ltmaverick25 said:
That is a good idea in principle. The other downside however is the morale issue. Especially the junior rank types like Cpls etc... Think about being one of the 25 that passed this course but being one of the 10 that did not get to go to Sandhurst. Its pretty hard to get yourself stoked for that sort of thing, make it, be turned down and then go back to being a Cpl. I can imagine those people being pretty miserable afterwards.
Can you give details about this course? What did they teach you, what sorts of things were you evaluated on, how did it differ from the training you had already received? Also, of the ones that did make it through, how many were NCOs, junior NCMs and walk in off the street types?
As always, the British select and train their officers differently from anyone else. Everyone who goes to Sandhurst must be sponsored by a regiment or corps. While at Sandhurst you can choose another regiment/ corps if you like, and are accepted, but will always be there with the 'stamp of approval' of the one that originally sent you. The PO Courses were run by several regiments in the UK to make sure that the people they sent there would give a good account of themselves, and be well prepared to add value as a commissioned officer anywhere in the army. I think they still run them? The main goal was to prepare you to pass the Regular Commissions Board 'unconditionally', that is, go straight to Sandhurst without having to first attend Rowallan Company, for younger applicants who needed some 'character development', or Beaconsfiled, for NCMs who needed educational upgrading in some cases.
I was accepted into the Parachute Regiment's PO Course. I flew from Canada to the UK, joined up as a Pte soldier in the Parachute Regiment and went to Aldershot which, at that time, was the Regiment's depot. Previous to this I had completed Phase III Infantry on the RESO program, as well as the Airborne Course, so was pretty confident in being able to do well. I changed my mind after the first couple of days.
The course formed up with about 60 people. There were 'new recruits' like me, experienced NCMs from the Parachute Regiment battalions, back squads from other courses etc. A pretty mixed bag. Most of the 'new recruits' had previously attended an orientation day targetted at those wanting to join the Paras as an officer, so they knew what lay ahead pretty much.
The course syllabus was what I would call 'Recruit Training on Steroids' with a buch of leadership and writing thrown in. The platoon staff took us through all the normal stuff that recruits go through including weapons handling, drill, room inspections, sigs, navigation, basic fieldcraft and tactical exercises etc etc. We also did the usual orders process and led section/ platoon attacks, and recce patrols. Then there was the gym... my God... the Gym, and Battle Fitness. They worked us up from running the BFT (1.5 miles with boots on), through assault courses, log races and all that stuff to a 50 miler (in teams of 2) along the South Downs Way carrying 60lbs folowed by a CTR and extraction. I had recently completed the Airborne Course at CABC but was really pushed to keep up. Fitness was obviously a big thing for these guys and not eveyone made it - including some of the experienced Parachute Regiment NCMs.
Concurrent with all this was what I would call a 'Political science program on steroids'. We had to read every 'quality' paper every day, as well as the Economist etc, and learn how to write a high quality essay on any aspect of Defence and Foreign Policy from the point of view of the UK. I still remember to this day that Leo Genshcer was the West German Foreign Minister and, given a little studying, could write you a pretty good 1500 word essay on German foreign policy in 45 minutes - the maximum time we were allowed.
And concurrent with all of this were the 'Command Tasks'. These feature large at RCB, so we ran through lots of them: getting the box of gold across the bottomless chasm, extracting the secret radar from the pool of radioactive waste etc. The ultimate interesting individual leadership challenge came one day when we were marched individually to the Pl Comds office, and handed a sealed envelope after which he said 'see you in the Lake District on Monday'. It being Friday, we deduced this would be a weekend task. On opening the envelope, we each discovered three questions that we had to answer on our own by going to the location given, somewhere in the UK, without using PMT and finding out in person. I, for example, had to hitchhike to Evesham and find out what was underneath each window of this place: http://www.thefleeceinn.co.uk/ and bring back proof that I had been there. Answer: Three white crcles of course, to keep the witches out C. 1400. In the Lake District and we did 20 milers - and navexs and basic mountaineering - through the mountains for a week.
At then end of the 2 months we were graded and sent off to RCB - or not, in the case of those who didn't make it. I think we had the weekend off before the actual RCB started, and that was about all the time off I remember getting during the course. But we were stoked...
How was it different from training I had done previously? All the basics were pretty similar except the fitness, which was light years harder than anything I'd done before. But there was a greater emphasis on being both a good follower and leader under very stressful conditions and earning the respect of your peers as well as the staff. In this course, unlike many I have done before or since, the staff did EVERYTHING we did too, often carrying more weight and with less sleep. So they were clearly leading by example as opposed to getting us to read about it somewhere. I can respect a guy who sleeps in same sheep **** as me. There was also a huge emphasis on an intellectual approach to leadership integrated with the physical side. No one at Gagetown insisted that I know alot about the political situation in Nigeria, for example, or what impact the latest political initiative or new aircraft acquisition would have on my country's foreign policy. There was an expectation that you knew about this stuff because one day you might have to explain to your platoon/company/battalion why you were parachuting into that particuylar country. I liked that.
What did it teach me? Lead by example, good infantry leadership is based on high levels of fitness, sort yourself out first, tape your toes and go like hell, it's OK to not know what the answer is but it's not OK to hide it, simple orders and good drills are the key, don't lose your rag unless the situation calls for it, demand participation and involvement from everyone, hot tea with lots of milk and two sugars can cure hypothermia - or just about anything else, you don't need very much stuff to survive and get the job done, think and think in teams, planning is important and doing is critical, if you think this is hard just wait until next time, having a sense of humour is essential. It prepared me very well for RCB and Sandhurst and taught me loads of stuff I did not learn in Canada.
What were we evaluated on? I can't really remember any detailed 'PER - type' assessment, although I'm sure there was one in the system somewhere. We were constantly evaluated by the staff on our various technical skills, of course. We did TOETs, range work, sigs training and tests etc. The PT sessions were pretty simple: keep up or miss your timings (and go hungry) or get a kick in the ass from the Pl Sgt. Our essays were graded by the resident Education officer at the Depot (the British have an Army Education Corps). The ultimate assessment was at the end where they decided whether they would send you to RCB sponsored by the regiment, or not.
Of those that made it to Sandhurst I think about 1/3 were former NCMs and the rest were 'off the street'. Of those that did make it through, none who made it to the regiment were former NCMs. Just me and one guy 'off the street'. Those RTU'd were all big boys and didn't take it too hard. It was one of those courses where you couldn't believe that you'd passed it - I'm STILL not sure how the heck I made it through!
Could it have been done better? I'm sure... but what a ride it was!
