Territoral Army

[Sgt Bilko]

mph1977 said:

Sgt Bilko said:

There's a drive to increase reserves, but not the support of infrastructure to accommodate them. They are looking to close TA units around the country if a decent offer is made for the facility, regardless of the viability of the unit. There will be soon less TA units available, which means the hoped increase in reservists won't occur because each area has a saturation point when it comes to recruitment. Another example of different departments at odds when it comes to strategic planning.

would that be the TACs which sit empty for 120 + hours a week ?

Tuesday evenings, a cadet unit unit on Wednesday evenings, a few hours on friday teat time and a few hours on Sunday afternoon do not justify the retention of a large, expensive premises ...

how many cities and large towns have multiple TACs which are only in any kind of significant use for a few hours on evenings and occasional weekends ... ?

by spreading out drill nights across the week and making best use of the best sites how many units could actually be accomodated in the better TACs

is HQ Sqn and RHQ of one unit , a platoon of another unit, two cadet units and a RFCA office really a good use of tens of acres of prime suburban real estate ? there's perhaps 15 people there in the day ( the regular component of the RHQ of that unit (CO, TM adj, Ch CLk, RSM and RQ and a few REME NRPS, HQ Sqn's PSI , no one from the platoon of the other unit , no one from cadets , a civvie gateman and caretaker and a couple of RFCA bods ... )

co locating Units tri- service and cadet forces and providing facilities for other organisations ( e.g. standby point for NHS ambos , secure parking for charities with a vehicle fleet ) is a realistic aim even without opening the facilities up to general community use ...

No, I'm talking about large buildings on tiny footprints with a set of small garages and parking for 30 vehicles with 3/4 different reserve/ta units, cadet units from all three forces, evening private hire bookings every night and a few university attachments all being told to find elsewhere to parade/work because the land is being sold off. And this is BEFORE they start to increase the reserve state. All those buildings you talk about are the ones supposed to be "housing" the increase in reserves along with permanent staff needed to run the admin, logs, training etc.

[thehappyotter]

Taff107 said:

HeatonNorris said:

..... to sit around doing nothing most of the time,

Really????????? The Regular Army sit around doing nothing most of the time these days?
You couldn't be further away from the facts if you tried....

Something tells me that someone's never been in the military!

[Taff107]

Me? 22 yrs and still serving enough for you?

[andy_s]

Taff107 said:

Me? 22 yrs and still serving enough for you?

You've been wah'd...

I think he's referring to the original post which you quoted.

[Taff107]

Ahh...ok

[sparks_E39]

I've signed for 18 years in the Royal Navy. I know it was 22 years once, when was that changed?

[MikeGTi]

sparks_E39 said:

I've signed for 18 years in the Royal Navy. I know it was 22 years once, when was that changed?

When they ran out of boats?

Could be when VEng was introduced though, as opposed to the Open Engagement.

[Asterix]

I think one of the issues that might appear down the line is how the Reserves are deployed. Please excuse me if things have changed, I was in (REME regs) a while back.

Currently individuals go on the appropriate training and then deployed to augment manpower at regular units where further operational training/experience/bringing up to speed occurs.

Chatter has been that if it gets to the case where full units of reserves get deployed in one go, regardless of their deployment training, they won't be as effective as the regs as they simply won't have the long term constant time and training together.

Edited by Asterix on Tuesday 10th July 12:19

[sparks_E39]

MikeGTi said:

sparks_E39 said:

I've signed for 18 years in the Royal Navy. I know it was 22 years once, when was that changed?

When they ran out of boats?

Could be when VEng was introduced though, as opposed to the Open Engagement.

Ah right, thanks. I'm just waiting for a date now, passed everything. It's a long process, I applied in 2010!

[Jinx]

sparks_E39 said:

Ah right, thanks. I'm just waiting for a date now, passed everything. It's a long process, I applied in 2010!

Be patient - it takes a while to get a good war started......

[thehappyotter]

sparks_E39 said:

Ah right, thanks. I'm just waiting for a date now, passed everything. It's a long process, I applied in 2010!

Took me over 2 years, it depends very much on branch and the need for staff in that branch.

What trade you going for?

[thehappyotter]

andy_s said:

Taff107 said:

Me? 22 yrs and still serving enough for you?

You've been wah'd...

I think he's referring to the original post which you quoted.

Indeed I was

[sparks_E39]

thehappyotter said:

Took me over 2 years, it depends very much on branch and the need for staff in that branch.

What trade you going for?

Communications (CIS) Surface fleet. Estimations are at 24 ish months after taking RT, which for me was March 2011. To be honest I don't mind the wait, I would just like a date! Either way I'm looking forward to it.

[ecain63]

thehappyotter said:

Taff107 said:

HeatonNorris said:

..... to sit around doing nothing most of the time,

Really????????? The Regular Army sit around doing nothing most of the time these days?
You couldn't be further away from the facts if you tried....

Something tells me that someone's never been in the military!

. How busy you are really depends on what you do. If you're a Logistics mong at a mess-tin repair unit then yeah you might spend much of your time in the naafi or making your kit look 'ally as fk' to disguise your REMF role. But, if you're a front line or skilled operator then you are much busier. My 10 years in the Royal Marines was very busy. 3 wars, 5 x 3 month stints in Norway, regularly on exercise building up for the next tour of duty, 4 x 2 month mountain training exercises in scotland, 6 months doing interdiction operations from a grey dinghy in the gulf, months away on courses and more to boot.

Maybe your role isn't that demanding, choose your branch and take your chance .

Wahhh's are gay!

[ecain63]

thehappyotter said:

Taff107 said:

HeatonNorris said:

..... to sit around doing nothing most of the time,

Really????????? The Regular Army sit around doing nothing most of the time these days?
You couldn't be further away from the facts if you tried....

Something tells me that someone's never been in the military!

. How busy you are really depends on what you do. If you're a Logistics mong at a mess-tin repair unit then yeah you might spend much of your time in the naafi or making your kit look 'ally as fk' to disguise your REMF role. But, if you're a front line or skilled operator then you are much busier. My 10 years in the Royal Marines was very busy. 3 wars, 5 x 3 month stints in Norway, regularly on exercise building up for the next tour of duty, 4 x 2 month mountain training exercises in scotland, 6 months doing interdiction operations from a grey dinghy in the gulf, months away on courses and more to boot.

Maybe your role isn't that demanding, choose your branch and take your chance .

Wahhh's are gay!