Joining the Army

[iamchristuffin]

Hi All,

 

I've recently been thinking about joing the TA after I graduate from Uni (At the moment, it looks like as a Driver with the RLC). My question to you all is, could this harm my career in this industry, and how much? I'm still not 100% sure of what I want to do for a job, but Touring Monitors is at the top of my 'list' at the moment.

 

Thanks for your input and thoughts,

 

Chris

[Jivemaster]

Getting known as good, takes a lot of dedication in the ents industry. Being in the TA will occupy your time especially weekends and evenings! They assume that these are your leisure times wheras in the ents industry they are your peak busy times. The licences you gain could be helpful (thinking HGV/LGV perhaps PSV/PCV and minibuses and trailers. The time and committment that you put in could go against. Do not underestimate the probability of being sent overseas -even to a conflict zone, and even at only moderate notice, especialy if you have a specialist skill or aptitude.

 

Now if you wanted to go into pyro and SFX getting the military to do your training certification and security clearances would be a huge assett.

 

Sadly I think giving your prime years to the military when you really want to be doing monitors is'nt a good plan.

 

Also the arty farty bits of the ents industry can be very anti military.

 

A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on.

 

Now if you can get in the military doing something that you are already OK at and get loads of experience and training, all paid by them, you could be made for life.

 

Half the big name entertainers of the 50s -80s had been round the world entertianing the troops having started as no-one they left the military as known good names and dropped straight into good work. Wherever there are troops, entertainment is sent out! Find the right place in the military and you could be the traveling sound person.

[paulears]

My 18 year old, who works with me, also wants to join up. He wishes (he thinks at present) that it is a good career move as a full-time serviceman. A good friend of his is in the TA and is about to be deployed to the trouble zone, this week.

 

Based on this, and other friends who have done similar things, I think joining the TA is a good move. If the thought of being sent abroad was a major concern, then you just wouldn't join.

 

Things to be aware of. Joining the TA brings with it the implication of being recalled, even though you leave. The skills they teach you are pretty varied, and if they ever neeed them, even when maybe you are out on tour, you could just be whisked away and used again. You have to agree to this kind of thing. Pay is pretty good, but the disadvantage is that if you have a really good civilian job, that pays more than a basic serviceman's salary, then you carry on receiving this rate when deployed, but freelancers without proper contracts just get their army pay. Probably not a major issue for most.

 

You get good training, and if they can identify areas where your exisiting skills can be integrated, then they'll use them. Lighting, sound, staging, presentation services and that kind of thing aren't necessarily 'alien'. Fair enough, there's no lighting regiment - but people with IT skills do IT, engineers do that and general electronics comes in handy. The friend my son has in the TA is a welder - guess what he is doing in Afghanistan? welding!

 

I've never found our industry anti-military at all, in fact - ex-servicemen are pretty good in our industry, as long as they are people who gained rank. It shows they can think. They can also operate to instruction without having ego issues. They're great at improvising and adapting under pressure. Given two candidates for a backstage or touring job you'd look at their skill set. A seasoned tourer up against an ex-soldier with no tour experience means the serviceman would lose out if you needed experience. However, if the job needs logistics, or improvisational skills - I'd be quite happy with ex-military. Depends on the job. Somebody with our skills, who then does military service, then comes back would seem a pretty useful person.

 

The disadvantage for employers taking on current TA members is that you might spend all your time and money training them, for them to suddenly clear off and you have to find somebody else on a short term basis, because you MUST hold the job open. That would put of many employers in smaller firms where people don't exist who can offer cover. Bigger firms look upon TA members positively, I've found.

[scjb]

It's perfectly possible to combine a professional career and a TA career.

 

The general consensus in unit is family first, job second, ta third. You will have a good time, learn great things, get loads of ###### and come out the other side, discover how little sleep you can survive on, earn a pitiful wage and damage your liver. Yes, you have to go in with the mindset that I WILL be deployed (no longer is it a question of if), but then, you wouldn't join if you didn't accept that.

 

PS, Consider the Engineers...

[Bobbsy]

Paulears has done a good job of summing up the pros and cons, but one other halfway relevant point comes to mind.

 

A high percentage of the satellite uplinks and comms engineers working in the private sector (and being paid relatively well to fly around the world) are ex-military because the technical training there is first rate.

 

Nothing you could learn in the army will be 100% relevant to monitor mixing--but you could do a lot worse than a general electronics/technical background if you could get onto that track in the TA.

 

Bob

[vbm]

You will have a good time, learn great things, get loads of ###### and come out the other side, discover how little sleep you can survive on, earn a pitiful wage and damage your liver.

 

So, basically, you're saying its exactly the same as being a professional technician in the production industry..?

[nateflips]

You will have a good time, learn great things, get loads of ###### and come out the other side, discover how little sleep you can survive on, earn a pitiful wage and damage your liver.

 

So, basically, you're saying its exactly the same as being a professional technician in the production industry..?

 

Well Pointed out :) :(

[scjb]

...except the poor wages bit :)

 

EDIT: Just to add, you're not gonna get good technical training as an infanteer or a blanketstacker (RLC), you need to be looking at the RE, REME or Sigs...

[Simon Lyall]

If you join the TA, you will be going to a hot sandy place (bar some regts and corps...) so don't join up if you don't like the idea of going abroad, risking your life and potentially having to protect yourself using lethal force.

 

You will be expected to commit to a large number of weekends, and a summer camp every year (summer... festival season... busy time...) Paulears really did sum it up. I think you need to weight up the pros and cons, the TA is a job and as much as they are accommodating to everyone, they will expect you to commit to the TA.

 

Also look at the different Regts local to you to join, and the different career paths in each. The signals is were all the comms comes through with lots of IT and technical things happening in there, however you'll be limited in what you learn through the TA, most of the really interesting stuff happens on with regulars (also there is the army phrase of '1 army' going around at the moment where they are trying to integrate the TA far more into the regulars). Understand that in the RLC and with most trades, once you are trained it's fairly hard to move around, so pick something you know you will be interested in. If you really want to drive trucks around all day (which could be anything from driving toilets around, to rations, to ammo, to people... into places like a forward operating base, the middle of the action, or a command centre 50 miles away from any fighting...) then cool. The RLC has had a far more diverse role recently (as have most Corps and Regts) and thus it's moved away from it's old image of being 'blanket stackers'. They've swallowed many smaller corps and even some larger ones like the catering corp!

 

If you want to run around lots and really get in the thick of it (though it can be argued that you're going to be in the thick of it regardless of your role in the current conflict areas) then look at the infantry, there are many different trade bits you can still get involved with through the infantry as well as sneaky beaky recce things and far more. The opportunities in the infantry are very varied now and have been really improved recently, the army have clocked on that they need to train infantry up to do a bit more then kill others, it's beneficial to the army, and to you!

 

If you can commit to it, and realise the implications, it's a really good opportunity, and go for it! You will go through basic training, and there are two main routes for doing this: as a series of weekends and a short course (length depends on what you go for) or through a summer intense period which has a name that escapes me! You'll then be able to train up for your chosen trade and things move on from there. Long term you could go on courses for promotion, get commissioned and generally have a good time, or you could go out to theatre (not the nice kind) and get shot and die, or lose a limb, or go blind, or never walk again. You need to accept that is happens with surprisingly regularity, I haven't met a single soldier who has gone out to Iraq/Afghanistan and not known someone who died and several who were severely wounded. The bravery of our serving is amazing and I have huge respect for anyone who does it, because it's a massive undertaking.

 

HTH,

 

Simon

[Kevin Ross]

As an ex member of the RAF version of the TA I might as well chip in. I found my time there very well spent and I feel I came out of it a better person. Being deployed was not easy but again looking back I would not change a thing.

 

Go along to an open evening and see what you thing and don't rule out other services!

[themadhippy]

Join the army and travel to strange and exotic countries ,meet varied and interesting people and kill them

RLC are a bunch of Right Lazy C**** according to the Aldershot cement company

[scjb]

Sounding more like ARRSE on here every day!

[Jivemaster]

The TA will assume that you are doing a 9 - 5 job and you will have evening and weekent TA committments. You will also have a "summer camp" as a training commottment. this will conflict totally with the ents industry standard of curtain up at 7.45pm and pack up about 1030pm with festival stages all summer.

 

If you have a techincal mindset then a technical branch would be of most use to you and you to them. Have a serious chat with a joint services recruiter. DO NOT neglect the other services! Radar/comms/avionics all leave you with a tranferrable skill set which being a logistics driver does not. However if you get into logistics planning then this may transfer to tour logistics planning.

 

I have personally been fired from a full time job because I looked too military! (which may amuse those who have met me!) but it didn't amuse me.

[scjb]

It's perfectly possible to combine a professional career and a TA career.

 

Maybe I should have specified "a professional career in the entertainment industry"...

[Simon Lyall]

Sounding more like ARRSE on here every day!

 

yes.. :)

 

Go to arrse, read the naafi, and best bits parts of the forum... then if you laugh, join up... if you don't laugh, don't join! :(

 

/tongue in cheek.

 

 

 

Simon