Re: British tank names always seem to begin with 'C'.Why?
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:37 pm
The British Armed Forces ceased conscription in 1962,
The Army had for to long had a reputation for being the dumping ground for the men that the other arms did not want,
With the advent of a Professional Army the putative recruit had to pass an exam in the recruiting office before being accepted,
Once in the soldier would then progress through the ACE 3/2/1 (Army Certificate of Education) ACE ! was based upon the civilian "A" Level it would take three weeks to get through each course,
There was the Trade course again graded into 3 separate courses 4/6 weeks long, a pass would give the soldier a pay rise and I have had private soldiers with their number 1 trade getting higher wages than a Lance Corporal with only a class 2 qualification,
The ball breaker was the 2 and 1 drill certificate these were a bit like Marmite,
This was full on soldiering and it was rather more than marching
The aim of the unit was to get the newest recruits through the courses as quickly as possible while still keeping the units commitments up to the mark,
A lot of juggling but there was a massive increase in the soldiers morale as he worked his way up the ladder,
We would get men who had been written off by society and turn these potential deadbeats into educated well motivated smartly turned out men,
And if the soldier passed all the courses he was automatically in line for promotion to WO1 with just time, discipline and luck to overcome to achieve it.
With the change to a professional Army the commitments of a grossly inflated Army did not end but the reduced amount of available manpower made the original workload far too much and has actively discouraged recruitment and yet politicians still order the Military to serve across the hot spots of the world as if we still had 1/2 million on tap instead of 85,000 men and women.
Sorry rant over.
The Army had for to long had a reputation for being the dumping ground for the men that the other arms did not want,
With the advent of a Professional Army the putative recruit had to pass an exam in the recruiting office before being accepted,
Once in the soldier would then progress through the ACE 3/2/1 (Army Certificate of Education) ACE ! was based upon the civilian "A" Level it would take three weeks to get through each course,
There was the Trade course again graded into 3 separate courses 4/6 weeks long, a pass would give the soldier a pay rise and I have had private soldiers with their number 1 trade getting higher wages than a Lance Corporal with only a class 2 qualification,
The ball breaker was the 2 and 1 drill certificate these were a bit like Marmite,
This was full on soldiering and it was rather more than marching
The aim of the unit was to get the newest recruits through the courses as quickly as possible while still keeping the units commitments up to the mark,
A lot of juggling but there was a massive increase in the soldiers morale as he worked his way up the ladder,
We would get men who had been written off by society and turn these potential deadbeats into educated well motivated smartly turned out men,
And if the soldier passed all the courses he was automatically in line for promotion to WO1 with just time, discipline and luck to overcome to achieve it.
With the change to a professional Army the commitments of a grossly inflated Army did not end but the reduced amount of available manpower made the original workload far too much and has actively discouraged recruitment and yet politicians still order the Military to serve across the hot spots of the world as if we still had 1/2 million on tap instead of 85,000 men and women.
Sorry rant over.
All my cousins did National Service, by the way, but I missed it by four years, or so. But I did the (Sunday) parade ground stuff elsewhere. 
