Ask a military guy...
- Thread starter Dectomax
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I'm actually looking to join the British Army as an Officer after I graduate from university this year, and I've got my first interview at a Careers Office in a couple of weeks. Any advice on what sort of questions I might be asked, or that I should be asking?
Also, assuming I get that far in the selection process, I know you're supposed to pick a regiment to be sponsored by through training, and I honestly have no idea what differentiates most of them. I'm looking to be involved in the infantry rather than anything else, but beyond that I'm not really sure - I don't come from a military family and don't really know anyone that serves, so other than trawl through descriptions of regiments on Wikipedia or whatever I'm not really sure how to make a decision.
Also, assuming I get that far in the selection process, I know you're supposed to pick a regiment to be sponsored by through training, and I honestly have no idea what differentiates most of them. I'm looking to be involved in the infantry rather than anything else, but beyond that I'm not really sure - I don't come from a military family and don't really know anyone that serves, so other than trawl through descriptions of regiments on Wikipedia or whatever I'm not really sure how to make a decision.
It depends on what role you want? The Infantry have a rather large amount of regiments.CompetingMantis said:
EDIT:
The Rifles and The Merican Regiments are two of the most respected Infantry regiments, though there are others too. the Royal Engineers and The Royal Artillery are very good, offering multiple trades to advance your career. So, there's a fair few options to look at.
As for the interview, the first time will just be a quick chat and some basic questions, why do you want to join? What interests do you have stuff like that. It's all very informal so there's not much to worry about!
I understand that the (.au) military offers full engineering degrees (and an officer rank upon graduation) but how willing are they to take a slightly-older (mid to late twenties) individual who already has a degree or two.
For clarification, I'm an engineer (mechatronic, so mech and elec) by education and employment, but I have considered joining the military previously, just wanted to know if what I've already done counts for anything.
For clarification, I'm an engineer (mechatronic, so mech and elec) by education and employment, but I have considered joining the military previously, just wanted to know if what I've already done counts for anything.
Thanks for the reply! I thought the interview might be an informal thing - I'm still going to try and over-prepare though I guess, simply because it's something I really want to do, and also because I've applied for bugger-all else this year so it's this or moving back home...Dectomax said:
And cheers for the advice about regiments, I'll have a look at the two you mentioned. At the moment I haven't really had much time to do any research - my final-year dissertation is eating all my time at the moment - but I'm hoping to look into it a bit more deeply once that's all over with, and possibly meet up with an ex-serviceman friend of my parents to have a chat about that sort of thing.
CompetingMantis said:
The first interview (First time you visit the AFCO ) is always just a chat. They want to get to know you and generally just find out why you want to join. That way they can help you choose what they believe is best for you. All AFCO advisor's are serving personnel. So they will be a great source of information!
Ireland [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland#Partition], is not part [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_Treaty] of the United Kingdom [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom], as of December 6, 1922 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_War_of_Independence#Treaty.2C_December_1921_.E2.80.93_March_1922] (though some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_republicanism] would argue it never was)Dectomax said:
Unless you meant the island of Ireland, in which case only a rather small North-eastern section [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_ireland] of Ireland is part of the UK.
Ahoi, I'm interested in military in general and considering an officer career in the Bundeswehr.
In order to gather some real knowledge, I started to read books about the topic.
I've read mostly about WW2 (two war-diaries (one by a Waffen-SS infantry soldier, one by a Stuka-pilot), Rommel's Infantry attacks (not finished yet), Sun Tzu's Art of War, two books about WW2 in general), and I wanted to ask, is there any use to this in the real life military or is this in vain?
Will that rather "old" stuff help when I'd be caught in a difficult situation / hail of bullets?
Should I rather put that time for extra training sessions in the gym / woods?
Bonus question:
Have you ever fired a G36?
An Ex-Bundeswehr soldier told me that it is pretty flawed (since it wouldn't be able to penetrate a bullet-proof vest from a certain distance, and it's said to jam very often). I find this quite worrisome because it would probably be the weapon I'm using when I would really make it to the troop.
In order to gather some real knowledge, I started to read books about the topic.
I've read mostly about WW2 (two war-diaries (one by a Waffen-SS infantry soldier, one by a Stuka-pilot), Rommel's Infantry attacks (not finished yet), Sun Tzu's Art of War, two books about WW2 in general), and I wanted to ask, is there any use to this in the real life military or is this in vain?
Will that rather "old" stuff help when I'd be caught in a difficult situation / hail of bullets?
Should I rather put that time for extra training sessions in the gym / woods?
Bonus question:
Have you ever fired a G36?
An Ex-Bundeswehr soldier told me that it is pretty flawed (since it wouldn't be able to penetrate a bullet-proof vest from a certain distance, and it's said to jam very often). I find this quite worrisome because it would probably be the weapon I'm using when I would really make it to the troop.
It's still kind of a sensitive issue. There are people alive today who remember a time when British soldiers walked the streets of Dublin (occasionally indiscriminately killing innocent civilians [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1920)]).Dectomax said:
Generally, when you're talking to people outside the UK, Ireland = the Republic of Ireland.
I'm not sure? The study of it may prove to be of useful insight but other than that I can't really say.Totenkopf said:
I would recommend time in the gym and outside training first and foremost. They will teach you everything you need to learn, though a basic concept of military strategy will be useful ofcourse.
I've never fired a G36, having never been to Germany I can't say I've heard any opinions on it either. To be fair, from a certain distance an AK47 will not penetrate armour. A few lads in my battalion have been hit, and whilst bruised and pretty painful, the round did not actually penetrate the armour.
I would research the weapon, it may be like the L85. The first version was terrible, but the current version, L85A2, is a very good rifle.
You only get a degree if you go through ADFA. If your degree meets the requirements you can apply as a graduate, which means you would skip ADFA and go directly to RMC. If you want more info checkout the aus military forums the people there know alot more than I do.BlueMage said:
I know in the United States Military, you're allowed to mix and match your gear and add other things to your kit (Optics and everything else you want to put on it as well as moving around the position of some pouches and actually adding extra pouches to your PC) depending on how loose or anal your CO is, is this the same in the Royal military?
Holy shit mate. At the moment I'm pretty much an underpaid labourer, I've been building houses, cleaning up cyclones, filling sandbags and cleaning the base and that has been all this year. I've used a weapon three times this year, none of which was live fire, once was completely dry, once was at a WTSS system and the closest I've got is blanks rounds. You have no idea how disillusioned I am with the whole thing right now. I don't even know what a soldier is anymore. "Officially" I'm an infantry digger in a rifle company, actually I'm cheap labour for all your building needs!A Mad Monk 2 said: