Ex-Army Officer thinking of joining RMR

I am a 31-year-old teacher, who previously spent 5 years in the Infantry serving in NI and Iraq. Having been out for almost 4 years I am enjoying civvie street, but still miss part of service life. I was thinking of joining my local RMR, and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on:

1. If my age would be a problem - I know they say 32 is the limit, but is it longer for previous regular service?
2. Has anyone come across and ex-Army bloke going to the RMR? Is it common?
3. Would I have to go all the way through Phase 1 and 2, or would previous service count towards some of the basic training?

Any other thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated - thanks for your time.

 

Hello mate

I can't help you completely as i've been out of the RMR since 1995 having served 5 years but;

1. With your previous military experience i would say go for it and i believe they will extend this at the C.O's discretion

2. If your an officer i can't help you but when lads from other ranks joined from the Army they had to start from the beginning at phase 1

Hope this helps. Or you could go and have a chat with your AFCO or just have a butchers at your local unit. Which unit are you interested in joining??

XRD

 

Many thanks for that - am closest to RMR Bristol. I'm happy to go through phase 1 and 2 again, but just wondered if it was a common thing with ex-Army joining up.

 

I've met a few ex-army lads in RMR, and I know of at least one trained rank at RMR Bristol who was allowed to skip phase 1 because of his army experience. Hope that helps...

 

Just to back up what Ex Rubber Dagger has said. The CO does get discretion on age and potentially on being able to short cut the training. That said there will be certain things you will have to do and other stuff where your previous experience will certainly help you pick it up a lot quicker.

Get yourself along to Bristol and chat with the staff, see what they can offer you and whether the RMR is going to give you what you want.

Best of luck

Supermario

 

Hello mate

Following on from what XRD and Supermario have said, the upper age limit is down to the CO's discretion, however with previous military experience (as long as your fit enough) it shouldn't be a drama up to around 34. Thats certainly the guidlines for the likes of UKSF(R) and Id imagine RMR would be much the same.

As for ex-Army blokes going to the RMR, it happens all the time. The current OC Edinburgh Detachment RMR is ex-Army.

As for going through all of phase 1 and 2 training, I know it used to be the case where if you were a trained soldier you could skip phase 1 and begin phase 2 immediately, but as far as I'm aware these days you have to do the whole lot from day one.

Best advice for accurate info instead of opinions, is to contact them direct mate.

Good luck.

 

Fellas, many thanks for your replies - they have been most useful. Will be getting in touch with the unit to arrange a visit/chat.

 

Welshcake

I think that they have a presentation evening on the first Wednesday of every month.

 

We had four ex army in our unit.

One certain ossifer type was brought up on the old Lee Enfield and it was only after a promise of a swift boot in the rear end that he realised the error of his ways and only cocked the SLR the once.

One ex Guardsman who was top rate on Phase1 Phase2 was a different story pity really he was a good guy. Think his age may have had something on his fitness and not realising what he was taking on.

The other three passed and earned the green lid. One after Lympstone was never seen again. 8O

Then along came a ex TA officer who sailed through fit as butchers dog and he was cracking on a bit. He was great guy and a born leader!!

As for going through all of phase 1 and 2 training, I know it used to be the case where if you were a trained soldier you could skip phase 1

I am not sure about skipping Phase1 we all know Percy marches slightly different than Royal.

 

We have an ex-army (Infantry) Officer who joined us after serving 14 years and had been out for only 1 year.

He started training with the RMR from Phase 1 and has just got his lid on the recent RFCC.

He chose to start from phase one in order to build up his phys and (more importantly) get more time to master the rope techniques.

The 'back to basics' training in phase 1 has done him no harm (good revision).

 

hmmm very interesting a certain belfast det character has done the same