**British Armed Forces Discussion Thread**

Sounds class that in Germany.

I hope I get a posting abroad. How good does Wed sports day sound! Paid!

When do you go to Germany? and do you goto Herrick from there?

Nov 2011 is a way off, how far down the line does the timetable go for going there?

I got my oath on 15th September and can't wait for that. Nervous and extremely excited for basic though, sure it will be tough, I just hope I do well
 
Ghosteh said:
I have no idea what I'll be doing to be honest mate, will all depend if I get posted to an ICS(Information Communications Systems) Troop, or if I get posted to a Bowman Troop(Our main battle radio system). That said, I could get posted to a troop using a system such a ptarmigan, which I've never touched, so I could be learning on the job.

Generally though I'll be working in a First Line or Second Line maintenance workshop. Equipment will either come to us faulty, or we'll be called out to go test equipment in the backs of vehicles, fill out reports on the testing procedure and such.
But that's the boring stuff :p.

Wednesdays, finish early as that's always usually a sports afternoon in most units. So hopefully I'll spend most of Wednesdays snowboarding or something :D.
And Fridays generally you've got an early finish too, depending on what you've got on, finishing before lunch.
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More like munching biscuts and sipping coffee! :p
 
lemonkettaz said:
Sounds class that in Germany.

I hope I get a posting abroad. How good does Wed sports day sound! Paid!

When do you go to Germany? and do you goto Herrick from there?

Nov 2011 is a way off, how far down the line does the timetable go for going there?

I got my oath on 15th September and can't wait for that. Nervous and extremely excited for basic though, sure it will be tough, I just hope I do well
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It's generally the same in all units mate, sports afternoon on Wednesdays, both in UK, Germany, or anywhere else. I do it in my phase 2, albeit only twice a month, rather than every Wednesday. You won't do it in Phase1 though, so don't go bitching to your corporals about the lack of a sport Wednesday lol.

I'll be off to Germany in the next 3 months or so. I've got a few courses left to do, including getting my drivers licence. But yeah, we'll go straight from Germany out to Kandahar in Afghanistan as far as I know. Guys in the UK will go from Brize Norton out to Cyprus then straight to Kandahar for processing.

I don't know how far down the line these things are planned, I just know that 1 Div are off in Nov 2011. Can't wait to get out there :).

Good luck with your basic though, it was an awesome time for me, and I'm sure you'll look back at it and love every minute of it.
 
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A Little update on my RAF situation...

I Started back in May 2009, 9 weeks basic training at Halton, but due to groin injury took my 17 weeks in total, was quite depressing but overall had a good time making new friends etc. Graduating from Halton was a very proud day for me.

After Graduating myself and my other AMM friends all had to stay on Hold at Halton because Cosford courses were full up, So we stayed until we eventually headed to Cosford in November/December time.

A bit more holding time at Cosford through December and my AMM course finally started properly on the First day back after Christmas Holidays..

Spent the last 6 months going through each phase of training and making some of the best friends in my life. Laughed more than Ive ever laughed, got drunk more than ever, seen some funny stuff and had an absolutely brilliant part of my life there :)

Graduated on Tuesday this week, so finally an LAC and no longer a trainee, I head to Lossiemouth on Sunday to Start this tuesday coming. Cant wait.

Im gonna be back on OCUK a bit more I guess once Im up there with Internet, so Ill keep you up to date on progress.

To conclude. 2009 to 2010 has been the best year of my life. Regret not joining when I was younger.
 
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Hedge said:
Graduated on Tuesday this week, so finally an SAC and no longer a trainee, I head to Lossiemouth on Sunday to Start this tuesday coming. Cant wait.
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Congrats Mate :)

You getting your SAC's now then cause you spent longer at Halton? Shouldn't you have to do your TAT's?

Which Sqn are you going to? I've got AMM friends who got sent to Lossie.
 
hahah i said SAC, i mean Poxy LAC...

ill be aiming for SAC ASAP though, lac is a poo rank. ill edit post accordingly lol
 
Kamerad said:
I passed out of Bassingbourn last week, if you have any question about phase one let me know.
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Well done mate.

What sort of kit do I need to take? Just I'll be on a limited budget and I've seen the kitlist online, there is a lot.

Also what sort of distance was the running?

When do you get issued all your kit?

haha is it really tough physically?

Cheers
Oh and what were your highs and lows? :)

What you going in as anyway?
 
lemonkettaz said:
Well done mate.

What sort of kit do I need to take? Just I'll be on a limited budget and I've seen the kitlist online, there is a lot.

Also what sort of distance was the running?

When do you get issued all your kit?

haha is it really tough physically?

Cheers
Oh and what were your highs and lows? :)

What you going in as anyway?
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The main thing to take with you is a good iron, the rest of the stuff you can buy from the shop there if you need it and you will be given the option to take a £150 advance out of your wage in the first few days of training. Nearly everything you need is issued, a lot of the things on the list it said to bring were issued to me anyway or I never used them. You get issued your kit in day two or three, the first week is pretty much just doing admin.

In week one you will do the 1.5 mile timed run again to test your fitness and after that its 3 mile runs, these are normally at a slow pace though so not too difficult. The furthest i ran was 4 miles in week 6 and 5 miles in week 9. You will be suprised how little running you actually do. I struggled with the running at first as my run time was 11:30 which was pretty poor although i got it down to 9:30 by the end of week 14 which I was made up with. If you are already doing the 1.5 mile run in under 10 minutes you wont have any problems with fitness.

My best times during training were adventure training in Wales, we went caving, hill walking and kayaking. The caving really put me out of my comfort zone crawling through gaps you wouldnt think you could get through. Also Final exercise was one of the best times, Five days in the brecon beacons getting 2- 3 hours sleep a night and firing off 100's of blank rounds playing war. By that point you have been taught everything you need to know and its putting it all into practise.

My main advice is not to give up, many people quit in the first few weeks, There were even two people that quit on the first day of training without even giving it a chance. The first couple of weeks can be hard getting used to the pace of army life. The main thing I struggled with was not having any free time, but after week four things get a lot more relaxed and you start to enjoy things, you will have days when you are fed up and think its not worth it but when you're on the parade square passing out with all your family watching its the best feeling in the world.

I'm now heading to do my Royal Engineer training, which is apparently nails... :o
 
Great, cheers mate.

Did you know a lad mark smith? Think he started 21st march, left early.

Yeh It's only the fitness I'm worried about (getting injured etc) most I hear is people that never lived on their own before have trouble, people with kids.

Luckily I have no dependants ha and lived in student halls and away from home for 4year now so I can look after myself sort of thing.

Still I can't iron a shirt properly to save my life haha.

I'm going Royal Engineers too mate and yes the combat engineering is supposedly harder but you will probably fly through it after been used to basic.

As sad as it sounds, one of the things I'm looking forward to is doing drill, i loved that at cadets.

Do you still go on reality of war trip?

Also when do you fire guns?

Cheers, I'll try and limit the questions ha
 
lemonkettaz said:
Great, cheers mate.

Did you know a lad mark smith? Think he started 21st march, left early.

Yeh It's only the fitness I'm worried about (getting injured etc) most I hear is people that never lived on their own before have trouble, people with kids.

Luckily I have no dependants ha and lived in student halls and away from home for 4year now so I can look after myself sort of thing.

Still I can't iron a shirt properly to save my life haha.

I'm going Royal Engineers too mate and yes the combat engineering is supposedly harder but you will probably fly through it after been used to basic.

As sad as it sounds, one of the things I'm looking forward to is doing drill, i loved that at cadets.

Do you still go on reality of war trip?

Also when do you fire guns?

Cheers, I'll try and limit the questions ha
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I hated drill and I'm still terrible at it, if the ncos are in a bad mood drill can be worse than a pt session lol.

You still go on realities of war but not to belgium anymore, you go to the National Memorial Arboretum in Lichfield where they have the memorials for Iraq and Afghanistan.

You first fire the rifle on week 3, the first two weeks are pretty much just learning weapons handling and doing drill. I don't envy you starting in October though, exercise will be cold :D There was a course last winter on their final exercise that got stranded in the Brecon beacons due to heavy snow and had to be picked up by chinook. The best vehicle I got to ride in was a coach lol.
 
Yeh mate, I am dreading the winter training, although I will get a break for christmas which could be a life saver :)

At least I can always warm up, suppose summer months you can't cool down, although I seem to seize up in the cold, definitely going to be a mental challenge ha.

I did selection in winter and it was awful getting up at 530 in the freezing cold ha, more of the same.

last questions, what is a pt session like? what is the medical like at the start? thanks
 
Hedge said:
A Little update on my RAF situation...

I Started back in May 2009, 9 weeks basic training at Halton, but due to groin injury took my 17 weeks in total, was quite depressing but overall had a good time making new friends etc. Graduating from Halton was a very proud day for me.

After Graduating myself and my other AMM friends all had to stay on Hold at Halton because Cosford courses were full up, So we stayed until we eventually headed to Cosford in November/December time.

A bit more holding time at Cosford through December and my AMM course finally started properly on the First day back after Christmas Holidays..

Spent the last 6 months going through each phase of training and making some of the best friends in my life. Laughed more than Ive ever laughed, got drunk more than ever, seen some funny stuff and had an absolutely brilliant part of my life there :)

Graduated on Tuesday this week, so finally an LAC and no longer a trainee, I head to Lossiemouth on Sunday to Start this tuesday coming. Cant wait.

Im gonna be back on OCUK a bit more I guess once Im up there with Internet, so Ill keep you up to date on progress.

To conclude. 2009 to 2010 has been the best year of my life. Regret not joining when I was younger.
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Lossie for the win :D

You will be in the beach bar by the first Friday! Plus the JR Club is like £1.30~ a pint! :)

Andr3w said:
SAC(T) here on the high pay band....BOOOYAH ;)
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Shut up you!
 
I have no idea what you crabs are on about, but congratulations on passing out Hedge, and good luck at your new Sqn :D.
 
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