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!
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!