If you are interested in joining 208 Battery,
then your first point of contact should be the TA Center on Aigburth Road.
Phone (0151) 727 4455. You should be between 17 and 32 years old, of British,
Irish or other Commonwealth nationality, medically fit and willing to serve.
Sex, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation are not factors.
If you do decide to join, you will undergo 2 phases of
training. The first, common phase 1, consists of 5 weekends (once a fortnight)
where you'll learn the basics of soldiers, including drill, turnout, discipline,
weapons handling and battle skills. This culminates in the Basic Training
Course, a 2 week long residential course run by the Corps which reinforces
what has been learnt and includes a small 3 day exercise.
Once you've completed common phase 1 you are a qualified
soldier, but you still don't have a skill relevant to the artillery. This
you'll learn in phase 2 training. Unlike the infantry, phase 1 and 2 are
separated, and phase 2 can be weekends or a residential course. Your initial
course will probably by basic field gunnery, but if assigned to BHQ it
could be signals, recce, observation post, driving, cooking or anything!
You will be paid just over £30 per day for your
service, with just turning up for a drill night earning you £7.57!
Additionally, if you make a fairly reasonable minimum service you will
also receive a tax free bonus called a bounty. This starts at £330
and by your 5th year of service is over 1.5 grand!
Pop Quiz Fact
The average length of service in the TA is 3 years.
This means the TA needs to recruit a third of it's strength every year,
almost 20,000 people.
