HMForces.co.uk

An Application To The Armed Forces - My Story

When I left school I had the impressions that everyone had some idea what they wanna be, whether it’s becoming a teacher all the way to be coming a self-made multi millionaire. When I left school the 2nd Iraq War was just kicking off and we were after Saddam’s WMDs. I was fresh out of school.

I went to the local ACO (Army Careers Office) and knew then I wanted to be a solider. I ran home with excitement and told my mum and dad, hoping they would be proud that I had sorted out my life as I’d been dossing round for a few months. Well… ha! ha! I was so wrong and simply got told off that I wouldn’t be able to join up. They told me to become something else and not a solider, they wanted other great things from me. It was their plan that I attend college and get a course under my belt, possibly even Uni and get a degree if I didn’t want a trade. They had big ideas that I’d become successful and rich. Maybe every parent wants that for their kids?

This was such a disappointment and I was really pi**ed off. My anger was down to the fact that in my family my Grandad and Great-Grandad had served. But in the end history didn’t matter as my parents put a lot of pressure on me and they eventually won out – I could have gone against them but I just didn’t want to disappoint them.

So I went to college and studied for 3 years. In that time a lot of my old school friends had moved on by actually joining up in the Army themselves and I lost contact with them as we had different lives and they were off travelling abroad or doing adventure training or whatever. I eventually found out that one of my old school friends was killed abroad in the war and it made me feel so angry that I wasn’t there with them. It went round in my head that maybe if had I joined up I could have been there and prevented their death – I felt guilt even though I knew I could have done little.

Well, in the Second year at college things changed as I went back to the ACO and was confronted with a TA officer and he suggested that I could join the TA. Well I did. I faked my Mum’s signature and was in. Happy days. My parents couldn’t stop me this time and I didn’t care about the consequences.

I completed CIC (Combat Infantry Man Course) Catterick and came top of my class. Loved every minute of being there and felt so happy it was like a second family. I had the option of going to Iraq but decided not to go as I was now 18 and wanted to taste more of civilian life. I was fed up of paying rent and wanted to try a career. So after college I went to work in McDonald’s.

Well I was promoted pretty quickly etc and one day I saw this gorgeous girl, the best I had ever laid eyes on, she was stunning… well to me anyway. I was cleaning the windows when one day she came in the restaurant again and we got chatting. We actually got on really well and started dating. I loved being around her and didn’t want to leave her. But I got the wrong end of the stick and discharged my service from the TA but she went mad and got back with her ex-boyfriend. I begged her to come back but she wasn’t having any of it. I was a bit depressed after this and decided I needed to get away – I had made too many bad decisions so I sat down and thought long and hard about it. I decided to apply for the Army.

Walking into the office give me this sense of fear not knowing what to expect. I handed in my application form, took a BARB Test (British Army Recruit Battery) again, which is the standard test for the Britsh Army to see what jobs are availble to you, and hoped for the best. I passed and asked to go in to the Princess Of Wales’s Royal Regiment – I really wanted the excitment and the fitness of it. I got though the interview and in a few weeks had my ADSC (Army Development and Selection Centre), the 2 day course to see if the Army likes you and if you like the Army.

I had learnt my lesson in life that if you wanted something you had to fight for it and never let anything stand in your way.

Photo © 2010 Adam Mitchell

More: After I Faked My Mum’s Signature for the TA

More Blogs:
The RAF Aptitude Tests
The Diary of a Navy Wife Part 1
The Diary of a Navy Wife Part 2 – The Sordid Details of Life on the Patch
Asking for Assurances that PTSD and Other Concerns Are Recognised and Dealt With

---