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RT Admin - What to take and Random Questions

Posted: Sun 25 Mar, 2007 8:55 pm
by JCAP3
Personal Admin in recruit training tips

-Take a cloth with you when you goto RT. When you have inspection you'll need there to be 0% dust on all surfaces around your area. Wet the cloth and clean surfaces with that rather than a dry cloth (obviously). It does the job 10x faster and means that there won't be any dust left over for the Sgt to pick up on..

- Some training teams are more relaxed than others although all are there to do a job which is to turn you from a civvie into a Royal Marine Commando, who could end up in the same unit as them, in combat and under fire. That's the bottom line and they need to be able to be sure you are 100% up to the job.

- Get anything wrong on the parade ground (not looking straight ahead/ not knowing your corp history) you will be doing press-ups on your bare knuckels. The texture of the ground is very rough and it is extremely painful.

- Learn key dates. Find out and learn all the Victoria cross winners, the key battles (e.g. Zeebrugge). Otherwise you'll be learning them ontop of your ironing and other personal admin.

- In the first few days don't expect to get alot of time to eat. You are often given a tiny amount of time to get down to scran, force the food down your neck and get back to foundation block with time to spare.

- Remember, wehn you get your equipment/clothing filthy in training, your mum won't be there to clean it off. You will be doing ALL the cleaning.

- The training team are not what I would really call "approachable" in the v.early stages, but your section Cpl's are keeping an eye on you all the time and trust me they know what's going on within the troop.

- Upon arriving at the foundation block, don't throw all of your civvy items in your footlocker. Keep it neat, tidy and presentable. You'll only have to tidy it up a few days later.

- Only take the essentials! You'll find that you won't have alot of space in the first 2 weeks to keep all your items so wait until the long weekend before you start taking personal belongings.

- When you go ashore to Exeter you are required to wear smart civvy clothes - this is a collared tee-shirt or a shirt.

- Basically, as alien an enviroment as CTC may seem, and whilst putting you under pressure is a BIG part of training, your training team know that this is all new to you and that you are going to make mistakes.

- Don't answer back, no matter how unfair.

- If you are feeling homesick, theres a 100% chance that a good percenatge of the lads around you are too. Talk to them about it.

- In the first few days you will be signing alot of forms - life insurance, Barclays bank account signing up, handing in educationional certificates etc.

- It would probably be less of a hastle to get yourself a Barclays bank account prior to arriving as its the only bank on the base and all the cash machines are barclays.

- Don't just expect to be shown how to iron when you get there. Learn how to iron properly before arriving at CTC to make your life alot easier.

- Take a black shoe lace to be threaded in your drill top around the neck line- forgot the name

- Your early morning jobs become alot easier when you specify a time for your designated cleaning team to be there rather than doing it when you are ready. Designate a time for your area to be there and work at the same time.

- You won't be doing all of your ironing in combats. Often you are allowed to get into "gash pt" which is basically civvy pt clothes.

- Get a JML clothes brush for your berret. (Woolworths)
http://www.jmldirect.com/gfx/products/t ... brush1.jpg

- Buy a heavy duty black permanent marker pen as the ones they supply are crap and take a while to mark anything. Also get hold of a white marker too rather than relying on tip-ex which is extremely slow and ineffective.

Exercise First step These are the items that you will be required to buy in Exeter on your first weekend, so you might aswell buy them now.
-Get hold of some 'king of Shaves' shaving oil, camping toothbrush/paste kit, some light tent pegs off, a small sewing kit (with suitable colours), a small med-kit, a small mag light with a red lens, white light = death, a small hand mirror is a must too, they only give you one bivvy pole, so get hold of one before you go down there (cheap one worth about £10 is good enough), a speed lighter (aswell as 2 or 3 cheap ones), one of those blue flame ones and a spare set of boot laces.


- If someone is struggling to get their stuff squared away, help him . One thing that often pissed me off in foundation was people lying on their beds because they had finished all of their admin rather than helping those other lads who were struggling.

- Take a 4 plug extension cable with you. Unfortunately in the foundation block if you end up in one of the areas that has a lack of plugs (or none at all in my case) you'll end up having to iron away from your locker which is very annoying and often there wont be enough plugs to go around.

- A good iron (£30+) is essential as you'll be spending hours with it. The last thing you want is it to fail on you. The ones in the naffi are over priced and shite apparently. Take good care of it as a few lads had their knocked off their ironing boards.

-Take earplugs! These are a life saver because in a room of 50 people it's often hard to ignore the noises of snoring/lads getting up to piss/sqeaking beds/ that bloody double door!/ lads shouting in their sleep / telling each other to shut the f*** up! :evil: Don't worry about oversleeping, you won't, trust me!

-Get into the habbit of wearing flip-flops where ever you go when you are not weaing anything on your feet. This is extremely important. Your life depends on it :D

-Take a keyring that you can easily identify for when you keys go in the bucket - its better to know exactly where your keys are without having to check each one for your tip-ex mark.

-Take a look at the display locker and get all of the small items sorted out before anything else (correctly placed and sorted). That way your locker starts to take shape and you wont have the last-minute panic looking for all the small items.

-The pin in your berret needs to be brasso'ed every night so don't bloody miss it or you'll be in for it!

-Get a sharp knife that'll be able to puncture through leather as the berret material at the front where the badge goes is extremely tough (the issued knife is about as sharp as a butter knife :D ) It will also save you distrurbing your locker layout.

-Be prepared for how crap the foundation block is. Once you are in your 6 man accomodation it will get easier. Its extemely tough when you are given a very small amount of time to get from the outside through the doors of the foundation block, find your bed, put your pt rig on, lock your locker and get back outside. You'll be doing alot of press-ups. You have so much info and equipment to take in. Life gets a lot better in the blocks as you have more time to yourself as admin starts easing off.

- Stay the hell out of the PTIs office - you'll know which one, they will do their best to get you in there. Your troop will suffer.

- When storing your pooches/webbing away for the first time (before being shown how to assemble each part), if you have any spare time tidy it all up so you can run and grab each bit of equipment when you are assembling it all - the training team will not wait for people searching for various bits of equipment

-When its lights out, its lights out! Make sure you are prepared for bed 5 mins before the sgt arrives to switch them out or you'll be doing press-ups blk naked.

-Empty your water bottle when you put it back in your locker or you'll have it poured over your head.

-Take the Exeter locals with a bit of humor, being called a "f***ing squaddy" where ever you walk is all part of the fun :P

- Hands are: Fists on parade/drill/formation - straight in the gym/ wearing pt rig

-Shorts have to be ironed in a certain way so best get practiced before you go

-Treat the civilian staff with respect even if it seems like some of them hate you for some strange reason :-? Disrespect has a habit of making its way back to your Sgt :roll:

-On the second day you re-do gym test 1 from the prmc, except this time you do everything to a bleep. Bleeptest first, press-ups done to a bleep (bend stretch, bend, stretch - 60 max), sit-ups done to a bleep (85 max) and then pull-ups to a bleep (each bleep signifies either bend or stretch).

- Get your hair cut to a grade 2 all over otherwise you'll be paying £5 for a 20 second job when you get there. That guy must be making a fortune out of new recruits :-?

- If you are not a good swimmer, become one and save yourself the hastle of late-night sessions. I found that breast stroke was sufficient (i can't do front crawl)

- Tie your keys to your wrist with a peice of string so that you dont accidently lock it away in your locker (very annoying and dangerous as you'll be asking the sgt for the spare)

- Bring soap with you as there isn't any in any of the toilets.

- Learn how to shave properly (it may sound obivious but you'll need to get every little bit of hair off your face before inspection) ask your oppo if they can see any fluff/missed bits.

- Get some trouser twists or you'll end up buying them in the naffi
http://www.garrisonpri.co.uk/images/trouser_twists.jpg (atleast 2 pairs)

- Don't be shocked by the amount of gear you are given on the second day - everthing will fall into place quick enough

- REMEMBER THIS BY HEART BEFORE YOU GO: "Sir/Corporal/Sgt/etc I am (your service number) recruit (your surname) from (your troop number) sir/Corporal/Sgt/etc" - you will be saying this when ever you address anyone in your training team/around the base.

- For the first 3 weeks you have your lumi tabs on and your name tags too. This is to show that you are a new recruit should you do something wrong around the base. This means that any admin flaws, lateness, just generally "gash" behavior will earn a little shouting and perhaps some pressups but nothing too bad to be honest. You'll get plenty of "this is not good enough men" and "your taking the piss gents" but this is all part and parcel of Lympstone.

- Learn your ranks before you goto ctc. The civilian staff are referred to as 'staff'. If you forget a rank you may call them staff, but it is recommended to learn ranks fast.

- darrenelliott849 :I personally would recommend getting down to Exeter the weekend before you join up, staying in a scrotey B&B and stocking up on everything you need for Ex First Step

- Re-sealable bags, paracord, extra boot laces, bungees, extra set of boot brushes and polish, cleaning kit (for messtins, metal mug etc), gash bags etc -

- A good watch - g shock or similar (something you can make un-beep, beepy watch = painful recruit)

- mag lite (changeable filters - you'll need some red)

- sorbothane insoles (although we were told that they were not part of the uniform so we would have to get "special permission to wear them".

themattmeister: the first 15 weeks is mega rubbish compared to phase 2. So if you feel like you want to wrap your tits in before week 15 suck it up and wait till the soldiering starts in phase 2.

- AndyG321: Hehe cool well I'd say don't take much at all you really won't have time to play on PSP's etc and if you do have a spare few minutes use it getting to know the people in your room.
I just took my phone and ipod down. Then as for clothes I took way too much! You only really need your smart civvies (shirt tie etc) a few old t-shirts and shorts for cleaning/washing kit in. Then some smart jeans and a few t-shirts and polo shirts for going to scran in and into town but again don't take too many as in foundation you're civvy locker's tiny and you'll have to leave what doesn't fit, in the unlocked bagage room!

I'd definately advise getting a tonne of twisties as when you're hopping around trying to get ready in the 30 seconds you've been given you will NEVER find the ones you've just taken off! Re-sealable bags are a good thing to get from the kit shop in exeter town but they do run out of the larger ones (I find a3 size best) so get them before if you can and you'll be using lots of them so stock up!
Just remember the more you get now the more drinking time you'll have on your first weekend out

- Think extremely carefully whether this is the career for you before swearing the oath - there were a few lads in my troop who felt like they were in prison when they decided it wasn't for them - it may sound bloody obvious but it happens all the time and you wont be able to leave for 6 weeks no matter how big a fuss you make. Make sure you are clear about the reasons why you want to join and remember them when you are there, even write them down. They tell you its not prison but it can become worse if you decide you no longer want to be there. If you hold your freedom very dear then be prepared for a shock. Same goes if you like to be your own boss.

Just because your grandad/dad was in the Royal Marines in not a good enough reason and that will become obvious within the first few days. You have to absolutely want it with every inch of your body and for the right reasons - the PRMC is hard, but recruit training is 100x harder and its 32 weeks - treat the PRMC as a "taster".

Posted: Mon 26 Mar, 2007 3:59 am
by GGHT
Great advice and i'd like to add a little, about the first 15 weeks of Recruit Training.

Lads to be honest for those worrying about training, for the first 3 weeks you have your lumi tabs on (shit shields) which, as the name suggests, get you out any real pain.

(See Marshall Star in week 7, pure thrashing exercise!)

This means that any admin flaws, lateness, just generally "gash" behavior will earn a little shouting and perhaps some pressups but nothing too bad to be honest. You'll get plenty of "this is not good enough men" and "your taking the piss gents" but this is all part and parcel of Lympstone.

Basically, as alien an enviroment as CTC may seem, and whilst putting you under pressure is a BIG part of training, your training team know that this is all new to you and that you are going to make mistakes.

Different blokes will react in different ways to the stresses of training.
Some will get snappy after little sleep, others about someone being crap at admin. Lads who I thought were knobbers for the first few weeks ended up being good mates and vice-versa.

Foundation is quite bad to be fair, you have so much info and equipment to take in. Life gets a lot better in the blocks as you have more time to yourself as admin starts easing off.

Some training teams are more relaxed than others although all are there to do a job which is to turn you from a civvie into a Royal Marine Commando, who could end up in the same unit as them, in combat and under fire. That's the bottom line and they need to be able to be sure you are 100% up to the job.

The training team are not what I would really call "approachable" in the v.early stages, but your section Cpl's are keeping an eye on you all the time and trust me they know what's going on within the troop.

There will be lads in your troop who make more mistakes than most, and others who alway seem to be in bed by ten. If you find yourself struggling a bit with the admin, but have a positive attitude, give 100% and are willing to learn, the training team will look after you.

Know I went off on one there lol but stay positive, eager to learn and help out when you can and you will be fine.

Posted: Mon 26 Mar, 2007 9:36 am
by JCAP3
GGHT: Iv added your points to my original post.

Posted: Thu 29 Mar, 2007 4:19 pm
by themattmeister
Also, the first 15 weeks is mega rubbish compared to phase 2. So if you feel like you want to wrap your tits in before week 15 suck it up and wait till the soldiering starts in phase 2.

Posted: Mon 16 Apr, 2007 1:50 pm
by bigdog
1. I guess the same routine/standards/expectation is the same for PO's

No, they will be a lot higher. Officers are expected to do everything that the blokes do, just quicker, better, harder faster. Would you respect someone who had bad admin?

Posted: Wed 16 May, 2007 6:03 pm
by Skanza
Very good thread thanks!

Q. Do you need or will it help to have a drivers license before joining?

Regards.

Posted: Sun 27 May, 2007 12:10 pm
by JCAP3
No drivers licence is required at all - no cars within ten miles of Lympstone i'm affraid.

Posted: Sat 02 Jun, 2007 11:13 am
by cruicent
How many clothes should I bring. 2 jeans, 2 shirts + how many extra tshirts socks underwear? Will you wear uniform after hours or casuals?
Also forgot to check during my prmc but does the atm only work for barclays or will it take my nationwide visa debit card?
cheers.

Posted: Fri 27 Jul, 2007 11:05 am
by Darren82
I personally would recommend getting down to Exeter the weekend before you join up, staying in a scrotey B&B and stocking up on everything you need for Ex First Step

Sealable bags, paracord, extra boot laces, bungees, extra set of boot brushes and polish, cleaning kit (for messtins, metal mug etc), gash bags etc

If I can think of anything else I'll re-edit :D

Essentials also are

A good watch - g shock or similar (something you can make un-beep, beepy watch = painful recruit)

mag lite (changeable filters)

sorbothane insoles

Posted: Wed 15 Aug, 2007 7:02 pm
by fodd
heres a good tip for you lads when you get your keys for your lockers get a keyring that you can identify easily put it on your keys so when you get back from phys etc and they empty the key bucket you can grab them quickly!!!

save a min or so when you only have 5 to spare

Posted: Wed 15 Aug, 2007 8:44 pm
by marine101
about taking kit. i got given a recruit handbook and it says if you take any additional thing from what its says they will be taken off you? what should i do then??????

Posted: Wed 15 Aug, 2007 10:01 pm
by AndyG321
marine101 wrote:about taking kit. i got given a recruit handbook and it says if you take any additional thing from what its says they will be taken off you? what should i do then??????
Well I haven't had anything taken off me or anything checked! Unless you're thinking of taking replica handguns, knives etc or are tring to hide a blow up doll in your civvy locker I don't think they really care as long as it's tidy ;)

Posted: Wed 15 Aug, 2007 10:25 pm
by SNiDE
So there's definitely a ban on blow-up dolls?

Posted: Wed 15 Aug, 2007 11:05 pm
by maritime_marine
In the recruits handbook it says about taking a bucket? How big to the re-sealable bags need to be? What kind of med kit am i looking for?

Posted: Thu 16 Aug, 2007 6:42 pm
by AndyG321
fodd wrote:
SNiDE wrote:So there's definitely a ban on blow-up dolls?
nah we had one in my room was the room mascot put a grin on the cpl's faces on rounds :lol: :lol:
Hehe cool well I'd say don't take much at all you really won't have time to play on PSP's etc and if you do have a spare few minutes use it getting to know the people in your room.
I just took my phone and ipod down. Then as for clothes I took way too much! You only really need your smart civvies (shirt tie etc) a few old t-shirts and shorts for cleaning/washing kit in. Then some smart jeans and a few t-shirts and polo shirts for going to scran in and into town but again don't take too many as in foundation you're civvy locker's tiny and you'll have to leave what doesn't fit, in the unlocked bagage room!

I'd definately advise getting a tonne of twisties as when you're hopping around trying to get ready in the 30 seconds you've been given you will NEVER find the ones you've just taken off! Re-sealable bags are a good thing to get from the kit shop in exeter town but they do run out of the larger ones (I find a3 size best) so get them before if you can and you'll be using lots of them so stock up!
Just remember the more you get now the more drinking time you'll have on your first weekend out ;)