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Oldie joining, whats the crack?

J

jimuk80

Guest
Im 27 (28 in July) what can i expect as a newbie/oldie CE?

Will there be more beatings for me as an old cnut compared to the rest?
Or if i can crack on and show a bit of maturity will it stand me in good stead?

Any experiences welcome.
 
Crack on, do everything as you are told, the training team will show you respect as long as you don't piss them off. In theory they'll be trying to look after the 19/20 year olds, making sure they wipe their arses etc. so should leave you alone... unless you piss them off of course.
 
I imagine you will find it quite frustrating. Your "peers" will be 17-19 year old lads and a few slightly older guys. The young lads will be interested in having sex for the first time, looking at buying their first R reg Corsa (when they pass their driving test), downloading "bebo" on their mobile phones using some kind of electrical trickery I can't understand, wondering why they wee themselves when they have drunk beer and having to work hard for the first time in their lives.

Your interests are likely to be gardening, restoring antique motorcycles and how young policemen look these days.

To put it in perspective - some of them will be too young to drink legally.

The people with the same interests and outlook on life will be the training team but you will have to maintain your distance from them and let your work ethic, common sense and maturity mark you out as a good bloke.

Once they realise you are a good bloke, and not some unhinged loon who failed to succeed in civvy street and is escaping to the army then you will probably be given more responsibility and slack than some of the young turds who litter training regiments.

The lack of personal freedom will be difficult as your civvy life of endless weekends, taking sickies when you want and running round in the woods naked off your tits on mushrooms are well and truly over. How will you feel if wifey is crying at home and you can't go and see her that weekend because you have room inspections or an exercise to prepare for? Treat Ph1 and Ph 2 training as you would time spent in a bolivian prison. Expect nothing, don't assume you will have any time off and make sure wifey is briefed not to see you for 3 months - although she will.

Make sure you don't start training with your finances in crap order as your pay will doubtless be wrong when it starts, if it starts at all. 3 months worth of mortgage payments in the bank when you start will mean you have nothing to worry about.

Work on your flexibility and endurance - those little whipper snappers in your troop will be fast off the mark but have no experience of how hard they can push themselves - hence the tortoise will always beat the hare. You will need to do more PT before hand as your natural level of fitness will have dropped significantly since you were 18. If you can run 1.5miles in 9 min 30 sec you are doing alright. Ensure your upper body strength is good as well - 60 press ups and 60 sit ups will see you ok during training.

I would say enjoy it, but you probably won't - except some elements of the B3 course. The light at the end of the tunnel is speedy promotion (if you aren't a mong) and a seat at God's right hand on judgement day as a member of the Corps. Hurrah.

It's better than being a civvy. Well I suppose it is, but I don't know any civvies except my girlfriend, and she doesn't count.
 
Well said asr1

As an oldie (41) who went back a few years ago I agree with your comments about the youngsters. They run like whippets though!!

Having been in before this helped, but had to adjust to new ways of doing things - even drill movements!!

Ended up with a good crowd even though it was a bit like babysitting. Old tricks/skills I passed on helped the whippersnappers which the DS noticed - made a difference. Not done in a "I'm an old sweat blah blah" big headed way but when you know the script aint no point us all gettn beasted when a few helpful words can get evrybody squared away.

As a result we got cut some slack unlike some of the other sections. The DS were all over them like border collies - poor buggers were run ragged (the DS I mean).
 
the thing you have to be able to swallow and i ask all the oldies is could you get to ya unit and handle a 21 yr old telling you what to do?? i've had some oldies 25+ that thought they deserved respect because of life skills they had and were kindly reminded they help but don't count on the Corps green field.....

Good on you though and when i'm out in 18 months im sure i will look back at that door a few times and maye one day will come a knocking...
 
Must admit it can vary and depends on the "sprog" with the stripes.

If they're switched on and genuinely know their stuff - no probs.

If they're "khaki trained - khaki brained" and a bit immature and on a power trip then that grips ma sh*t!!!

To be honest though I've always respected their rank - the army loads responsibility on young shoulders. A thing that civvies can't seem to understand.

Even when going through basic many years ago I'd found out that I'd outgrown my civvy mates about half way through. Sad but inevitable.
 
asr1 said:
I imagine you will find it quite frustrating. Your "peers" will be 17-19 year old lads and a few slightly older guys. The young lads will be interested in having sex for the first time, looking at buying their first R reg Corsa (when they pass their driving test), downloading "bebo" on their mobile phones using some kind of electrical trickery I can't understand, wondering why they wee themselves when they have drunk beer and having to work hard for the first time in their lives.

Your interests are likely to be gardening, restoring antique motorcycles and how young policemen look these days.

To put it in perspective - some of them will be too young to drink legally.

The people with the same interests and outlook on life will be the training team but you will have to maintain your distance from them and let your work ethic, common sense and maturity mark you out as a good bloke.

Once they realise you are a good bloke, and not some unhinged loon who failed to succeed in civvy street and is escaping to the army then you will probably be given more responsibility and slack than some of the young turds who litter training regiments.

The lack of personal freedom will be difficult as your civvy life of endless weekends, taking sickies when you want and running round in the woods naked off your tits on mushrooms are well and truly over. How will you feel if wifey is crying at home and you can't go and see her that weekend because you have room inspections or an exercise to prepare for? Treat Ph1 and Ph 2 training as you would time spent in a bolivian prison. Expect nothing, don't assume you will have any time off and make sure wifey is briefed not to see you for 3 months - although she will.

Make sure you don't start training with your finances in crap order as your pay will doubtless be wrong when it starts, if it starts at all. 3 months worth of mortgage payments in the bank when you start will mean you have nothing to worry about.

Work on your flexibility and endurance - those little whipper snappers in your troop will be fast off the mark but have no experience of how hard they can push themselves - hence the tortoise will always beat the hare. You will need to do more PT before hand as your natural level of fitness will have dropped significantly since you were 18. If you can run 1.5miles in 9 min 30 sec you are doing alright. Ensure your upper body strength is good as well - 60 press ups and 60 sit ups will see you ok during training.

I would say enjoy it, but you probably won't - except some elements of the B3 course. The light at the end of the tunnel is speedy promotion (if you aren't a mong) and a seat at God's right hand on judgement day as a member of the Corps. Hurrah.

It's better than being a civvy. Well I suppose it is, but I don't know any civvies except my girlfriend, and she doesn't count.

Thanks for that mate, its kind of the frame of mind i'm trying to build myself up to.
Im going to need to accept that whatever bollx i think ive achieved during my civvy life ive accepted that ive joined an organisation (that despite all my online research) i REALLY know fcuk all about and im at the very bottom of a huge yet competent and well trained pile, and until im told by someone higher up the heap than i am to push forward i should:

Keep my head down,

Do everything im asked to as quick and correct as is physically possible.

Dont fcuking whinge about anything.

THats the philosophy for the next 1 / 19 years
 
Jim

Good attitude. As a more mature entrant you will find aspects of training irritating (as indicated above) but should have the maturity to laugh it off. Once you get to a unit you will find that being older, and once you pick up some military experience (which these days doesn't take long) that natural selection starts to take its course, and you should find yourself with early opportunities for JNCO cadre etc.

And good advice on physical preparation above, work on simple press ups, sit ups, heaves, and basic core running/CV fitness. Above the people who are disrespected most are those who cannot hack the physical. It is NOT hard, but just needs a bit of personal effort to reach the basic standard. At your current age this shouldn't be a problem -indeed you are more robust than the sprogs.

C
 
I'm 28 in May and currently between fam visit/main board stage so this also makes good reading for me too. Cheers all.
 
Training! It's not like it was in my day.......thank Fcuk! we were given a hard time for no reason other than for the hell of it, made to do pointless tasks just to appease the ego of some jumped up lance-jack, i'm glad to say things have got better.
They were the best years of my life - right until the wife left me, now THESE are the best years of my life!

Good luck in your new career Jim
 
wouldnt worry about it too much. i went through phase 1 with a guy who was over 30, and not a re-enlistment.
age doesnt matter in the army iv found. do you job well at 17 or 27 and thats all that matters.
 
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