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Info from insight night

General discussions on joining & training in The Parachute Regiment.
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phoenix1379
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Info from insight night

Post by phoenix1379 »

I went to the 10 coy insight night on the 7th Oct and here is some information that you may find useful. This is straight from the horses mouth as well.
They are ONLY interested in guys who want operational experience. To join up to " just be part of 4 para is a no go".
They deploy individual soldiers to 2 and 3 para for operational 6 month tours. ( you basically leave your civvie job for 6 months to be a regular soldier in regular batallion, on completion of tour you leave regular army and re-join T.A again ).
Training 1s 10 weekends long, all up at catterick, followed by 2 weeks up there doing infantry skills then 4 days of P-Coy.
P-Coy: 10 miler...1 hour 50 mins ( no more 2 hours, they want you at regular soldiers standards now ). Trainasium, milling, log race, steeplechase, stretcher race, 2 miler.

On completion of these its 2 weeks of staggered parachute training at your individual companys then 2 weeks up at brize.
they expect at least 2 tuesday evenings a month and every weekend.
Miss one and you fail.
commitment is very high on the agenda.
they have a 5% pass rate, not because of fitness but because they expect so much commitment from you and so many blokes say ' yeah, i can do that " but 3 months down the line they are tired and they realise they cant.
It seriously made me sit up and think, its easy enough to think, " yeah i can do 6 months of afgan" but when you hear their stories and what they went though it makes you realise what you would be putting yourself through.
Yeah, its great to have the beret and the wings but really that aint even the start of it.
These guys are extremely proffesional, so much so it scared me. Although thay are " only T.A " when it comes to operations they are serving as regular soldiers.....but keeping their civvie pay. So you never lose any money.
They go to New jersey USA every year for a 2 week exercise ( lots of jumping ) and loads of adventure training and pretty good exercises.
I hope this gives you a bit more of an idea of what goes on.
Im still not sure, its easy for me to just sit here and say yeah i can do that, but when it comes to do what you have been training for it takes something else to actually go and do it. Full admiration for those who do.
I will probably go for it, but its gonna still take ALOT of thinking as to wether it really is for me.
Too much thinking for one night at a computer.
Guys, its easy to look at pictures of blokes wearing the beret, looking good, jumping out of planes, but the picture they painted brings a stark reality check for those who want to do the work that gives those people the right to wear the red beret.
I take my hat off to you guys.
your commitment is awesome, regular and T.A.
JayBuckley
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Post by JayBuckley »

When i passed ADSC for paras the Para guy there said to me i have not just got a new job i have just chosen a new life style, what he was saying is the Parachute Regiment is going to become your life and take priority over a lot of other things! Personally i am totally OK with that and can't wait for November 16th as i have no other commitments and i know i am going to love what i WILL be doing and purposely staying away from any women to ruin things for me haha!! 8)
dwarfy
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Post by dwarfy »

Phoenix,

Just to say, with regards to deploying as a reservist, you arent looking at simply the length of the tour as the duration you would be mobilised for. You mentioned 6 months away from your civilian job, it would be very much more like a year in total, possibly more.

The guys at my unit who served on FTRS to incorporate an Ops tour(Herrick 7) were with 40 Cdo for a full 12 months. You are incorporated into it at an early stage so that your involved in all the pre-tour training phases and OPTAG packages. You will also stay on for a period when you return for post tour evolutions.

Of course there are shorter tours of 3 months but again they will be periods before and after actual 'deployment'.

As for the commitment you mentioned above, you are spot on. I am currently in basic training with the RMR, just finished phase one but unfortuntately did not pass(this time). Reserve units ask and demand a high level of commitment if you are to be successful, especially those such as the RMR and 4 Para. At first you may think, 'two weekends a month, i can do that' but trust me, when you are trying to fit it all in around a job and your own personal training the demands are high, and it does knacker you out. Mentally it can be quite tiring, knowing on a monday, that you have a full week at work then on the friday you have to travel to your unit for a full weekend of training, then to get back late on the sunday to start a full week of work again the next day. You really do HAVE to want it, if you dont, you will start to think as many do, sod this for a laugh, i'd rather go down the pub this weekend and not get thrashed and have no sleep.

Are you thinking of joining 4 Para then?

dwarfy
phoenix1379
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Post by phoenix1379 »

yeah seriously considering joining 4 para.
They explained in detail what you said: 3 month build up, 6 month tour, then chill out period upon return. Most likely to be about 10 month in total.
Some commanding officers are strict on 6 month tours, some are flexable and allow 3 month tours. But even with 3 month tours you are still looking at 6 months in total.
the point also is, as you said, its not just the tours, its the weekends and the week nights.
Its easy to plan it into your diary but to go and do them is a different matter altogether.
I am committed, but only if i decide that this is for me. Its a hefty old decesion. My brother has just returned from 6 months in afgan.
He has done northern island. iraq a few times, kosovo and a few others. He said afgan is something else. it changes you and you see some rough stuff.
He is only in logistics corps as well. Even he had quite a few contacts so it makes you realise that the infantry are really in the thick of it, and the marines are not so far behind either. :wink:
I will let you know how it goes.
dwarfy
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Post by dwarfy »

'the marines are not so far behind'.....No bite here. :lol:

Yeah, alot of the lads i have spoken to including some of the training team who have been and done it in various places say the same thing, that being that ghanners is a different ball game.

As you have mentioned above in your first post aswell, the Reserve forces in this capacity are not looking for people after a hobby. We were told right at the start that if we were to get through RMR training, it would but be just a matter of time before we were joining a unit to go to Afghanistan.

The regular Corps i believe asked for 120+ ranks from the RMR to go on this Herrick tour that they have just deployed on. Around 50 odd went on Herrick 7(bare in mind, only 40 Commando deployed on that), so really you do have to think you will be going, it is no different just because you are in the Reserves, you have to expect to deploy at some point.

For me it is still a long way off, but i have to say, if i didnt feel i was prepared to go and do it once ive hopefully passed out, i wouldnt be sticking with it now, you wouldnt put all the hard work in to then not want to do the job you've trained for. There are plenty of better things to do on the weekend, and better ways to start a week at work than being ex-lagged as we've called it. So really there is no point joining if you dont REALLY want to be a part of it both during and after training, its quite telling that the RMR have not had any compulsory call ups for the Herrick tours, they have all been volunteers.

Good lcuk with it mate.

Dwarfy
sterion66
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Post by sterion66 »

Ok maybe i'm not quite understanding but if your going to be used as a regular soldier and making the commitment which takes up alot of your time as a civilian, isn't the appeal of being a reservist being lost?
dwarfy
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Post by dwarfy »

Not really mate.Even with the large commitments that are now being made by Reservists, from the feedback i have heard, in the majority of cases, you are able to carry on with your civilian career with 'little' hinderence. I say that some what loosely as of course there is a distrurbance to it, for both employee and employer, however most companies and employers are largely supportive of Reservists and of those who deploy.

For me, i have a career path i wish to go down, yet i still have a desire to join the RM and serve in the Corps, just not at the expense of what i indend to make a full career out of (my civilian job). So far the jobs i am applying for and have made progress in getting are all supportive of what the RMR involves and may involve in the future. So for me it is the perfect choice.
dwarfy
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Re: Info from insight night

Post by dwarfy »

Sandy The Guvnor wrote:
phoenix1379 wrote:P-Coy: 10 miler...1 hour 50 mins ( no more 2 hours, they want you at regular soldiers standards now ). Trainasium, milling, log race, steeplechase, stretcher race, 2 miler.
They might want that but the 10 miler on the T.A. is test week still done in 2 hours and they get 19 mins for the 2 miler.
Im a little surprised at that, are there any factors that impact on that sandy? Like time constaints on test week, are the tests done in a more compacted period for the T.A test week for example?
phoenix1379
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Post by phoenix1379 »

Cheers for that extra info Sandy. Its seems a little odd though because they did say that it was 1 hour 50 mins now particularly because of T.A joining up with regs so often that they want same standard. But, i obviously take your word for it considering your the bloke who takes them for it.
They also said that the whole 4th Battalion does every weekend up at Catterick, and i thought that each company done training in its local area due to time and travel constraints.
Would you know ( from being up there ) if thats true or not. I am hearing so many different stories i dont know which is true.
I am a little suprised because i thought that the SNCO of recruiting would of known these details for sure but obviously not because you are saying differently.

Cheers lad
:D
Fusilier
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Post by Fusilier »

Nice posts. I really would check that your company is going to be behind you. I read somewhere that soldiers where returning and found their jobs had gone. Yep it was illegal but the Government where little if any support. You could be in the right but without a job.


I don’t say this to put people off, but just to make this part of your thinking and assessment process. I work for a large American company where we cover jobs as a matter of routine. With that I mean o/time annual leave, training etc. What happens however if you work for a small independent company? Get it in writing if you can. All the best.
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