How long is a term in the british army?

mobilecore

I tried looking on the site. It wont say - or I am blind.
Whats the shortest term for joining the british army guys? anyone know?

cheers.

OS119

mobilecore wrote: »

I tried looking on the site. It wont say - or I am blind.
Whats the shortest term for joining the british army guys? anyone know?

cheers.

yup, very roughly most infantry will sign a Versatle Engagement contract that initially is for 12 years - however there are Manning Control points throughout the 12 (6 years, 9 and 12) at which either party can decide to part company. satifactory soldiers will be offered further long contracts throughout their service.

recruits have the right to leave during their initial training (there are some specific rules regarding exactly when, but these are generally liberally observed and any recruit who wants on his toes can leave with little fuss or hassle) and then again at 4 years.

more speciallised forces - corps tradesmen being the obvious example - will also sign a Versatile Engagement, but often for 22, 24, or 30 years. the same MCP's exist. there are also 'Return of Service' agreements to protect the Army's investment after particular courses - Army Air Corps Pilot training for instance - and you'll have to promise to provide X years service in that role.

in short, its bewildering - but the rule of thumb is that should you wish to leave because you decide its not for you, or your unit decides that you are not for the Army, they will seek an Adminitrative Discharge to allow you to leave pretty quickly (anything from a few weeks to three months) because a reluctant/inefficient soldier is both an administrative headache and a danger to others on the battlefield - and there's a great long list of willing, and high quality volunteers to replace them.

what do you want to do in the BA?

piby

OS119 wrote: »

yup, very roughly most infantry will sign a Versatle Engagement contract that initially is for 12 years - however there are Manning Control points throughout the 12 (6 years, 9 and 12) at which either party can decide to part company. satifactory soldiers will be offered further long contracts throughout their service.

recruits have the right to leave during their initial training (there are some specific rules regarding exactly when, but these are generally liberally observed and any recruit who wants on his toes can leave with little fuss or hassle) and then again at 4 years.

more speciallised forces - corps tradesmen being the obvious example - will also sign a Versatile Engagement, but often for 22, 24, or 30 years. the same MCP's exist. there are also 'Return of Service' agreements to protect the Army's investment after particular courses - Army Air Corps Pilot training for instance - and you'll have to promise to provide X years service in that role.

in short, its bewildering - but the rule of thumb is that should you wish to leave because you decide its not for you, or your unit decides that you are not for the Army, they will seek an Adminitrative Discharge to allow you to leave pretty quickly (anything from a few weeks to three months) because a reluctant/inefficient soldier is both an administrative headache and a danger to others on the battlefield - and there's a great long list of willing, and high quality volunteers to replace them.

Am I right in saying then that the minimum service for a soldier is less than that of an officer? The latter is the route I'd take if I were to go ahead and that's one year of Sandbags and then you only have to serve for three after you commission. Even though you say a soldier could get out if he really wanted it seems odd that his (potential) officer could do less time in the forces?!!

OS119

an officer can resign his commision at any stage - there are both real and theoretical sanctions (financial, future reference - possibly even force the then former officer to serve the remainder of his contracted service in the ranks) that could be taken against that officer to either punish him or persuade him to seek an alternate course of action - but the standard situation is than an officer who marches into into his OC's office and resigns his commision will be out the door.

there are situations around courts martial where an officer may not resign his commision, but an officer who gets into that situation probably isn't long for the service anyway.

mobilecore

So ...
basically. If i join, and dont like it i could leave once its before the training is over? ... if i like it. I am contracted for 4 years. that right?

I would like to join the infantry. I am 25 and its something I always wanted to try. Only thing that was stopping me is committing to 4 years to something that might not be for me. I definitely have an interest, it is something i want to try ... but at the end of the day i havent done it so i dont know.