Little help for picking my regiment this year please.

[britisharmy1]

Hey guys,

I am soon to be joining the army air corps as a soldier/groundcrew whatever you wish to call it, and I have been told many stories about being plenty of scope to work as a rifleman alongside infantry detachments on the frontline and work alongside the SAS and marines on certain ops/excercises worldwide, however I never bothered to ask him which regiments within the AAC does which roles, now im kind of wondering, id just like to set my sights now, rather than thinking it over in basic id like to set a goal to look forward to at the end of basic/phase 2...

Basically I want to get some time on the frontline, or at least experiencing the fear factor of bullets flying over my head some time in my army career (sounds sick i know), but i certainly would be depressed if i left the army and never got to shoot my rifle for the real cause...infact id be ashamed to ever say i was in the army. But i was wondering if you guys could point me in the right direction, im looking for an AAC regiment that is more focused on the combat side of things than than logistics/support roles such as the Lynx detachments... as for working with the SAS im not too fussy, im sure every soldier has seen or worked with them at some point anyway...

Hope somebody can at least help me out with a URL or some information, thanks.

[gooner_27]

I know this topic is a few months old but i am hopfully joining the AAC groundcrew, Now what i dont understand is why you are saying you might not get to fire your weapon for real, Dont you know that apart from re-fuelling and re-arming the attack hellicopters, One of the other tasks expected of the groundcrew is to defend the forward operating bases, And defend the re-fuelling / re-arming points?

[sneaky beaky]

Excuse me - but don't Army Air Corps ground crew service helicopters?

I didn't realise that they were required to actually fire rifles!!

They don't actually have regiments! Just the Army Air Corps. There is no chance of serving with the SAS or any other regiment except as a supporting ground crew for the AAC.

If you want to fire a rifle - join an Infantry Regiment. Any one wil do - but if you want to be the best, try the Royal Marines.

Sneaky

[druadan]

Not been on for a while so trawling through some older stuff...

Word of advice - don't believe all the recruiters say (or anyone else for that matter).

One of the other tasks expected of the groundcrew is to defend the forward operating bases, And defend the re-fuelling / re-arming points?

Any ideas where those refuelling/re-arming points are? Ever wonder how much logistical support it takes to put them in place? Any idea of the range of modern attack helos? Nope, thought not. You won't be getting many rounds down outside the range.

as for working with the SAS im not too fussy, im sure every soldier has seen or worked with them at some point anyway...

Mmhmm.......

Not having a dig lads, everyone has ambitions, but do your research properly and join the right branch/regiment/corps to do what you want to do. It's a surprisingly small proportion who actually serve in front-line units, and how few of those 'front-line' units actually are front line. In the AAC you won't get rounds coming your way other than a well aimed Taliban rocket into a camp unless you're flying, and even then given our current opposition it's pretty rare.

[Paratrooper01]

If you want to fire a rifle - join an Infantry Regiment. Any one wil do - but if you want to be the best, try the Royal Marines.

Sneaky

Didnt know Royal were part of the Army

I think if the lad needs an accurate account of what the infantry is like, watch the movie "tropic thunder"

[druadan]

Bloody hell, a Para that can read is a rare enough sight, let alone one that can pick nits with that kind of panache and flair

Good tour mate? Glad you're back in one piece.

[Stinky]

Here's a good video somebody's clobbered together britisharmy1.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MY9O_Wr3rpE

[Paratrooper01]

Bloody hell, a Para that can read is a rare enough sight, let alone one that can pick nits with that kind of panache and flair

Good tour mate? Glad you're back in one piece.

Tour had its ups and downs. I've been back a little while now. Came back injured a month or so ago. Nothing serious.

Plenty of rounds down the range. The GMG is my new best friend. Fcuking love that thing.

When Miniflares fail to stop a motorbike you are chasing, obviously you escalate to 40mil next.



@ Stinky....GAYER VIDEO!! Druadan, have a word mate.

[dwarfy]

Massive thread hijack,

But, as ive got both druadan and para01 here i thought i'd ask as i think they may have some info. Druadan, may be wrong but i have a feeling you mentioned a fair while back that you were learning Pashtu? Did you by any chance use the Rosetta Stone packages for that, as i've heard it mentioned before for the forces. If so was it any good and would you recomend it, bare in mind i have no understanding of the language at present.

Para01, come on mate if that video doesnt get him corps pissed,what will? You gotta love the heroic music adding to the atmosphere.

So now you've seen it britisharmy1 clearly that is the decision made yeah?

[Paratrooper01]

The terps do all the work out on patrol, so there is no real need for the blokes to learn the language.

The only words i know are:

Manana - Thank you
Dresh - Stop.

All other things can be done either through the terp, or if they dont understand "stop", they will soon after you point your weapon at them and shout!

[AJtothemax]

I will make no reference to the Team America film....
Except of course..."MATT! DAMON!"

britisharmy1 from my point of view, I can see no reason why you would ever be ashamed to leave the army and say you had never fired a shot in anger other than for you to not look macho.
Soldier's in the 90's didn't exactly do a lot of war fighting, most of it was peace keeping. I can't see how any of them would be ashamed to say, if the event never occured, that they didn't fire their rifle at an enemy.
It doesn't make sense.

As it's already been said, if it's action you're after then join the Infantry or something like an attached role.

I think if the lad needs an accurate account of what the infantry is like, watch the movie "tropic thunder"

Yeah, or Hot Shots Part Deux!

[druadan]

I did a 10 week Pashtu 'survival' course before Herrick 5, about two and a half years ago now. It was run by a couple of native speakers hired by the MoD language school near London (can't remember the name of the place now). To be honest, whilst it was useful, it was far from essential, as Para says you've generally got terps to hand.