Joining the British Army

Smiley Dave

Hey!

I've been looking at joining the British Army, though I'm not really sure on the joining process. I'm in Dublin and planning to pop up to the Careers Office in Belfast in a few weeks when I have some time but it would be nice if I could get some questions answered.

Regarding the regiments, do you just apply to whatever regiment you want to join and they deal with you or universal thing where you just apply to join the army, go through the process and then join some unit?

What are the steps involved in joining up. I go up to the Careers Office and then what happens?

That's all I really want to know right now but I'm sure I'll have loads more soon .

tricky D

Some previous threads to help you:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056313995
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055897202
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056155543
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056249607
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054968517
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055553024
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=55517185&postcount=35

discus

First, ring them to arrange a meeting.

Before you attend the meeting, look at armyjobs website. You pick a job, not a regiment. If you join a combat role (such as tanker, infantryman, gunner) then you pick a regiment. Have an idea of what job you'd like, and let them guide the rest of the way.

pablomakaveli

You'd be better off ringing them or sending an email before hand.

Also check out the army website to look at all the jobs available. Im presuming that you've lived all your life in Ireland so just keep in mind that any jobs in the Royal Signals, intelligence, army air corps and a few REME jobs aren't available to anyone who hasnt lived in the UK for 5 years as they require security clearance.

There are also recruitment offices in Portadown and Enniskillen if you'd find those easier to travel to.

Smiley Dave

Thanks for the help!

I rang them earlier today around 4pm but didn't get any answer so I've sent an email off. I'll probably try ring again tomorrow though as well.

I've had a look at the different jobs and the combat roles seem to be interesting me more.

kildarecommuter

Id recommend REME or RLC to you both get attached to front line unints but a much greater range of trades and posting opportunities and better pay as well!

Lemming

Smiley Dave wrote: »

Thanks for the help!

I rang them earlier today around 4pm but didn't get any answer so I've sent an email off. I'll probably try ring again tomorrow though as well.

I got an email reply back fairly sharp (i.e. next morning) on a query of interest; but admittedly mine was towards a specific teeth-arms unit recruitment staff sergeant directly, not a general recruitment contact.

They should get back to you pretty quickly though. Best of luck!

pablomakaveli

Also one more bit of advice. Make sure the job and regiment is the one that you want. Some recruiters will try and nudge you towards their regiment or corps.

alex18

Smiley Dave wrote: »

Regarding the regiments, do you just apply to whatever regiment you want to join and they deal with you or universal thing where you just apply to join the army, go through the process and then join some unit?

What are the steps involved in joining up. I go up to the Careers Office and then what happens?

First of all, have a look at this website:
http://www.army.mod.uk/rolefinder
Have a good look at all the jobs on offer to you so that you don't walk through the recruiting office door 'blind'.

When you do get to the careers office you will have an 'Initial Interview'. In this the recruiter will ask you basic questions about who you are, why you want to join and what job you want to do.

After this you will be asked to come back in about a week to take the BARB (British Army Recruit Battery) test and basic literacy and numeracy tests. They are all done on a touch screen and are pretty simple. The BARB questions are things like, "Fred is faster than John. Who is slower?”

You will then be asked to give three 'options' that you wish to do. These can literally be anything. If you choose infantry or armoured then you need to give three regiments. I'll give a few examples to make it more clear:
1) Infantryman, Royal Irish Regiment
2) Infantryman, Irish Guards
3) Infantryman, Royal Regiment of Scotland

1) Light Gunner, Royal Artillery
2) General Fitter, Royal Engineers
3) Tank Crewman, The Queen's Royal Hussars

Later on in the process you will be asked to confirm which of these you actually want to do, but at this stage you can give yourself the various options.

You are then be given a shed load of paperwork to complete. Part of this paperwork generally includes an optician’s sheet. For this you just need to book an appointment with an optician and get them to fill in the form.

Next you will be asked to attend one of the Army Development and Selection Centres (ADSC). This is where you have a full medical, do all the fitness tests and have an interview. In this interview you will confirm what job you want to do (provided you have met the requirements).

After passing the ADSC you will take the oath and be given a date to being basic training.


Feel free to ask any more questions.

judosean2005

Perfect,i was kind of wondering the process.

Ive got my BARB test in few weeks.

Sean

BlastedGlute

should all go smoothly if you do the right research and dont make it seem like you saw a recruitment advert and thought "that looks like call of duty".

If there are things you dont know then thats fine to, you dont need to know regiment history or any of that stuff (at least not before you get to your regiment) and they'll be happy to talk you through everything, professionals that they are. I've been in and out and am back in again shortly. Will have to sit out the first few years before I could leave but seeing as most of my friends are still there and some have since gone in there will be nothing to miss back here(other than the missus who will obviously be coming with me later on )

Other than that, think of it as a job, a tough job, that will make you a better more selfless person, but still a job. Join the Queens Royal Hussars for Irish challanger 2 tankies, join the RIR for infantry or just join anything you want because there's so many of us paddys there you'll be trying to avoid them before long to make "new" friends.

alex18

BlastedGlute wrote: »

should all go smoothly if you do the right research and dont make it seem like you saw a recruitment advert and thought "that looks like call of duty".

You say that, but a good mate of mine got dicked to spend some time in the Liverpool AFCO and one day a young lad came in and said he wanted to join up. The lad said that he had seen an advert on the TV where some soldiers controlled a, "remote-controlled plane" with an Xbox controller and he wanted to do that job.

When asked why he wanted that job in particular the lad goes, "Well, I'm f-ing boss at HALO on me Xbox, so I'd be mega at it."

The Agogo

pablomakaveli wrote: »

You'd be better off ringing them or sending an email before hand.

Also check out the army website to look at all the jobs available. Im presuming that you've lived all your life in Ireland so just keep in mind that any jobs in the Royal Signals, intelligence, army air corps and a few REME jobs aren't available to anyone who hasnt lived in the UK for 5 years as they require security clearance.

There are also recruitment offices in Portadown and Enniskillen if you'd find those easier to travel to.

The reason for this has to do with Britain's allies. The Americans and other NATO countries only want to share intelligence with NATO passport holders.

Also, practice the BARB online to the death. The higher your score, the more choice of jobs available to you.

You also have to do a pre-ADSC test now. So you'll be up to Belfast three times before you even get to consider visiting a regiment in Britain.

cmalone922

Can anyone tell me if i can become an raf pilot? i know people from the republic can join the raf but are they restricted to raf jobs other than a pilot/officer? any replies would be welcomed

goldie fish

cmalone922 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if i can become an raf pilot? i know people from the republic can join the raf but are they restricted to raf jobs other than a pilot/officer? any replies would be welcomed

Yes you can

Maybe_Memories

alex18 wrote: »

When asked why he wanted that job in particular the lad goes, "Well, I'm f-ing boss at HALO on me Xbox, so I'd be mega at it."

This really, really amused me.

motivated1

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone could tell me in detail about recruitment training specifically for the Royal Irish Regiment.
Thanks

SaoriseBiker

motivated1 wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone could tell me in detail about recruitment training specifically for the Royal Irish Regiment.
Thanks

It always gets me about these Einsteins on the forum who never think of lifting the phone and asking directly instead of going to all the trouble of posting questions on an internet forum where you could get wrong or deliberately misleading information ? And it's not like they could search the forum to see if the question has been asked before

Maybe_Memories

cmalone922 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if i can become an raf pilot? i know people from the republic can join the raf but are they restricted to raf jobs other than a pilot/officer? any replies would be welcomed

goldie fish wrote: »

Yes you can

Correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I'm aware you need to have been living in the UK for 5 years before you can join any part of the RAF, and the cut off age is like 25.

I'm 90% certain you can join the Army Air Corp as a pilot though, but that's not much good if you want to go fast jet.

motivated1

do u honestly not think ive already done that? all they say is apply and come to the meeting and we will answer all ur questions for you. all i wanted to know was what the recruit training would be like, y did u even bother taking the time to reply to me? it was of no benefit to either of us.

SaoriseBiker

motivated1 wrote: »

do u honestly not think ive already done that? all they say is apply and come to the meeting and we will answer all ur questions for you. all i wanted to know was what the recruit training would be like, y did u even bother taking the time to reply to me? it was of no benefit to either of us.

I believe you but thousands wouldn't :rolleyes:

The Master of Disaster

motivated1 wrote: »

do u honestly not think ive already done that? all they say is apply and come to the meeting and we will answer all ur questions for you. all i wanted to know was what the recruit training would be like, y did u even bother taking the time to reply to me? it was of no benefit to either of us.

In fairness though I can see why some people get annoyed when the same vague questions keep appearing on these forums time and again. I don't mean to single you out by any means but whether it be in relation to the BA or the Defence Forces people repeatedly ask questions that have been already answered in a different thread or can quite easily be found using Google.

That said you came here for a little bit of help so I'll try. I found a very detailed breakdown of recruit training on the official BA website detailing the exact breakdown of the course for infantry recruits, bearing in mind that training is the same for all recruits whether you're going RIR, Mercian, Rifles etc. and lasts 28 weeks (exception of Guards and Para's who do an extra two weeks ). I'm not going to copy and paste it onto here because;

1. That would be doing it for you.
2. Posting direct links to the BA website might contravene the Forum Charter and even if it doesn't will be made out to do so by some of our favourite Forum trolls!

That said, perhaps googling the term 'Combat Infantryman's Course - Line Infantry' might yield some useful results

There's also a recent documentary called Young Soldiers you might want to check out online. Four one-hour episodes that followed a number of recruits through training which is exactly what you're looking for.

motivated1

true.
ive spent the last 2 weeks trying to find information on google but cant find much. on the website all i could manage to find was the recruitment process rather than the recruit syllabus.
thanks a million for the help, im going to watch those episodes now

ThatGuy93

Hi Guys,

I didnt want to drag up a new thread. I'm currently just starting first year in University but its my long term goal to eventually join the BA as an officer.

I've searched the BA website but couldnt seem to find anything about the Leaving Cert entry requirements to join the BA as an officer, would greatly appreciate it if anybody could tell me the exact requirements?

Thanks alot in advance

Dogwatch

ThatGuy93 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I didnt want to drag up a new thread. I'm currently just starting first year in University but its my long term goal to eventually join the BA as an officer.

I've searched the BA website but couldnt seem to find anything about the Leaving Cert entry requirements to join the BA as an officer, would greatly appreciate it if anybody could tell me the exact requirements?

Thanks alot in advance

Convert A levels to Honours Leaving Cert. If you qualify for Uni, it should be enough. Ring the Recruiting office and get it direct.

OS119

ThatGuy93 wrote: »

Thanks alot in advance

in this case you really do need to speak to an AFCO - there are two issues: firstly what are the requirements in strict administrative tems, and secondly what is the current requirement given the competition.

its worth remembering that competition for a place is fierce, and RMAS has so many decent applicants that the intakes are nominally full for the next three years - an applicant who just scraped in on the qualification requirements would have to have a stellar performance at main board to get in...

SaoriseBiker

Don't shoot the messenger but - Soldiers leaving army 'three times more likely to commit suicide'

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/564164-soldiers-leaving-army-three-times-more-likely-to-commit-suicide

discus

From your link

Overall the suicide rate among ex-military personnel was similar to that of the general population.

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/564164-soldiers-leaving-army-three-times-more-likely-to-commit-suicide#ixzz258dXOqkx

Well done.

not_a_robot

Has anyone ever heard of any girls/women from the Republic joining the BA? I'm through the last stage of the recruitment process for the Irish Defence Forces recruit competitions this year, just waiting on final word back, but I seem to find myself loitering on the BA website more and more these days.. good idea? Bad idea? Any advice/opinions would be appreciated.

tac foley

goldie fish wrote: »

Yes you can

Ah, please read this before you go any further...

Residency

As well as meeting nationality requirements, you must also meet certain residency criteria to be eligible to apply for a job in the RAF.
UK Resident for a Minimum of 5-years
If you have been resident in the United Kingdom for a minimum period of 5 years immediately prior to your application, and have not spent more than 28 days per year outside of the UK during this time, then you meet our residency criteria. You should register your interest as normal.
If you have spent more than 28 days per year outside the UK in the last 5 years, then we will need to complete further checks on your eligibility. During the application process you will be asked to explain why you have spent over 28 days outside the UK. In the meantime, provided that you meet our other eligibility criteria, you should register your interest as normal.
UK Resident Between 3 and 5-years
If you have been resident in the UK for more than 3 years but less than 5 years immediately prior to making your application, and have not spent more than 28 days per year outside the UK during this period then we will need to complete further checks on your eligibility during the application process. In the meantime, provided that you meet our other eligibility criteria, you should register your interest as normal.
UK Resident less than 3 years
If you have been resident in the United Kingdom for less than 3 years, but fall into one of the following categories then we will need to complete further checks on your eligibility during the application process. In the meantime, you should register you interest as normal.

• You spent time abroad for travel/ study gap year reasons.
• You lived abroad because your parents were employed by the UK government (including HM Forces) in a foreign country.
• You are a British citizen with at least one parent who is a British citizen and you lived with your parents abroad and you attended secondary school within the European Economic Area or a Commonwealth Country.

If you do not fall into one of the above categories, then you are ineligible to apply to the RAF at this time.

And this -

http://www.2beapilot.co.uk/raf_pilot.htm

Clear enough?

tac

tac foley

SaoriseBiker wrote: »

Don't shoot the messenger but - Soldiers leaving army 'three times more likely to commit suicide'

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/564164-soldiers-leaving-army-three-times-more-likely-to-commit-suicide

Well I didn't.

I don't miss it THAT much.

tac

SaoriseBiker

discus wrote: »

Overall the suicide rate among ex-military personnel was similar to that of the general population.
Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/564164-s...#ixzz258dXOqkx

Well done.

:rolleyes: ' Sigh ' ........... It's a pity you didn't add - " Overall the suicide rate among ex-military personnel was similar to that of the general population.
But young veterans aged under 24 stood out as being exceptionally at risk. Although the number committing suicide was still small, they were two to three times more likely to kill themselves than civilian men of the same age, or young military men still on active service. "

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/564164-soldiers-leaving-army-three-times-more-likely-to-commit-suicide#ixzz25DR6KJoS

I didn't write the article, the journo did.

tac foley

My pal John didn't wait until he left to blow his brains out. He was a WO2 when he locked himself in the stockroom of the club and taped his Browning into his hand to make sure he didn't drop it by accident.

I had to go to the scene and positively identify him - his wife and three daughters [the oldest our god-daughter] were over in Ireland on holiday with the grandparents at the time.

Nobody saw it coming, and it turned out that it was indebtedness from telephone betting - illegal in Germany at that time. It's a one way ticket to oblivion that some poor souls feel is the only way. Those left behind are the ones who suffer.

tac

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

Jellicoe

IrishFeeney92 wrote: »

Completely agree! my dad did 31 years in the DF and hasnt looked back since, says hes delighted he left! I suppose theres a time all soldiers get to when there just sick off all the BullSH*T

It's a bit like school, you're glad you did it, but have no intrest in going back

Gingernuts31

Can anyone tell me where the main entrance to palace barracks is? There area code says its on church rd holywood but thats not within walking distance of holywood town. I see an extrance on jacksons rd just off the A2 but there is no guard room there so thats hardly an entrance just an exit maybe?

goldie fish

Gingernuts31 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me where the main entrance to palace barracks is? There area code says its on church rd holywood but thats not within walking distance of holywood town. I see an extrance on jacksons rd just off the A2 but there is no guard room there so thats hardly an entrance just an exit maybe?

It doesn't matter.

Gingernuts31

goldie fish wrote: »

It doesn't matter.

Right so if I walk up to a gate with no guard room, the gate is solid metal so they can't see me if there is someone standing there you don't think it makes sence to find 1 with barriers and gaurd room? It's ok anyway I found the main entrance on old holywood rd.

pablomakaveli

please delete mods.

B2deF

Just a quick question. Can people from the republic join the British army as a military police officer?

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

Gingernuts31

k

pablomakaveli

B2deF wrote: »

Just a quick question. Can people from the republic join the British army as a military police officer?

Do you mean being an officer in the RMP or just joining as a private?

You can join as an irish citizen but you'll need to score over 60 on your barb test which is a pretty high score and i dont think you can have any convictions either.

pablomakaveli

please delete

goldie fish

Everyone I know who has joined in NI has done the initial contact by phone or post, and the recruiting people then collect them from their accom. The Barracks in NI do not as a rule accept people in off the streets to fill out initial forms. Nobody will get in unless they are expected, those who are expected will be told where to go.

discus

Lads, I've reported posts and nothing is being done about it. Yous are leaving little to the imagination, perhaps a few edits to the last 4 posts wouldn't go amiss?

pablomakaveli

discus wrote: »

Lads, I've reported posts and nothing is being done about it. Yous are leaving little to the imagination, perhaps a few edits to the last 4 posts wouldn't go amiss?

I didnt give any specific details about locations but deleted posts anyway just to err on the side of caution.

If a mod can delete the sections of the other posts that would be great.

Gingernuts if you want to pm me any questions feel free.

Geekness1234

Nationality requirements stipulate British Citizen or Dual British citizen,for RAF pilot officer.

tac foley

Geekness1234 wrote: »

Nationality requirements stipulate British Citizen or Dual British citizen,for RAF pilot officer.

I'm assuming that you mean, to become a pilot in the RAF. Pilot Officer is the lowest rank in the officer branch of the RAF.

tac

Geekness1234

tac foley wrote: »

I'm assuming that you mean, to become a pilot in the RAF. Pilot Officer is the lowest rank in the officer branch of the RAF.

tac

Yeah thanks for clearing that up,wasn't the last Irish RAF pilot on morning TV a while back? think he flew harriers.

tac foley

There have been some VERY famous Irish pilots, Paddy Finucane was one of them.....

tac