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Evening,

I've been sitting around thinking about preparations i can make during my three years at university. However the one area i'm concerned about is drill. Does anyone have any advice about preparations i can make in civilian life? Whilst at uni i'm thinking of joining the TA to a) Bring in some extra cash b) Keep me fit and c) Give me a taste for military life. So i obviously that will help me but as i will be studying nursing (see thread in general area) my shift patterns are erratic and time to sleep is at a premium. (So obviously that plan may not come to fruition.

All other aspects of training i'm fairly well covered with. I work for a major leisure centre chain so i have free access to all of their sites over the UK and my University (i believe) has a shooting club. A2 LEvel geography has me covered wit hmap reading and years camping (both on formal sites and improvised bivvie expeditions) have me covered there too.

I think i'll tail off now as i'm starting to ramble. I do hope this makes sense as at the moment i am royally pissed.

Sonne

p.s. Why didn't i wait until i sobered up i hear you ask? Well... that'd be no fun now would it.

I wouldn't worry about trying to prepare yourself for doing drill. Everyone will be quite bad at it at the start of training but you all progress quickly. If you want to get through the first couple of weeks easily I would advise practicing ironing your clothes perfectly and folding them to A4 size. In foundation I missed out on many precious hours sleep because I was bad at ironing.

As the world of RM officer is particularly competitive I would say join the Officer Training Corps at university. Obviously it fits around your studies as it's a university organisation and it will also both b) keep you fit; c) give you a taste of military life; I'd expect you'll make some good uni mates aswell. It will also look good on your CV when applying.

I regularly kick myself that I didn't join as you can only join during the first year and I wasn't interested back then, so get on down there at the freshers fair and sign yourself up.

Sonne,

If your wanting to go down the RM officdr route after uni, have you considered joining the RMR?

dwarfy

For drill purposes, TA would be a waste of time as the drill is different.

To be honest drill wont be an issue, you'll always fark up no matter how good you are. Drill is for teamwork, discipline and espirit d'Corps aswell as moving as unison with feet in the right place. Dont get into bad habits as they are harder to undo when the Corps teaches you than starting from scratch.

RMR is a good tip, but always remember your at CTC to be taught so sometimes going in open minded is better than "learning" as much as you can before you get there.

But then again I was a matelot and whatever we did we farked it up

I thought about RMR but my course is particularly demanding. From what i've read in Nigel Fosters book "The making of a Royal Marines Commando" the demands on the average man wanting to become a bootneck reservist are much higher than someone going down the regular route.

UOTC i thougth about too but my uni doesnt have one attatched to it. I'll be at the university of Brighton however i believe that the UOTC runs out of Sussex University (to which i will not have access)

Fortunately i can iron, clean, fold etc. Coming fro ma Jamaican family you learn to keep your kit tidy sharpish if you wanted to avoid a beating. I'm also teaching myself to eat good good on a budget as i'll be a very poor student i'll have to avoid eating junk whilst there, no matter how cheap it is...

Sonne

Sonne wrote:I thought about RMR but my course is particularly demanding. From what i've read in Nigel Fosters book "The making of a Royal Marines Commando" the demands on the average man wanting to become a bootneck reservist are much higher than someone going down the regular route.

UOTC i thougth about too but my uni doesnt have one attatched to it. I'll be at the university of Brighton however i believe that the UOTC runs out of Sussex University (to which i will not have access)

Fortunately i can iron, clean, fold etc. Coming fro ma Jamaican family you learn to keep your kit tidy sharpish if you wanted to avoid a beating. I'm also teaching myself to eat good good on a budget as i'll be a very poor student i'll have to avoid eating junk whilst there, no matter how cheap it is...

Sonne

Sonne

Might be a good idea to see how you course goes but a lot of poeple join the TA and are able to juggle their time - really depends on your enegy levels I suppose.

As regards drill just go with it eveyone gets nervous with the RSM (in my case) barking at ya!

Mind you on my TA Cadre they jailing people for turning the wrong way LOL! But that is part of the *ullshit at that stage.

Good luck

Dont forget that joining the TA for a taste of military life could well see you sampling it for 6 months. That might get in the way of your studies

Dig out blind wrote:I wouldn't worry about trying to prepare yourself for doing drill. Everyone will be quite bad at it at the start of training but you all progress quickly. If you want to get through the first couple of weeks easily I would advise practicing ironing your clothes perfectly and folding them to A4 size. In foundation I missed out on many precious hours sleep because I was bad at ironing.

Alright mate, what week are you in at the moment?

I'll be starting week 5 when I get back from leave. It seems like I was down there for a lot longer than 4 weeks though. It feels like my home now and I can't wait to get back.

See you in two weeks mate! I was a bit apprehensive but can't wait now, getting boring around here.

Best of luck for when you go down. Apart from the pain, cold and missery it really is quite good fun at Lympstone. I can't wait to get back there.