Signing up to the paras?

[Crdwain]

Hi I'm completely new to this forum, I've been lurking for a couple of days but this is my first post. I'm 17 years old, I've done my gcse's, getting 4 As, 5 Bs and a C and am currently in the 6th form of my private school. Yet the problem is I hate academia, I find maths, science and most other subjects incredibally dull and so I didn't work for my gcse's, missing out on my predicted 7 A*s by quite a margin. My gcse's are still good enough to get to university if I do well in my 6th form, yet I really don't want to. The one glimmer of fun at my school is ccf, run by the royal fusiliers at my school. I love it. Now that's not enough to warrant a career in the army but after having a visit from my army liason officer, doing some research and visiting sandhurst I've realised that there's simply nothing else that I want to do.
Here's where the paras come in, I originally wanted to join The Queen's Royal Lancers but after doing some thinking I realised that if I was going to forgo a university degree I want to join the best. I used to be a very typical lazy teenager, sure I'm in the rugby team but that's because I'm agressive and tall (second row). Recently because of this dream I've started doing some running. Today I ran for an hour till I couldn't breathe and had awful blisters in my feet, and yesterday I spent 35 minutes on the rowing machine followed by 45 sit ups and 9 minutes in the plank position. On Sunday I spent 50 minutes in the gym and ran home, making it a total of 1 hour 20 minutes of excersise ( I spent all my time on the cycling machine). Obviously I'm incredibally new to this so I came her for advise. What's the best way to start off, then build up. I live in Brum, so i've signed up for the Birmingham half marathon, running for the help for heroes charity. So obviously I'll be training for that but yeah just any advise. I'm only in lower 6th so I've got a good year and a bit to build up a nice routine but I need a good way to start. I don't want to go to sandhurst, I figure that if I'm going to lead people eventually I want experiance in a war zone first and I think sandhurst is a very elitist institute. We should choose officers on ability not school grades.
Thanks for your answers in advance
Charlie

[Tab]

Ever thought of joining your local TA section of the Para's, just to see what life is like with them.

[Crdwain]

I have, it's just my parents want very different things for my life than me. They want me to get a degree etc and I don't want that so I need to keep them appeased at least until I leave school, as such the running they won't mind but while I'm under their roof the TA might be a problem. Joining the TA is something I might look into. Are there any ACFs attached to the paras that do para like training etc. because I'm sure they wouldn't mind that. The reason I'm considering the paras isn't for any ego reasons, it's more because I want to be the best, anything below just won't cut it. I have no illusions about the SAS, I'm not a mcNab wanna be, hell I read one of this books and didn't really like it at all. I just can't see myself doing anything other than a career in the military, I get bored easily at a desk and end up staring outside especially if the weather is nice.

[timex]

I don't want to go to sandhurst, I figure that if I'm going to lead people eventually I want experiance in a war zone first and I think sandhurst is a very elitist institute. We should choose officers on ability not school grades.

You may need to think about your Ed Quals if you want a commision as love it or hate it you will need to go through Sandhurst!

As to Elitist, which school do you go to?

Lots of very good Officers go through Sandhurst, CTCRM, Dartmouth and Cranwell so the system does work, how many of the guys leading troops over the last X amount of yrs had previous combat experience?

[Tab]

With the TA you can sell that to your parents as a temporary interest and to work of some of your energy.

[Crdwain]

I currently go to king edwards school birmingham and tbh I can't stand it, the people are stuck up and the teachers are worse . It's not necessarily the elitism it's just that I think the system is outdated, sure the institute has produced some very fine officers but I personally feel that to be able to lead men in a warzone you need to experience a warzone first. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the fact that I have no experience in the military discounts my opinion but hey it's all personal preference.
Also if I do decide that the parachute regiment isn't for me, unlikely as I don't like giving up on things once I have a goal firmly in my mind, then the fitness training isn't going to hurt me. We've just done the crossover into summer games, basically athletics and cricket so my friend and I are now dong cross country on our own. We've started doing it with a back pack weighing only 8kg, but you've got to start somewhere. I'm looking to get my pull ups and press up numbers up. I'm quite a heavy lad so for me pull ups are insanely difficult whereas situps are quite easy. My max press ups are only 37, and my max sit ups are 89.
Maybe my goal to join paras is unrealistic but it's something that I can set my sights on to really improve my fitness overall, and tbh I've never wanted anything more in my life.
I'll look into the TA, and then see if I can pass it by with my parents.

[timex]

No reason why you couldn't become a Para because of your size, I would advise not running with weights, you will do more harm than good and will be prepared for this during training.

Sandhurst and the other Institutions mentioned earlier have changed a great deal, forget the "Film versions" of born leaders, real life is very rarely like that.

[Crdwain]

I see what you mean, what kind of fitness level do they expect you to be at at the start of training? At the moment our year in the ccf is training to do a gun run, with a proper cannon etc. so the training for that will help as well, plus I'm currently doing the 100 press ups programme. But it's quite hard to fit in a fitness programme around school, I cycle to and from school so i suppose that's something (15mins there and back). I just really need to improve my aerobic fitness.