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REME TERRITORIAL ARMY OFFICER
As an officer in REME TA you will be a leader and an executive manager in one of the many units responsible for the operational fitness of the Army's equipment. A REME TA Commission will develop your leadership qualities, it will offer responsibility, authority, personal satisfaction and financial recompense for your effort. You will make many new friends and at an early age gain confidence and valuable experience in management with its obvious benefits in your civilian career.
Minimum entry standard: We are looking for determined young men and women with enthusiasm and aptitude for a TA Commission in REME, preferably with an engineering background and ideally with an appropriate degree in engineering or science. We accept that experience and qualifications are not necessarily obtained at an early age of one's career so we are looking for suitable candidates up to 30 years of age.
Lt Anthony Fry is a Platoon Commander in 104 Bn REME
"After I finished my Aeronautical Engineering degree at University in 2000 I looked at a wide range of potential careers that would enable me to use my degree and where I could be at the centre of decision. Included was becoming a Regular Army Officer in the REME as I felt this would achieve those aims whilst also developing me through exposure to challenging environments, access to sports/adventurous training and meeting like minded people.
Whilst going through the application process I got a job at a small start up aircraft design firm working as the aide to the Chief Engineer, the project we were working on was extremely exciting and it was a very new and dynamic environment to step into, where I learnt every day and was right in the centre of activities. The enjoyment, knowledge and skills I was getting in this job caused me to reassess my options and I decided not to go proceed with the regular army officer career, instead, because I was still very interested in the Army and the REME in particular I contacted the Headquarters of the REME for the Territorial Army in late 2001 with the idea that the TA could offer "the best of both worlds".
Since I had no previous military training I started off with the same recruit selection and training process that all TA soldiers go through, completing this in early 2003. After that I attended and passed the numerous officer training courses intended to prepare me for the main TA Commissioning Course at Sandhurst in 2004. This proved to be a hard but ultimately rewarding and dare I say it, enjoyable 3 weeks, as there is a great deal to be crammed in and the stress is piled on both to assess people and develop them along the lines needed to become an Officer in the TA in command of troops.
Since commissioning I have been a Platoon Commander within 104 Bn REME and have the privilege to command a platoon of REME soldiers that have always proved keen, capable and a pleasure to work with, both during unit training events (military and trade skills assessment/training weekends) and on the annual deployments. To date these have been both in the UK and overseas, the most recent being joining a full Armoured Brigade Field Tactical Exercise in Poland. I've also led a Battalion team in the annual REME TA Military/Trade skills competition and been on a Battlefield visit to Ypres in Northwest France where we paraded under the massive memorial Menin Gate at the nightly rendition of the Last Post and I had the honour of reading the words of remembrance - defiantly one of the highlights.
As part of my TA Officer development I've completed both REME and "All Arms" junior officer career courses, these are actually regular army courses filled predominantly with regular officers. This has proved both challenging and interesting as we "part timers" have to fit in alongside the "full timers", and whilst there are some obvious differences in experience, the integration has been very good and mirrors the way the TA is now used to provide the integral "reserve of choice" for the regular British Army. On the sports side, having prioritised my Officer training to date, early next year I'm going on the 104 Battalion skiing trip and also plan to get involved with planned battalion expeditions overseas in the future. The social side has been great too, with regular battalion mess functions, always someone up for having a good time after training and through the TA I've met an amazing variety of people from self employed specialists to presidents of huge corporations!
My original plan with the company succumbing due to a lack of money, has benefited me in that my current employer is able to be more supportive of my time in the TA, thus enabling me to fit in both my minimal training commitments and take advantage of additional opportunities available.
To sum up, the REME TA was definitely the right decision for me and I have found that having what amounts to a second career at times has been instrumental in keeping me widening my both my personal and engineering skills, knowledge and experience over the past five years. Indeed, a recent promotion at work was helped by the confidence, communication and planning skills that have I've developed directly as a result from my experience as an officer in the TA.
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