New here, few questions

[qwerty]

Gday guys, Ive been reading through this forum for a while and I haven't really found the answers I need. Ive got a few broad questions.

1. Where can I find information on the specific pay rates of different jobs in the Army?
2. Does the British Army still accept Australians?
3. Does the the Amy still accept Irish citizens? Im a citizen of both countries. I only ask because I want to know if holding an Irish passport will make it easier for me to enlist.
4. Can you join specific Regiments and battalions or do they send you where they want you? Im looking at Infantry but specifically 1 Rifles because of the Commando role. Or Royal Artillery for the same reason.
5. Is there anyone on here that I can PM in order to get some realistic info about 4/73 sphinx battery and their workings?
6. If I was to join the TA how long would I have to enlist for?

Cheers guys

[ofens]

Look on the British Army website, surely

[Tab]

I was on a warship in Portsmouth yesterday and that had an ozzy officer on board

[Nero]

Applicants from commonwealth countries can apply (Australia) as well as applicants from the Irish republic.

Pay scales differ depending on your job, i.e parachute instructors will get something like an extra £10 a day.

You choose what you want to do. Your careers adviser will persuade you to certain roles but that's because those roles are in high demand. If you want to join infantry then just choose a regiment. Certain regiments have their own fitness requirements, such as the paras.

[sportbilly42]

< sigh > I take it Google doesn't work if you're in Oz?

Type in 'British Army Rates of Pay' and you get this -
http://www.army.mod.uk/join/20097.aspx which has pdf downloads for officer or soldiers rates of pay.

http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/genera ... er_Pay.pdf
Simples... Pay is split between Lower and Higher Band... The 'Job' site on the website will tell you whether a specific trade is higher or lower..

Commonwealth citizens can still apply. Loads of Fijians are in service, together with a smattering of Sarf-Efrikans and others. Frankly I think that this should be stopped and entry should be restricted to British passport holders, especially now that that SDR is underway and soldiers in service are being booted out... and the numbers in training are shrinking.

[qwerty]

You choose what you want to do. Your careers adviser will persuade you to certain roles but that's because those roles are in high demand. If you want to join infantry then just choose a regiment. Certain regiments have their own fitness requirements, such as the paras.

How honest are career advisers in the UK? I serve in the Australian Defence Force and recruiters here are a pack of liars. If I wanted to join the British Army could I opt specifically to be an Infantry or Artillery Commando from the get go? Or would the reality be more a case of me completing my training and being sent to any battalion or regiment they need billets for? For example do I get enlisted as a Rifleman Recruit/Commando and do training that reflects that specific Battalion or do I do the same training as all other light Infantrymen at Catterick then get sent to any Battalion in the Rifles?

Alot of my mates here in oz volunteered under the guise they could choose what specializations that wanted to do in the trade. Reality was they all got put into a stream that needed people and too bad so sad this is your job for the next 6years was all they heard.

< sigh > I take it Google doesn't work if you're in Oz?

Type in 'British Army Rates of Pay' and you get this -
http://www.army.mod.uk/join/20097.aspx which has pdf downloads for officer or soldiers rates of pay.

Cheers for that

[Nero]

Obviously recruiters will try and fill the jobs they need, but you get to choose, I think 3 choices.

So you can choose which ones you want. Some jobs will need previous experience meaning you could specialize after about 3 years.

If you stick to your guns , provided you pass everything, you will get the job you want.

[timex]

Don't get suckered into the 1 Rifles Commando ruse, they are attached to 3 Cdo Bde but are NOT Commando trained. Limited amounts of them have tried the course but I'm not sure what the success rate has been.

If you want to join the RA as a Gunner then you can go to 29 Commando Regt RA and attempt the Cdo course with them, if you fail you will go back to another RA Regt as they only kept the Cdo trained guys. (unless things have changed.

Good luck

[qwerty]

Don't get suckered into the 1 Rifles Commando ruse, they are attached to 3 Cdo Bde but are NOT Commando trained. Limited amounts of them have tried the course but I'm not sure what the success rate has been.

If you want to join the RA as a Gunner then you can go to 29 Commando Regt RA and attempt the Cdo course with them, if you fail you will go back to another RA Regt as they only kept the Cdo trained guys. (unless things have changed.

Good luck

How long does it take to get onto the Commando course? Is it done straight after all your gunnery training or do you have to serve in the Regiment first?

[Amphibian]

Join the Royal Marines lad, you'll be sorted there

[ofens]

That's very interesting. I was "led" to beleive that all of 1 Rifles were to be trained up on AACC over a period of time, until all were. And that those joining it out the box would have to as well.
While at Lympstone I did see loads and loads of blokes going through on AACC.

[qwerty]

Join the Royal Marines lad, you'll be sorted there

I have thought about Marines but RM's need to get a top secret clearance. I got one here for the ADF and it was a right pain in the ass, 10 years of paper work to prove where ide worked, lived and gone to school. Ide rather avoid it if i could. That being said what level if clearance do Army Commandos have to get?

[Amphibian]

Id imagine the clearance classification required would be similar across the spectrum. The most important thing is being where you want to be

[sportbilly42]

I have thought about Marines but RM's need to get a top secret clearance.

That's absolute cobblers cobber...

Entry level security clearance for all services involves a process of Vetting, but it's all fairly low-level background check stuff. Discovering that Bin Laden's distant cousin is sharing your accommodation block, or that there's a couple of lads that disappear on leave and go on Taliban 18-30 holidays to Pakistan is what we want to avoid and the vetting thing sifts out those applicants....

There are of course specific trades that may involve you working with classified documents even as a basic sprog, but a general RM (or army) entrant would not be accessing 'Top Secret' material and would not need that clearance as a pre-requisite. As a trained soldier you get briefings on the current Int situation, especially as part of pre-deployment training, but again, unless you're working in the G2 trades it's normally at the RESTRICTED or at a push CONFIDENTIAL level. Certain Int data may be UK/US EYES ONLY and if you have dual citizenship you should not have access to that as a Aussie.... (although that often slips under the radar..)

In the overwhelming majority of roles within any of the services there would be very little that would bar you joining as a Commonwealth citizen.... As you climb the greasy pole there may also be certain jobs even within military units (Duty Sgt/Duty Officer) where you might have to do spot checks on the held classified documents. Standard level vetting is all that's required.

Going back a few years there was a process of Negative and Positive Vetting (NV & PV). These days it's Security Check (SC) and Developed Vetting (DV)... You wouldn't necessarily know that you had been NV'd at the time, but with PV there was the very in-depth background checking which you were meant to have before you had access to the 'secret squirrel' stuff..... But (don't tell anyone...) it wasn't always watertight because I certainly never was PV'd, yet when I was posted to Div HQ's in Germany as an Int Sgt I was regularly working on Cosmic Top Secret plans involving the Germany Defence Plan.... If only I'd photocopied them I could have made a fortune from a friendly Ivan...


I'm rambling now..... What was the question?

[ofens]

The question was "What should I do with my life?"
and I think the answer was "Join the Royal Marines."