Thinking of joining the TA

salami1212 · 4 Sep 2009 at 05:08

Hi there, does anyone have any experience with joining the TA. I was having a look and have just requested the information pack..

Would I be able to go to university while being part of the TA?
Do you get paid just for the time you are training?
Would it be better going as an officer or a soldier?

I know that a lot of the answers depend on what I want but in peoples opinions and experiences what do they think? Cheers

etom · 4 Sep 2009 at 05:22

i was in ta while in first year uni, worked perfectly and is fine

better to in as soldier if you are very decent then they will recommend you apply as an officer after the 9 weekends or so of basic training and 2 weeks camp. Get paid just while training 40odd quid a day and get 8quid or so for a 2 hour tuesday drill night worked out around 45 a week.

There is also OTC to look at as well they were going on about how amazing it is but after visiting it realised half the people were just there for money/ drinking, TA infantry or medic for me was the better choice.

salami1212 · 4 Sep 2009 at 05:39

Would I be able to join the TA now and then go to university next year and do the Officer training corps at uni?

etom · 4 Sep 2009 at 05:44

yeah of course they don't tie you down at all.

salami1212 · 4 Sep 2009 at 05:51

cool, is it hard to get accepted?

etom · 4 Sep 2009 at 06:03

i can only speak for infantry, it wasn't hrd to get accepted at all, some people did fail though for answering back or not "involved" enough in the team tasks, possibly some for fitness as well. (you need to be able to do 30 or so pressups and run 1.5 miles in 12 mins)

what is your local ta centre?, get down there on a drill night (probably tuesday 7pm) and they will happily speak to you adn get you started on application

john_s · 4 Sep 2009 at 09:54

Shouldn't be a problem being a student; when I was in (about 10 years back), probably about half of the privates were students (and a fair few were student nurses - result!

).

As above, go down to your local centre on drill night and someone from the training team should show you round, answer questions, give you info, etc.

We used to get 1/4 day's pay for drill nights and 2 1/4 days for training weekends, then the bounty at the end of the year if you had enough time in over the year and passed the required tests.

You do need to be reasonably fit, though when I joined, the training team worked to help get everyone's fitness up to at least the minimum standard as part of the basic training. If you join an infantry regiment though, I'd suggest it's better to aim to get your fitness above the minimum, or it'll be hard work.

Beerguzzler · 4 Sep 2009 at 11:29

I'm in the RAF regiment reserve which is similar and I'm just going off to uni this month. Its very flexible especially after you get through training, only one weekend every 2 months at the very least.

Pay is not great while training (around £33) but does include travel and bounty if you pass everything. If your out all weekend in the field its barely £2 an hour though iirc.

I would go in as a soldier first if I was you to get the training and knowledge then if you want apply for commission as an officer.

Try it out, remember you can leave whenever you want.

Cuchulain · 4 Sep 2009 at 11:42

shifty_uk · 4 Sep 2009 at 11:49

I was considering the RMR but it doesn't sound too flexible in terms of initial training.

I'm in my second year at Uni and work a fair amount of hours part-time so it's unlikely.

john_s · 4 Sep 2009 at 12:27

shifty_uk said:
I was considering the RMR but it doesn't sound too flexible in terms of initial training.

A couple of guys in my unit used the TA to get their fitness up and learn the basics, then quit and went for RMR selection.

Kern · 4 Sep 2009 at 13:19

Hi, im in full time for 9yrs now. I think the TAs/auggies are a good stepping stone for joining up as it gives you valuable insight and experience for when you do basics (especially if going for officer)
but full time TAs genrally arnt liked. we were away with pet troop recently and they had to get some TAs in to booster the numbers, there was a staffy there who had never been in that was trying to tell the lads what to do, he had no respect, whereas a Uni lad (was only just turned 20) was in TAs for experience whilst finishing his course and planning to join, he was spot on.

When going on exercise with regulars we allways try and blag hardened accomadation and as many niceitys as possible but as its something new for the TAs only doing exercises once or twice a year there mad for it getting camed up at every oppertunity and digging in out of choice, loonatics.
You also tend to find a lot of ex squaddies both in the MPGS and TAs that have done their time and cant let go struggling to fit back into civilian life so join the TAs to have a little power again, lots of little hittlers about.

i dont mean to put the TA down, its a very good organisation, but just dont make a career out of it. use it to gain basic millitary skills n drills to make basic training easier, and milk it for all its worth gives great oppertunities for adventure training (i went to cyprus on AT for 2 weeks last year on full pay what other job does that!), ohh and even better than that, you can use your mod90 (id) to get 15% discount at dominoes pizza!, hmm yea ive got it on speed dial on my phone hahaa.

Vulcan · 4 Sep 2009 at 13:34

Not that you should do it for the money, but I believe after 1 year you get a tax free bonus of £400 which isn't too bad for a student. It goes up a few hundred each year until you reach a maximum of about £1200. At least that's what they have RAuxAF, I presume it would be the same with the TA.

Begbie · 4 Sep 2009 at 13:48

Kern said:
Hi, im in full time for 9yrs now. I think the TAs/auggies are a good stepping stone for joining up as it gives you valuable insight and experience for when you do basics (especially if going for officer)
but full time TAs genrally arnt liked. we were away with pet troop recently and they had to get some TAs in to booster the numbers, there was a staffy there who had never been in that was trying to tell the lads what to do, he had no respect, whereas a Uni lad (was only just turned 20) was in TAs for experience whilst finishing his course and planning to join, he was spot on.

When going on exercise with regulars we allways try and blag hardened accomadation and as many niceitys as possible but as its something new for the TAs only doing exercises once or twice a year there mad for it getting camed up at every oppertunity and digging in out of choice, loonatics.
You also tend to find a lot of ex squaddies both in the MPGS and TAs that have done their time and cant let go struggling to fit back into civilian life so join the TAs to have a little power again, lots of little hittlers about.

i dont mean to put the TA down, its a very good organisation, but just dont make a career out of it. use it to gain basic millitary skills n drills to make basic training easier, and milk it for all its worth gives great oppertunities for adventure training (i went to cyprus on AT for 2 weeks last year on full pay what other job does that!), ohh and even better than that, you can use your mod90 (id) to get 15% discount at dominoes pizza!, hmm yea ive got it on speed dial on my phone hahaa.

You're getting ripped off!! Domino here gives us 50% off

Zefan · 4 Sep 2009 at 14:29

Begbie said:
You're getting ripped off!! Domino here gives us 50% off

Beat me to it

meghatronic · 4 Sep 2009 at 15:32

My advice is to NOT join the OTC. It's a drinking club in my opinion.

salami1212 · 4 Sep 2009 at 16:18

drinking club, sounds fun to me

dowie · 5 Sep 2009 at 17:55

salami1212 said:
Would I be able to join the TA now and then go to university next year and do the Officer training corps at uni?

Yes

And you prob won't be the only one either. I'm a few years out of date but you could be attached to the OTC from your TA regiment - def something to consider - you'll basically find a mix of other berets in OTC units - basically either students who've passed RCB and then wear the beret of the regular unit sponsoring them while at uni or students already in the TA.

If you're going to be joining OTC in future my advice would be to join your local infantry unit as a soldier first and make a good impression - try and get CIC and an annual camp done in the year before you go to uni then ask for an interview with your OC and tell him you're going to uni and are considering joining the OTC. Not sure wheter you then get attached or have to transfer but they will likely be very supportive - shortage of TA officers at the moment and though OTC supply a lot to the regular army fewer go in to the TA after. Basically they'd prob love you to do it as you'd be seem as one of their own guys etc... and they'd prob be happy for you to come back as a platoon commander - other bonus to this - if you want to boost your CV do an operational tour with the TA after uni - beats any of the 'I went trekking in Peru on my gap year' mincers at job interviews...

Mad_Jay · 5 Sep 2009 at 18:30

Zefan said:
Beat me to it

Kern · 6 Sep 2009 at 12:03

If your joining-up my best advice would be to talk to someone "in" or recently in to gain an unbiast advice of service life. The guys at the AFCO will talk a load of BS and try to push you to one regt or another depending on what quotas they have to meet, dont be fobbed off be firm and say "this is what im going to do" also a good thing as it shows leadership potential.

but yea talk to someone perhaps over a pint, i dont like to talk shop when im out but some people can talk crap for hours, its true that you really can spot someone millitary in a bar (big problem in NI days on banner) by the way they stand, the watch they're wearing, style of haircut, terminology used etc etc, have a chat and gain as much gen as possible, the more you learn now the easier training will be as in training your brain will be mashed through lack of sleep & all the info thrown at you, the TA is great for this if you know how to strip a rifle & general service knowledge & terminology etc it will make your life a whole lot easier, just dont be a show-off though try and be the grey man in that enviroment. good luck.