Life as an army DF officer

OS119

Jawgap wrote: »

...I think it was something like 40% of officers at the rank of 2Lt / Lt / captain in the British Army had started out as enlisted men / women...

i'm not sure its quite that high, but it may be.

to make things confusing, there's three entry points that make the total - firstly 'traditional' YO's: 21-25, usually graduates, who have been members of the TA as OR's (the number of tour Gongs in evidence on Sovereign's parade, compared to 20 years ago, has to be seen to be believed), but these YO's will just look like any other YO's, and you wouldn't know they had served as OR's unless they told you, or you looked their records.

secondly YO's who have served perhaps 3 to 5 years as OR's in the Regular Army and been picked out by their Regiments for Commissioning - they are obviously a bit older than the other YO's, but still in the YO 'bracket'.

thirdly you have Late Entrant Officers - these are former Warrant Officers who've done 18-22 years service, who are then commisioned as Captains.

it is, without doubt, becoming more prevailent - war is the ultimate test of a leadership, and having been at war, constantly, for 10 years we have a large number of superb young leaders who have been tested personally and professionally at Pte/L/Cpl/Cpl level who we know can do the job of a YO while still being in the age bracket, so it makes sense to use those who have been tested in the most demanding circumstances, rather than employing an untried candidate and hoping* that he can do the job.

*its more scientific than that, but thats what it comes down to.

tac foley

OS119 wrote: »

thirdly you have Late Entrant Officers - these are former Warrant Officers who've done 18-22 years service, who are then commisioned as Captains.

Yup, that was me, except that I had only just over 14 years in the ranks. I was a WO1 for ten days, just long enough to get my WO1 suit to save the expense of buying it as an officer.

At one time the percentage in my bit of the Army was as high as 45%.

tac

the_syco

Jawgap wrote: »

Do the Irish DF commission many NCOs? I might be dreaming it but I think I saw somewhere that in Europe, the Irish DF have one the lowest rates of officers raised from Non-comms

I forget the reason, but pretty sure either someone here said it, or someone told me when I was (briefly) in the FCA 13 years ago, and the reason made lots of sense.

I stand to be corrected, but I think it's to do with a limit to the amount of officers, and thus it's harder for a nco to compete for the positions?

OS119

the_syco wrote: »

...the reason made lots of sense...

the reason it was always hard for NCO's was that your chances of being able to prove yourself and have enough time to do the normal YO career path were pretty limited. you had to be lucky as fcuk - that and that class divisions between Officers and NCO's tend to get accentuated in peacetime armies, making a transition more difficult.

now, in the BA anyway, you won't find anyone at Cpl level who hasn't got two tours under their belt, including one at L/Cpl or Cpl level, and they'll be under 25. at that age they can jump on the YO career stream and be Majors at 33.

a YO with that level of experience will get tapped for the hard jobs - the exposed PB on the arse-end-of-nowhere, Reece Troop, FST, BRF and getting the Loggies to where they need to be. valuable as fcuk, treasured by any OC with half a brain.

RMD

investment wrote: »

I'm 6 foot 1 inches

I wont be, joining the british army. Micheal collins is my hero..Last week I bought a large picture of him and placed it in my workout room. Everytime I need inspiration and motivation as I push for the burn I look at his photo

Also I have won many medals for clay pigeon shooting and 200 meters rifleing

Investment, if you're going to lie I suggest you do it well.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77253209&postcount=1

5'10 eh?

tricky D

RMD wrote: »

Investment, if you're going to lie I suggest you do it well.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77253209&postcount=1

5'10 eh?

Nevermind the simply incredible IQ of 180.

Midnight Oil

tac foley wrote: »

Apart from the accents employed by those participating in the affair, I would imagine from talking to some of my erstwhile colleagues that it is not a lot different from the experiences of ANY YO on his or her first day with men to command. Without doubt, for a YO, it will be -

a. petrifying.

b. a steep learning curve that gets vertical at around 9am.

c. a humbling experience.

d. a never-ever-forgotten day.

Mine was a lot more simple.

1. In the company of three others of the same rank as me - all getting commissioned on the same day back in 1984 - I marched into the room with my WO1's 'Tate & Lyle' badge carefully removed from my lower right sleeve, and already replaced with four nice shiney stars - two on each shoulder.

2. I then officially left the British Army, and signed myself off the nominal roll of the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. Officers are not actually IN the British Army - they hold an appointment and commission to BE an officer over the other ranks for the British Army who are actually IN the Army. Well, I understand it, anyhow. If you are confused, please read the wording on a commissioning scroll for an officer of the British Armed Forces - you'll see what I mean.

3. I then took advantage of the traditional 'two-minute rethink' to decide to either walk out of the door a free man, or to accept the Queen's Commission as an officer in the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom.

4. I chickened out and signed up the next seventeen years of my life....the document itself, signed by Herself, graces our downstairs bathroom wall - another tradition.

5. The last tradition of the day was to march over to the OM, past the RSM - a good friend who was himself getting commissioned the following month - and get the very first salute in OUR direction from himself.

Happy days, eh?

tac

Similar and different to my first day as a second flute.

Now my day goes as follows:

1. deal with all of the bull****e that my troops have created for me that day e.g. absence, sick, whingeing, breaking things (you would be amazed what a soldier can manage to break)
2. deal with all of the bull****e that my CO has created for me that day e.g. could be ANYTHING and i really do mean ANYTHING
3. deal with all of the bull****e that Bde HQ has created for me that day. e.g. explain very carefully and slowly how to do their job and that if they check their inbox the email called "XXXX Weekly Return" is the weekly return from my unit on XXXX.
4. Try and find time somewhere between 1, 2 and 3 above to actually get some work done that day.
5. Wait for everyone to go home and get more done in 20 mins than I got done in the previous 6 hours as no one is there to annoy me.

Kat1170

Midnight Oil wrote: »

Similar and different to my first day as a second flute.

Now my day goes as follows:

1. deal with all of the bull****e that my troops have created for me that day e.g. absence, sick, whingeing, breaking things (you would be amazed what a soldier can manage to break)2. deal with all of the bull****e that my CO has created for me that day e.g. could be ANYTHING and i really do mean ANYTHING
3. deal with all of the bull****e that Bde HQ has created for me that day. e.g. explain very carefully and slowly how to do their job and that if they check their inbox the email called "XXXX Weekly Return" is the weekly return from my unit on XXXX.
4. Try and find time somewhere between 1, 2 and 3 above to actually get some work done that day.
5. Wait for everyone to go home and get more done in 20 mins than I got done in the previous 6 hours as no one is there to annoy me.

Ha ha. Soldier proof doesn't exist. It's like a challenge to some lads to prove this :rolleyes:

thermo

Kat1170 wrote: »

Ha ha. Soldier proof doesn't exist. It's like a challenge to some lads to prove this :rolleyes:

the only thing that is soldier-proof is 3 feet of railway track, too heavy to nick (casually), too solid to break and too short to bend.

Midnight Oil

thermo wrote: »

too heavy to nick

I know a unit that thought the same about a 1 ton slab of granite, lets just say they were missing the steps into their building on a monday morning

thermo

Midnight Oil wrote: »

I know a unit that thought the same about a 1 ton slab of granite, lets just say they were missing the steps into their building on a monday morning

what bks?
also i said casually!!