Army life as a recruit

squiddy

Hi, just wondering what army life is like as a recruit?
What sort of hours in a week do you work?
Can I commute to the barracks?
Roughly how often do soldiers get deployed and how long does this last?
Do you get much time off other than standard leave entitlements? (I know some people in the army and I see them around a lot)
Any answers would be great, sorry for the ignorance around this 😬

Pat Dunne

squiddy wrote: »

Hi, just wondering what army life is like as a recruit?
What sort of hours in a week do you work?
Can I commute to the barracks?
Roughly how often do soldiers get deployed and how long does this last?
Do you get much time off other than standard leave entitlements? (I know some people in the army and I see them around a lot)
Any answers would be great, sorry for the ignorance around this 😬

Speak directly to the people you know in the Defense Forces.

squiddy

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Speak directly to the people you know in the Defense Forces.

I actually don't live in the town anymore and have no way of contacting them. Have you any experience yourself?

It wasn't me!

squiddy wrote: »

Hi, just wondering what army life is like as a recruit?
What sort of hours in a week do you work?

Eh, basically all of them. You'll get your time to sleep at night, but you can be expecting to work all your waking hours. After recruit training, there's no such thing as a standard. It depends on the role you're in and what your unit is doing at the time.

Can I commute to the barracks?

During training, no, you'll be living in. Afterwards, yes.

Roughly how often do soldiers get deployed and how long does this last?

Typically six months at a time, and it'd be every few years. It depends. There's no set schedule.

Do you get much time off other than standard leave entitlements

During training, no, you will not be getting any leave at all other than in the most exceptional circumstances (Having pre-booked a holiday, for example, will definitely not be considered exceptional circumstances). After that, again, it depends. No such thing as the standard army experience. Kinda the most definitive thing about the job.

tac foley

'What sort of hours in a week do you work?'

In the Armed Forces you can and often do, work 24/7 for as long as whatever you are doing takes to do.

That's why it's called a 'service'.

True, you DO have periods of stand-down, but basically you are on call every minute of the day from your enlistment until the minute you walk out of the door as a civilian after a long and successful career.

tac

Stovepipe

For recruit training, your life is not your own. Forget thinking about holidays or civvy appointments or any of that. The Army owns you, 24/7 and in recruit training, typically 16 weeks, you will be on the go the whole time and your every waking hour will be dictated by the training schedule. There was a series about it on RTE last year, so go and dig it up.If you enlist, they will send you a list of what to bring with you in the joining instructions. this is essentially the basic minimum, so find a serving soldier and ask him what you really need. A military career is not for everyone, so get as much advice as you can before you sign on the line.

mikeym

Check your Private messages OP.

There are videos on recruit training on youtube related to the DF.

squiddy

tac foley wrote: »

'What sort of hours in a week do you work?'

In the Armed Forces you can and often do, work 24/7 for as long as whatever you are doing takes to do.

That's why it's called a 'service'.

True, you DO have periods of stand-down, but basically you are on call every minute of the day from your enlistment until the minute you walk out of the door as a civilian after a long and successful career.

tac

Thanks for the reply. I was talking to one person and he said the 17 weeks for recruitment training in brutal, but he says he is only in the Kilkenny base from 08:30 to 16:30 I found this odd I thought it would be a lot heavier. All I know is he's a 3star private is all

mikeym

squiddy wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. I was talking to one person and he said the 17 weeks for recruitment training in brutal, but he says he is only in the Kilkenny base from 08:30 to 16:30 I found this odd I thought it would be a lot heavier. All I know is he's a 3star private is all

Have a look at the rank structure of the army.

The person you were talking to is a trained man and he is not treated like a recruit anymore.

It wasn't me!

Also, your training will be 29 weeks, comprising 17 weeks as a recruit and 12 weeks as a two-star Private. Do not expect that 12 weeks to be significantly easier. It's far more interesting and the skills learned are good, the course on the whole is better, but you're not a trained soldier at that point and you're not going to be treated like one. So don't prepare for 17 grim weeks. It's going to be the 29 in much the same vein.

tac foley

You never really learn anything about military fieldcraft until some body shoots at you and misses. Then, no hole is big enough...

tac