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Hi guys, just wondering if any of you have got any experience on the TA Potential Officers Course?

A mate of mine has just joined the TA and is going to a 2day selection course tommorow to see if he has what it takes to become an officer.

I was hoping someone would be able to tell me what kind of kit he has to take and what sort of thing is actually going to happen. I think he has been told alot of rumors by some people etc as of what to expect. Maybe you can clear some of it up.

Thanks guys, any info before tommorow would be helpful.

If your chum has just joined the TA then he won't be going for any officer stuff just yet. In the TA you have to first become a soldier by going through all the basic training and the CIC, then you can go onto becoming an officer, which i wouldn't recommend until he has some experience as a tom first.

Whats a tom ?

BTW I think there may be some sort of direct entrant officer route now

I don't know how it was before, but you can definatly go in directly to become an officer, think you end up being an officer cadet for a year or so then if you've proved yourself you get put up for Sandhurst, correct me if i'm wrong guys.

A 'tom' is a soldier.

SO why not call them soldiers

I dislike civilians using terms they have heard on the telly

mercury wrote:SO why not call them soldiers

I dislike civilians using terms they have heard on the telly

No need to get craggy chum. 'TOM' is a slang word used commonly at my TA unit for soldiers, i am also led to believe this slang term is prevelant throughout the army.

mercury wrote:SO why not call them soldiers

I dislike civilians using terms they have heard on the telly

Further to that, if you don't like us civvies using these terms just cause we're part time soldiers then you must be some real hardcore experienced soldier are you?

Well, I wouldn't say hardcore , but experienced ?

Yes I suppose I am.

Am I going to pass any of this experience on to you ?

No

Are TA soldiers civvis, no I think not. the army can still have us 24 hours if they want.

They are not civvies, nor are they regular soldiers. We carry army ID, we do everything the army does, the only differnce is we do it part time.

Our training is more intense, we have a day on what the regulars have a week on to learn the same stuff.

Join the TA, be the best BUT make sure your prepared as it ent some drinking club anymore

Our training isn't more intense, and despite what we are told, we are not the same. When we are in training we are not subject to nearly the same abuse as regular recruits, and we are not required to reach the same standards of fitness or professional standards as regulars before we can be deployed, we don't even have the same level of security clearance.
The only time we get to be on the same level as the regulars is after CIC and we are 'trained' soldiers and then we get good training, but up until then our training is a joke compared to regulara recruits and to say we are the same as them is wrong.

In fact, i'm really annoyed about my CIC, i bust a gut trying to get ready for it and worked mega hard for it, it was an initital test for me to 'test the water' as it were before my PRMC which is December.
Anyway, i got there and the course was full of nobs! Gobby guys who were giving it all mouth but were crap in the field and on the range. Loads of guys who were giving it 'i don't do any fitness cos i don't need to because in IRAQ it's all landrover patrols and anyway we can still pass CIC even if we fail the BPFA and CFT cos the paperwork says we only have to make a 'reasonable attempt at it'' What grates me is that i had the right attitude, it was important to me to pass every single test they put infront of me and i worked hard and passed, but the idiots and the gobby nobs were also allowed to finish the course and get a tick in the box even though in my opinion they didn't pass.

Sounds to me like CIC's a joke then, CMS(R) is harder than that as long as you don't go to ATR Grantham, the first thing you do when you arrive on it is BPFA, fail & you're out the door straight away.

errrr, Mercury... you're abusing the TA?? Thats funny because I found this on your site;

Whilst in Norfolk it didnt take me long to tire of the 9 - 5 office life, so I took what was to prove to be one of the best decisions of my life. I joined the Terratorial Army more specifically the Royal Signals. Not only did I regain my identity in a civilian world but I also gained some friends in the ranks with whom I would be proud to serve with if the need aros