By Louis Joseph Baffoe 8KRU

1. The Army!!! PSHCE Learning Challenge By Louis Joseph Baffoe 8KRU

2. Ways of joining Regular Soldier • When you join the Army as a regular soldier you become part of the team. Regular Officer • As an officer your job is to get the best out of your soldiers. Not all officers have a university degree, personal qualities are just as important. Territorial Soldier • When you join as a Territorial soldier you can combine your civilian career with an Army job. Territorial Officer • Territorial Officer training will help to improve your leadership and management skills. You don't need to leave your civilian job to become an Army Officer. PQO (Professional Qualified Officer) • The PQO Course is open to everyone from dentists to chaplains with relevant degrees and experience. From overseas • Certain overseas countries or territories can apply to join the British Army.

3. Requirements • Joining age • Soldiers can join from 16 years – 33 years. • Parental consent needed for under 18s • Officers can join from 18 years - 26 years. • Minimum Qualifications • Soldier • None required except for certain technical jobs • Officer • 7 GCSE subjects • Need to have grade C or above in English, Maths or either a Science or a foreign language. • At least 2 passes at A-levels grades A – E. • SCE(Service Children’s Education) higher grades A – D. • Physical Condition • Must be in good Physical condition • GP (General Practitioner) must fill in a medical questionnaire • Must pass a full Army medical

4. Pay Regular Soldier • Regular soldiers receives over £275 a week during Phase 1 training. • Some roles get specialist pay which could add £19 to your salary per day. • Depending on which army job you do your salary could rise to at least £17,767 per year. • Your Salary will increase annually as your career continues regardless of promotions and your extra responsibilities. • Within 5 years you could be the rank of a sergeant and earn up to £33,702 a year. Regular officer • You earn £24,917 while you train. • When commissioned to a second lieutenant your salary will rise to £30,014. • A commissioned officer can be promoted to the rank of Captain after more than five years, which can earn you a salary of at least £38,463 per year. Territorial Soldier and Officer • If you serve in your spare time as a Territorial Soldier or Officer, you’ll earn the same rate of money as a Regular. • Your pay covers training, travelling to your unit, meals on duty and your uniform. • If you train for a certain number of days each year you also get a tax-free bonus. • The more you train, the more you gain!!!

5. Training The following training is offered to new joiners: • Phase 1 training • Trade (Phase 2/3) Training The Initial Soldier Training(i.e. Phase 1 training ) is carried out around a number of sites around the country as follows: • ITC Catterick- ITC Catterick, in North Yorkshire, trains all Army Infantrymen. • AFC Harrogate - School leavers aged between 16 years and 17 years and 5 months are trained at AFC(H). • ATC Pirbright-The largest Phase 1 training establishment is responsible for training 17 year olds and over. • ATR Winchester - This Phase 1 training establishment is responsible for training 17 year olds and over.

6. Training (Contd…) Phase 1 Training Common Military Syllabus (Recruits) (CMS(R)) which lasts for 14 weeks. Those who pass move on to the next phase which includes: • Skill At Arms - Learning to use a wide range of arms. • Physical Training - The most fundamental part of the training. • Adventure Training - All adventure training takes place at the Soldier Development Wing (SDW) at Brecon. • Fieldcraft - Putting what has been learnt into practice.  • Sports and Fun - Opportunity to play sports and have fun.  • First Aid - Learning first aid skills.  • CBRN - Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defence. Trade (Phase 2/3) Training Trade training comes in various forms from fixing attack helicopters, building bridges (or blowing them up!), driving vehicles such as a Challenger Tank, or firing the AS90 self-propelled gun.

7. A day in the life Real life blog of Lieutenant Colonel David Eastman in Afghanistan • Days start at 0600hrs (there are no weekends here!). • Spend 30 minutes running, rowing or cycling to get the blood flowing. • After breakfast go over to headquarters to prepare for the morning brief. • Every morning The Commander of the Task Force Helmand, Brigadier James Chiswell MC, gathers together his staff heads and go through the previous evening’s activities - Taliban attacks, Battle Group operations etc., as well as discussing the activities coming up in the next 24 hours. • I update the team on what is happening in the UK and International media, as well as what the local Afghan media is reporting. I also make sure that I keep everyone apprised of important sports scores, or bizarre stories from The Sun just to keep the team’s morale up. • Following the update, I brief my team of 8 on the outcome from the meeting. We also discuss the next 24 hours and the rest of the week activities. • Today I spent most of the morning briefing an ITV News team on the background to what is happening in Helmand.

8. A day in the life(Contd…) • My main task here, apart from being the spokesman for the force, is to make sure that nothing gets published that might compromise the operational security of our soldiers, so everything that leaves theatre has to go through me for clearance (this can be very monotonous if it is for a documentary, which can mean hours of video!) • We are 4½ hours ahead of the UK, so by lunchtime the phone calls and emails from the UK start arriving. Usually it is journalists requesting information or our headquarters in the UK, the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) in Northwood, or the Ministry of Defence with whom we are in daily (often hourly) contact. • Lunch is at 1300hrs. After lunch, if we are not out hosting an embedded journalist, covering an operation, or planning the next operation, we will deal with the various email requests from the UK, and then take turns to do some more exercise for half an hour. • In the late afternoon I start preparing for the formal brief to the Commander and staff about the events that have occurred during the day. • After dinner, I return to the office to prepare the daily update which is distributed to all our HQs in Afghanistan and the UK. • I leave the office at 2300hrs and after half an hour reading my new toy a Kindle, or writing home, I am back in a deep slumber by midnight. 

9. Corps & Regiments Corps of Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers Royal Armoured Corps Army Air Corps Royal Logistic Corps Royal Regiment of Artillery Intelligence Corps Royal Corps of Signals Royal Army Chaplains' Department Corps of Royal Engineers

10. Corps & Regiments (Contd…) Infantry United Kingdom Special Forces (Reserve) Adjutant General's Corps Corps of Army Music Army Medical Services Royal Army Physical Training Corps Royal Army Medical Corps Small Arms School Corps Royal Army Veterinary Corps • Brigade of Gurkhas Royal Army Dental Corps Media Operations Group (Volunteers) Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps

11. Army language(Terminology) • In the army you call your rifle your “custard” • Underwear is called “grollies” • You sleep in a “gonkbag” • Campaign insignia are “brag-rags” • Meals are prepared by a “cabbage commando” • A beer stain on your T-shirt is a “canteen medal” • The modern army wants soldiers to master other tongues(notably Arabic).

12. Websites and Information I got most of my information on the British Army from this website • http://www.army.mod.uk/ Also used the following websites for my research. • http://britisharmy.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/a-day-in-the-life/ • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_comparative_military_ranks