice anymore, I just have 3 roles that I would like to go for, but of course can't do them all. I'm not usually this indecisive but I've never had so much choice available to me.

The 3 roles I've go in mind are the following:

Guardsman (Grenadier Guards)
Rifleman (The Rifles)
Light Cavalry Crewman (Royal Armoured Corps)

Any advice on which to go for or information based on my 3 above choices would be greatly appreciated, thanks for reading and sorry for the essay!

 

[Harry Clampers]

What do YOU want to do? What do YOU want to achieve? What do YOU want to get out of the experience?

WE can tell you all sorts of stuff - including some absolute bollox - but in the end it's down to you. Well, you, and the search function....

 

[HaggisMuncher]

Obligatory ARRSE comment: use the search function.

In all seriousness though, I’m not sure what advice anyone can give to help you with your choice of regiment. It’s something you’ll have to research yourself.

The only advice I can give is to continue with your research and maybe contact your interested regiments and ask for a tour of the barracks.

I originally applied for CMT and was invited to an army briefing that had lads from the various foot guards.

One of them, from the Irish guards, got in touch with me afterwards, invited me to their barracks in Hounslow, was there all throughout my application helping push things along. After the tour and having had all my questions answered by this guy, i decided the Irish Guards was somewhere I’d like to be.

None of us can give you advice on which regiment to join, that’s your own decision. Try contacting the regiments you’re interested in and ask if you could have a look around and ask what ever questions you may have.

 

[Cockroachbuddy_]

What do YOU want to do? What do YOU want to achieve? What do YOU want to get out of the experience?

WE can tell you all sorts of stuff - including some absolute bollox - but in the end it's down to you. Well, you, and the search function....

^ harry clampers said it all tbh, I'm pretty sure because of your indecisiveness you wont join any role just because someone on arrse told you to. Look at the abundancy of information there is online and then make a decision on which best you fancy and which best fits you its really not that complex.

 

[Don Carlo]

I have been in the Army for 22 years so l do know what lm talking about. Which role should you choose in the Army? Easy.........

The Royal Navy.

 

[MongMastermind]

I've just joined ARRSE so I'm not entirely sure how this forum works, so apologies if this kind of thread is posted elsewhere.

Anyway, I'm going to Catterick soon for a pre-selection AAA with School of Infantry to give me some insight into the Infantry as a whole. I'm 28 years old and I've done sales for ten years, something that doesn't set my soul on fire. I hardly jump out of bed every morning wondering what the day has in store for me. I've earned good money doing it, but sitting behind a desk is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I've always wanted to join the army and I've always put it off due to the fact that I will have to take a pay cut to do so. Now however, I came to the conclusion that money isn't the be all and end all for me, and I'd rather do something that makes me happy, keeps me fit and has some good structure and variety, with opportunities to rise the ranks and earn more later on anyway, plus if I don't do it, I will always regret it, so I put my application in.

I don't have many GCSE's/Qualfications, but I scored 60 on my cognitive/barb test on the careers portal (which I understand is a kind of practice run, as you have to take it again at the Assessment Centre) and according to what I've seen online, the score I got means I'd be able to go for most job roles, however I don't have the GCSE's for a lot of them and I assume you need both GCSE's AND a good score.

Ignoring that for the moment, I've come to the conclusion that regardless of the roles available to me, I want to experience life as part of an Infantry regiment first and foremost. A lot of people advise me againt this and to get a trade...

For some reason, the Grenadier Guards always stood out to me, so I put that as my first choice. Had no idea what I'd like to do as 2nd/3rd choice so I just put Dog Handler and Royal Engineers. In the long term, assuming everything was going well and in an ideal world I would like to serve as an Infantry Soldier and then perhaps a few years down the line if the opportunity presented itself, maybe I would be able to 'transfer' and learn a trade (perhaps Electrician, with Sappers or REME). I obviously have no idea if that is possible of course.

Anyway, after some thinking it appears as though you need certain GCSE's to be a Dog Handler/Royal Engineer and the reality is I just chose those 2 roles to fill the spaces, I hadn't given them too much thought as I'd only really considered the Guards beforehand, so I took some time to really think about the other 2 roles.

As I want an Infantry/Combat role, I thought The Rifles looks like a good regiment and would be a good shout, although it would come without the ceremonial aspect that The Guards has which provides that little bit more variety. Then somebody suggested to me some other roles such as Light Dragoons, Royal Tank Regiment etc. So I've had a good look into those recently aswell. Although they are not (please correct me if I'm wrong) Infantry regiments, the roles include combat, reconnaissance, driving and engineering which is also appealing to me. So worth a think. Not sure if these light/heavy cavalry roles will be affected by Army 2020.

I'm looking to attend the AAA, take it all in and then make a decision afterwards so I can go to the Assessment Centre knowing exactly what I would like to do. After all, if I'm dedicating years of my life to it, I want to make sure I choose the right job.

In conclusion, I've chosen 3 roles but because of how much research I've been doing, I don't have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice anymore, I just have 3 roles that I would like to go for, but of course can't do them all. I'm not usually this indecisive but I've never had so much choice available to me.

The 3 roles I've go in mind are the following:

Guardsman (Grenadier Guards)
Rifleman (The Rifles)
Light Cavalry Crewman (Royal Armoured Corps)

Any advice on which to go for or information based on my 3 above choices would be greatly appreciated, thanks for reading and sorry for the essay!

Stick to your day job in sales, and join as a STAB

I doubt the regular army will pay a better starting salary for a 28 year whose been riding a desk all that time. Have the best of both. Just my 2 pence

 

[hellomynameis]

Hi foks, i'm in a similar positon to the OP (even the working in Sales bit). Given the somewhat vacuous nature of the Army recruitment process I figured i'd interrogate you guys.

I want to get into ISR type roles. Aside from the obvious Signals / Intel. Corps, are there any other corps I might consider?

It's quite important that my eventual job involves some element of actual soldiering, patrolling, etc. rather than just being stuck behind a monitor 24/7.

I am expecting to have job offers on the table within the next few weeks. Needless to say, I wouldn't be too enthusiastic about going into a bog standard Infantry role. I am however acutely aware that you'd have to be pretty darned lucky to be offered any of your actual job choices. My dilemma is therefore one of casting the net a little wider, to ensure that I have best chance of ending up in some sort of ISR-related field, or at least a regiment which offers me the opportunity to learn skills which are readily transferable into this field. The eventual aim being to specialise in intelligence gathering, reconnissance, specialist battlefield communication networks or some other covert role.

Any advice on where might be a good jumping off point would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MongMastermind]

Hi foks, i'm in a similar positon to the OP (even the working in Sales bit). Given the somewhat vacuous nature of the Army recruitment process I figured i'd interrogate you guys.

I want to get into ISR type roles. Aside from the obvious Signals / Intel. Corps, are there any other corps I might consider?

It's quite important that my eventual job involves some element of actual soldiering, patrolling, etc. rather than just being stuck behind a monitor 24/7.

I am expecting to have job offers on the table within the next few weeks. Needless to say, I wouldn't be too enthusiastic about going into a bog standard Infantry role. I am however acutely aware that you'd have to be pretty darned lucky to be offered any of your actual job choices. My dilemma is therefore one of castling the net a little wider, to ensure that I have best chance of ending up in some sort of ISR-related field, or at least a regiment which offers me the opportunity to learn skills which are readily transferable into this field. The eventual aim being to specialise in intelligence gathering, reconnissance, specialist battlefield communication networks or some other covert role.

Any advice on where might be a good jumping off point would be greatly appreciated.

Infantry, than do the scaleys aka signals course and pow platoon radio man