Question about joining up and transfering over. (Dont think this has been asked?)

[Riskoe]

Hi all, new member here, and for my first post I present you with the following;

I'm looking into joining the regular Army, and would prefer to do so as an Officer, but unfortunately I'm 1 GCSE and 1 A level shy of the minimum requirements due to me being a complete idiot in my younger years during school and college. I could of course join the Army as a regular soldier, or even the TA, but the Officer aspect appeals more to my personality and previous civilian roles in Assistant Management and Supervisory positions.

My question therefore is this: If I were to join the TA to gain some Army experience and get a feel of the life, whilst also retaking my necessary subjects in GCSE and A levels to get my qualifications, could I then apply to the Army as an Officer?

Still battling with the decision of staying in my current job and joining the TA for the flexibility, or saying sod it all, and joining the regular Army for a complete career change.

Any information pertaining to this would be much appreciated.

 

[Faustic]

As far as I'm aware that would be possible, though you need to be aware of the age limits of regular officer entry.

 

[ad55]

why don't you just go to college for a year and squre your quals away? then join the regular officer route

 

[Riskoe]

why don't you just go to college for a year and squre your quals away? then join the regular officer route

Dont know if I can do both GCSE's and A levels at the same time so that would be two years before I can even think of joining.

I think Im going to join as a soldier in the regular at this rate, I dont know if I want to wait another 2 years to get into the service whilst studying for exams.

 

[Jungelism]

Dont know if I can do both GCSE's and A levels at the same time so that would be two years before I can even think of joining.

I think Im going to join as a soldier in the regular at this rate, I dont know if I want to wait another 2 years to get into the service whilst studying for exams.

Any way you go about it you're in for a long wait to getting into service.

TA route: 6 months recruit cadre prior to becoming a trained soldier and thus being eligible to deploy.

I'm extremely dubious about you getting a 'pass' on quals as a TA soldier as can happen with regular soldiers.

You would then have to pass AOSB at Westbury (no excuses, all officers do regardless of background). This process can take up to a year.

Successful completion of Westbury would then gift you the present of 11 months at RMAS, followed by a specialist to arms course of varying length (Infantry PCD is 3.5 months).

Its not a swift process by any stretch of the imagination. I would advise you to sort out the qualifications and join the TA simultaneously in order to get some military experience and see if you like life in green. Once you become eligible for Westbury you can attempt AOSB and proceed from there.

Edited to add:

Joining as a regular soldier then going for a commission is also quite a lengthy process, IF you are considered good enough for application by your CoC. Standing by to be corrected, minimum requirements is JNCO, and in this climate, a tour.