Selection and Training in the British Army

Selection and training in the British Army is the process by which candidates for service are identified, inducted and brought onto the trained strength. The process is the responsibility of the Adjutant General, the personnel director for the Army based at Trenchard Lines in Wiltshire.

Candidates for all three of the British Armed Forces are first handled through Armed Forces Career Offices, which are located in major conurbations around the United Kingdom supporting the respective recruitment functions. The selection process involves a number of suitability interviews, an aptitude test to identify training potential, medical and fitness assessments and a residential selection board. For potential soldiers, this will include an opportunity to select a Regiment or Corps, as well as a trade to join. Later training is oriented around this choice. Officer candidates will, during the selection process, become sponsored by a Regiment or Corps to undertake training. This sponsor does not undertake to accept the candidate on completion of officer training.

Candidates for the Army undergo common training to bring all personnel to a similar standard in basic military skills, and further specialist training is delivered according to the Regiment or Corps for which the individual has been identified as a candidate. Completion of Phase 2 training brings the individual onto the trained strength; however, each of the British Armed Forces will continue to deliver specialist and generalist training throughout the individual career.

Much training in the British Armed Forces has been accredited by various awarding bodies, resulting in the opportunity to gain civilian qualifications through service training activities.

Phase 1 training features basic training for all new recruits. For other ranks, this is the Common Military Syllabus (Recruits) (CMSR). CMSR covers the skills and fitness needed to survive and operate in a field environment, and seeks to imbue the ethos and principles of the British Army. The trainee is required to demonstrate competence in thirteen training objectives over the fourteen-week course. Officers undertake the Commissioning Course, which covers the basic aspects of soldiering as well as command, leadership and management. The standard course for new Direct Entry Officers lasts 44 weeks. Professionally qualified officers (those that have joined the army having already gained a professional qualification, such as doctors, lawyers or chaplains) undergo a shorter, ten-week course. The Late Entry Officers Course is a four-week course for already serving soldiers that have been chosen for commissioning as officers.

There are five training establishments for Phase 1 training in the Regular Army:

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