Cross-posted from The Lounge because I need advice and input pretty soon - sorry to the mods if this is not cool.

So I have decided over many months, chats with various people and researching that I am going to pursue becoming an Officer in the British Army. I'm going into my first year of University (3 year course) in September and have already set the ball rolling with an initial interview with my local Army Careers adviser with a view to having a place on the Commissioning Course at Sandhurst by the time I graduate. The first task for me to attend to is organizing attending Potential Officer Courses (a kind of weekend 'getting to know you' type thing) with the various Corps to find out where I might be interested in joining.

I am making this thread in the hope I can get advice (long-shot on a Poker forum I know!) on which Corps would be an exciting and rewarding place to go, since I don't really have enough time to visit a lot of them. Striking a few of them off the list or having some definitely on the list at this stage would be helpful to me.

The main options open to me at the moment are -

Royal Armoured Corps (very interested in this option - zooming about in Challengers and Scimitars looks like a pretty damn awesome job)

Household Cavalry (similar to above but Ive heard it is extremely snobby which may cause discomfort for me being from a relatively poor middle-class state-school educated background?)

Infantry (Eh - I don't fancy dying particularly)

Royal Artillery (Already set up a visit - my uncle was a Major in the Artillery and absolutely loved it)

Army Air Corps

Royal Engineers

Royal Signals (Ive heard Signals is very boring but I dont have much of a sample size on this)

Intelligence Corps

Royal Logistics Corps

Any other advice, input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated also! I know this thread is regarding the British Army but any input from Americans (or other nationalities ) is welcome and probably fairly applicable in most cases.

Edit : if anyone wants to talk me out of joining the Army that is fine if you give good reasoning, but please keep political crap out of here please.

Infantry and the Paras obv.

I think a lot of this depends on why you want to join the army in the first place. Care to share?

My brother is an Armor Officer in the US Army and he loves it. Thats about the only advice I can give you.

I'm finding it pretty difficult to pinpoint and articulately express what exactly it is that makes me want to become an Army Officer, but Ill try to give it a shot.

The sense of camaraderie and belonging to a culture independent from the regular 9-5 world. I love the idea of being fully immersed in a job like this - being able to say this is what I AM rather than this is how I pay the rent.

The desire to live up to my potential which I really think the army can help me do (and I'm not sure a regular job can tbh).

The thrill and excitement factor - travelling the world, handling muti-million pound equipment, blowing **** up.

The (probably shallow) prestige that comes with being an Army Officer - respect, a real sense of achievement and having 30+ men and women looking to you for leadership when the **** hits the fan.

Read the OP - I have no great desire to die, plus being in the Infantry sucks for a whole bunch of other reasons according to an awful lot of people I've spoken to. I'm probably far too much of a girly man to join one of the elite units like the Paras or Marines anyway.

Seems like an overly romantic view of the military. GL to you though.

Obviously, since I was highlighting what I thought would be the great aspects of joining the Army. I'm well aware there are (many) negative aspects in joining the Army but the same could be said of any job. I guess I just have to hope the positives outweigh the negatives

This is bordering on "political crap" but I think its more "moral crap." Being in the Army means you're a hired killer. Even if you never kill anyone, which you probably won't, your job is to facilitate the deaths of people your government doesn't like. Maybe you happen to be on the same page as your government right now about who ought to be killed, but if you want to be a career officer you can't be confident that won't change. If I were considering a military career, I would be really worried about waking up in 10 or 15 years thinking "WTF have I done with my life, I've dedicated all of my time to killing people who I don't really have any problem with."

I know that theres a definite point to be made about how whether you're involved or not doesn't change what happens and how just working a normal job and paying taxes to the government still facilitates lots of killing, but actually wearing a uniform every day and working in the Army is a degree of proximity to killing that I wouldn't be able to handle.

Take it to SMP, assbag.

Deep.

QFMFT

This is a pretty juvenile way of thinking about the role of the Army. Plenty of deployments are specifically to STOP people being killed either as a deterrent or as a defensive force. This could be a short-term solution (Northern Ireland) or a long term solution such as Afghanistan. To reduce the job of the soldier or officer to the above statement is pretty damn insulting to people who fought and possibly died for their country. I realize there is certain truth to what you're saying, but making blatantly one sided statements really serves absolutely no purpose at all.

A risk I'm willing to take with a very high confidence that I will have little to no regrets of the moral implications you're talking about. I guess I have no soul

Can we get back on topic please, I really don't want to get bogged down in this debate....

This would be a lot easier if you were American. why the hell did you go and decide to be born in britian moron .

But seriously, you should probably go ask a british forum bc i would guess there are less than 10% brits here. We don't know anything about your military. It's hard to give you advice when we

A: know less about your military and how the branches are divided, which departments mean what, etc., than you do.

B: know less about what you are really looking for than you do.

I just can't figure out how the majority of us non-brits-in-service can help you. but definitely GL in figuring it out anyways. I hope it works out for you.

This is an INCREDIBLY narrow view and I am almost embarrassed for you that you said this.

L O L

Thanks. It is a long-shot I know, but I'm open to any and all input (even from Yanks!), so thought I might as well make a post here as well as the other places on the internet I'm looking at.

i have been served. I'm actually in britland right now too (one more week til home). Jay Riall, want to meet up next weekend?

Would love to but I'm working all weekend Where in Britainland are you and what are you doing voluntarily spending summer in a country that has soo much rain in **** August?

I don't see why people think this doesn't belong in the thread, it seems a legit concern.

It reminds me of something I read recently, McCain's story of being a POW. At one point he is talking about the U.S. starting to bomb Hanoi in 1972, and he hears there was a bomber pilot who refused to bomb Hanoi.

He says, and I threw in the bonus second paragraph in case you become a POW OP (page 16):

"
I have heard there was one B-52 pilot who refused to fly the missions during the Christmas bombing. You always run into that kind. When the going gets tough, they find out their conscience is bothering them. I want to say this to anybody in the military: If you don't know what your country is doing, find out. And if you find you don't like what your country is doing, get out before the chips are down.


Once you become a prisoner of war, then you do not have the right to dissent, because what you do will be harming your country. You are no longer speaking as an individual, you are speaking as a member of the armed forces of the United States, and you owe loyalty to the Commander in Chief, not to your own conscience.
"

worth it to think about imo

Except the negative of probable death. . .

LOL. Don't believe everything you are told by TV.

If you're an American it's either you're a grunt or Recon Marine, Army Infantry, Navy SEAL, or if you're a Brit then you're an SAS, SBS, Royal Marine, or you're nobody. But if you're asking a god damn internet forum then stay the god damn hell away from the infantry just so I dont see you on the battlefield so you can get me killed

X-Post from Lounge Thread

Hi Jay, I'm an officer in the US Army. I'm an officer in the Ordnance Corp, which is part of logistics side of the house. I'm not sure how the British Army branch selection works, we gave a "Dream List" to the Army of our preferences of Branch and Duty Station, etc. They then fill in the slots according to the needs of the Army. If you are able to pick your branch then do something that will interest you. To be honest, Ordnance wasn't my first choice but now that I'm in it, I love it. I can work with either munitions or mechanics; Ordnance is a dual branch in the US Army. I've got some of the best mechanics in the Army working for me and I'd put them against anybody.

When I was first commissioned I was offered two different choices, either a staff job or to be a Platoon Leader. I leapt at the latter. There is nothing better than leading troops, if you get that chance offered to you, take it. (Make sure you are in top physical shape, this is a major priority)

As part of your research I would find which branches have good upward mobility. Here for example, the Finance branch is very hard to get into as a 2nd LT but once you are in it you have a lot of options and there are a lot of higher officers (think of an upside down pyramid). These areas are good if you are looking to make a career out of it, either in a active or reserve status.

If I had to do it all over again I would probably do one thing different. I would have enlisted first. The value and insight in something like that is very high. I think it would have made me a better officer. It may take a few years longer but if this is your endstate, then it would be worth it.

> a short-term solution (Northern Ireland) or a long term solution such as Afghanistan.

I do not theenk thees word means what you theenk eet means.

In the NZ army at least everyone does the same officer training and then chooses their corps. Is that not the case with Sandhurst?
oyal Armoured Corps (very interested in this option - zooming about in Challengers and Scimitars looks like a pretty damn awesome job)

Household Cavalry (similar to above but Ive heard it is extremely snobby which may cause discomfort for me being from a relatively poor middle-class state-school educated background?)

Infantry (Eh - I don't fancy dying particularly) - have you noticed in the news how most of the people dying aren't actually infantry?

Royal Artillery (Already set up a visit - my uncle was a Major in the Artillery and absolutely loved it) - First to die in a real war thanks to counter battery technology, also what are you actually going to be doing day to day? Artillery seemed like a factory to me on my familiarisation visit . Very loud, repetitive and no way of seeing what you're doing.

Army Air Corps - Great if you're a pilot, otherwise join the airforce and get better accomodation.

Royal Engineers - If you like building **** and or blowing **** up, this is the corps to join.

Royal Signals (Ive heard Signals is very boring but I dont have much of a sample size on this) - only boring if you're not a geek, if you love gadgets this is the nuts.

Intelligence Corps - Sounds like a lot of fun, required experience so I never even got to visit them before I blew my knee though.

Royal Logistics Corps - Meh. REMFs the lot of them. JK, they do a good job and if you're into organising things and doing good for people (warm meals = <3 teh loggies), and don't want to be an actual soldier then this is the way to go.

Disclaimer - I never made it out of OCS (****ed my knee bad) so my stereotypes are based on our familiarization visits and discussions with instructors. Also I was in the NZ army.

It is the same, yeah. You choose (or get chosen for you) your corps a the end of the second term. However, before going to selection board for entry to Sandhurst you need to obtain sponsorship, either from a regiment or your local Careers adviser. Its pretty good to have a sponsorship before going as it means you will hopefully get a place in a corps you want to be in rather than dumped in one you don't want to be in just to make up the numbers.

Ah, I have been misinformed - thanks for clearing that up.

Eh - probably not good enough for pilot training, though it may be worth looking into I guess.

'First to die in a real war thanks to counter battery technology' - does Iraq/Afghanistan have much of this technology? From the RA website - Your job is to observe the battlefield, finding enemy targets and then work out how best to accurately engage the enemy using the firepower at your disposal. It is a vital role and provides a huge amount of responsibility and excitement! FOO teams can be mounted in a Warrior armoured vehicle or deployed on foot, by parachute, boat or helicopter.

I have heard from several places this is an absolutely sweet job, though again Im not sure of the actual risks in a real war.

These all sound good, I think I will try and get on fam visits to some or all of them.

Thank-you Five-Star also for sharing - really interesting stuff!