WDs: Joining, The Process for Officers

Becoming an Officer

Being an officer in the Westminster Dragoons is a challenge unlike any other. It is about encouraging and inspiring others to perform to the best of their abilities. You must be able to reach sensible decisions quickly, often on the basis of limited information. You need to multi-task with skill in the field. You must be adept at managing in barracks.

Above all, you need to have concern and respect for your soldiers. All officers in the British Army "serve to lead". To lead Westminster Dragoons, an officer must win the trust of men and women whose intelligence and abilities are of the highest standard and who are often just as well-educated - sometimes even better.

The demands placed on you as a TA officer will be high. You will be required to give up a substantial amount of time to your initial training. Once you have your commission, a substantial share of your TA activity will involve management and paperwork rather than "real" soldiering; yet in the field you will need to reach the same standards of fitness and fieldcraft as your soldiers. Many WDs choose not to become officers so that being in the TA is a contrast to, and a release from, their civilian jobs.

There are two methods of becoming an officer in the Westminster Dragoons. On the one hand, you can join the Direct Entry Potential Officer (DETAPO) scheme or, preferably, you can start out in the ranks and then go for a commission as an officer if it turns out that that is what you would like to do.

The DETAPO Scheme

The DETAPO Scheme is run by Regional Training Centres (RTCs). Although you start out by approaching the Westminster Dragoons and would be sponsored by us (for equipment and administration) the majority of your training would be carried out by our local RTC which is London District RTC. They are based at Yeomanry House near Russell Square in London. There is also the option to make use of 49 Brigade’s RTC at Grantham. You will be given a Mentor from among the officers of the Westminster Dragoons to give you advice on your training. Normally this is the most recently commissioned Second Lieutentant, as he or she will have the most up-to-date experience of the process you are going through.

The DETAPO scheme is split into five modules which consist of a series of training weekends and residential camps.

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Module 1: Basic training. Recruits undergo the TA Foundation Scheme before going onto to the Common Military Syllabus (Reserves) course. After passing this module you will be a trained soldier. The CMS(R) course is attended either as a two-week block or as seven weekends.

At this point you will attend the TA Commissioning Board, to be assessed on your suitability to continue onto the Potential Officer phase. If you pass, you will then move on to:

Module 2: Skills and Tactics, the start of the real officer training. This is a nine-day course plus two range weekends. It is also available as series of ten weekends.

Module 3: Platoon Tactics. This continuation of the Potential Officers' training is undertaken over a series of four weekends or as a ten-day battlefield camp.

Module 4: The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst three-week Territorial Army Commissioning Course. You must attend Module 4 at Sandhurst within six months of completing Module 3. It is a tough, physically and mentally challenging course. Having passed this it, you will be awarded a probationary commission in the Territorial Army.

Module 5: Shortly after being commissioned, you will attend a Post-Commissioning Course. This three- weekend module covers mobilisation, managing soldiers and planning training.

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Starting out in the ranks

Alternatively, you can come to the Westminster Dragoons as a recruit, complete basic training and learn your basic trades, becoming a fully-fledged trooper. Once you have decided you would like to try to become an officer you will be interviewed by the Officer Commanding the Squadron and then the Commanding Officer of the Royal Yeomanry, who will together decide whether you are suitable to be put forward. You then enter then the modular training programme at the Module 2 stage.

Typically once an officer candidate who has followed this route has become an Officer Cadet they are made Acting Troop Leaders under the guidance of an experienced Troop Sergeant.

Deciding to join as a trooper does not make it any less likely that you will be given the opportunity to become an officer, if that is what you want. The WDs have an excellent record of fostering those in the ranks who have the ability and desire to go for a commission.

Comparison of the two routes

Entering via route 2 and serving "on the tank park" as a trooper, you gain practical experience and prove your worth as a soldier before attempting to become an officer. This gives you a much wider understanding of what you will later have to ask your soldiers to do. It also gives you the opportunity to get all your trade qualifications before embarking on officer training. DETAPOs in their first year after commissioning need to do Land Rover conversion, signals phase 1 and 2 courses, NBC A and B and DITs course as well as their Module 5 training. Combine this with going on exercises and running a troop and it makes for an extremely busy first couple of years and a much higher time commitment, although you do commission slightly more quickly.

There is no fixed time limit to complete the training to become an officer although typically for route 1 it takes between twelve to eighteen months to commission and then a further year to be fully qualified with all the mandatory trades. For route 2 it generally takes six-eight months to commission having already served two years on the tank park (including your time as a recruit).

Requirements

To be an officer (through either the DETAPO or Trained Soldier route) you need three GCSEs at A-C grade and to be able to demonstrate the potential to pursue tertiary or higher education (or to have done so already). These are minimum educational requirements: in reality, almost all TA officers have at least an undergraduate degree You must be a Commonwealth, British or Irish national resident in the UK. You should be in good health and aged between 18 and 30. Fitness is an important aspect of being an officer and you should be able to pass a Basic Personal Fitness Assesment (BPFA) and Combat Fitness Test (CFT) easily by the time you attend Sandhurst.

Soldiering on after TAMB “fail” People fail TAMB for all sorts of reasons including character, maturity, calmness under stress. All three will change if you soldier on in the TA. Whether you started out on the path to a commission as a DETAPO or a trained soldier, the WDs are the perfect unit in which to prepare yourself for a second go – or to sound out whether the NCO route is in fact better for you.