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Southampton OTC

crazymike

Swinger
Can anybody tell me anything about this UOTC please? Im really looking forward to joining when i get down there but i have heard that SUOTC has a bad reputation. One thing im a bit boned about is that they only have engineers and signals as an alternative to infantry. I play Rugby as a hooker, not a position which has a reputation for being one of the most fast and fittest, in which case i probably would not be able to handle the infantry (however much i would want to) Could anyopne prove me wrong?

Cheers
 
The quality and character of any unit with the British Army is largely dependent upon the officers, WOs and SNCOs. Within a UOTC, unlike most other units, these will completely change over a 2-3 year period (along with the students), so I doubt if you will get any useful answers to the first part of your question on this forum. (Beyond infantile "my UOTC is better than your UOTC" type comments). At the risk of upsetting many people, the reality is probably that SUOTC is probably much the same as an other UOTC, so don't worry.

In answer to the second part of your question, if you play regular sport you will have sufficient fitness for the rigours of the UOTC. ( At the risk of upsetting the army barmy UOTC types, it is not the Regular Army or the same as a TA Unit.) If you find you need to do a bit more running and lose a bit of weight, fine - university is one of the best places to do that.

Best thing to do is turn up, do a few weekends and see if you like it.

Have fun!
 
Cheers for that. I guess your right in that a unit does not hold the same character over time. I do regular sport but what are the usual fitnees requirements for entry? Is it that of the TA, X amount of press ups and X amount of sit ups in X amount of minutes?
 
Outstanding: Chose a university on the basis of the local army club? Can't say I share your sense of priorities.

Crazy Mike: No better advice than that from the horse's mouth. Give them a ring, they'd be delighted to hear from you and will tell you exactly what the requirement is and can probably give you an outline on how their recruiting / induction process works. As you'll see from other threads, questions of this sort tend to result in a deluge of duff advice, speculation and fantasy.
 
Mike,

As the last poster said the best advice is to come along and see for yourself. If you have already decided to go to University in Southampton it is a take it or leave it deal - its not like you can join another OTC. The alternative if you dont like the OTC is another local TA unit - but thats a whole other debate well covered elsewhere on here.

The unit has a pretty good web site - shortly to be updated. It gives you a good idea about the sort of things the unit gets up to.

Depending on who you chat to you will always get different opinions about various units, but I think you will find SUOTC is pretty good at most things and certainly good fun to belong to.

The unit has a range of excellent sports teams from skiing to rugby to hockey and football. It is the only TA unit that regularly takes part in offshore sailing at Army level, and has a first class shooting team that does well every year at Bisley.

The Cambrian patrol team last year were awarded a silver medal - no mean achievement.

You mention that the only 3 sub units are Infantry, Signals and Engineers. This is a bit misleading. Unlike some OTCs SUOTC does not run on a wing / sub unit basis but is an infantry / all arms based unit. Everyone has a chance to do some Infantry, Engineer and Signals stuff (and other cap badge activities as well) without having to specialise.

Dont worry too much about your fitness. If you do a bit of exercise you will be fine - you will get plenty of chance to work on your phys once you have joined. Plenty of people who join are not very fit and do ok. There is no specific requirement for physical fitness standards on entry - so long as you pass the medical. OTCs are well aware of the very varying standards of fitness levels of people applying to join. You will be expected to pass a TA CFT and a BPFA by the end of first year, however very few fail, if they have stayed around that long they are motivated enough to do the work.

Deatils of the recruiting programme for this coming October will shortly be up on the web site, but provisional dates are.


Stands at freshers fairs - depends on university programmes

Open evening - at the unit- Tue 10 Oct

Recruiting Assesment weekend - Fri 13 to Sat 15 Oct. Expect to do a mini and low key version of the sort of stuff you would do at RCB, plus have a few drinks and get to meet everyone in the bar on the Saturday night.

Last year there were 180 applicants for 120 places.

Please note that it is essential anyone who wants to join this year attends the selection weekend.

PM me for more info if you want as you can probably work out I have a bit of an inside track on this.

If you want more info give the unit a call - best anytime from late September onwards and ask to speak to somoene who can give you info about recruiting- other than that come along and see.
 
What have SUOTC actually done with themselves?

Do they partake in the inter-OTC competitions?
Do they have a good Rugby team?
What Greens stuff do they get up to?
What do they shoot at Bisley? Is it small arms the imperial shoot?

Do they have a rowing team?
 

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