RMR Feedback Request

This thread is primarily intended as an opportunity to voice your opinions, good and bad about RMR selection and training, but also to provide an insight into the ups and downs of life as an RMR trained rank in trying to maintain the balance of commitment, home life and civilian employment and/or further education.

To start the ball rolling, try to keep it generic rather than aimed at your particular unit. A few starter queries, but anything goes:

1. What difficulties and delays did you encounter during selection and how long did it take to complete? How could it be better streamlined?

2. How did you find the start of RMR Recruit Training and was it what you anticipated? If not, why not? Would you prefer, and would you be better able to complete it the same as regular service recruits, in longer blocks or find it more manageable as it is?

3. Would it be easier/more flexible if there was more than one troop per year?

4. Did RMR recruit training adversely affect your civilian job, university degree, home life etc?

Over to you...

 

Is this open to trained ranks too? Or aimed purely at selection and training?

Even as a trained rank I have some points about selection and training from my point of view?

 

I meant as someone who hasn’t done RMR training and came in as a regular...

 

1. What difficulties and delays did you encounter during selection and how long did it take to complete? How could it be better streamlined?

As an ex regular, the usual capita crap to get through. Including horrendous admin.

Get rid of capita, and/or have better comma with the recruiting office and the Dets. Countless times lads have rocked up last minute or the det has been kept in the dark.

2. How did you find the start of RMR Recruit Training and was it what you anticipated? If not, why not? Would you prefer, and would you be better able to complete it the same as regular service recruits, in longer blocks or find it more manageable as it is?

N/A although I would say it seems a bit ridiculous to close down for blocks of leave. Leaving large gaps in their training. As far as I am aware the RMR is the only service that does this. But they are restricted by CTC.

3. Would it be easier/more flexible if there was more than one troop per year?

I doubt there would be enough numbers to justify the cost.

4. Did RMR recruit training adversely affect your civilian job, home life etc?

Recruit training seems very inflexible for people in certain industries and we could be losing out on some potential people. But again this will be a hard problem to solve or mitigate.

RMR does have a massive problem with realising that they are reserves and as such, primary employment comes first and foremost.

RMR pay is a complete see off, being advertised to ex regulars as your old pay, paid for the days you do. However as a reservist you will never do 365 days a year, and being told “don’t rely on RMR pay” is not acceptable, and the RMR shouldn’t rely on lads time then.

RMR massively bend their own rules regards to driving hours, with the chain of command having a complete failure to understand the regulations. And are pressurising young lads into putting themselves, the lads in potential danger. If the RMR can’t function to the rules of their own game, they damn sure shouldn’t be putting lads lives, careers and licenses on the line, purely to cut cost. If RMR can’t provide suitable drivers, then there’s fulltime Navy and Marine drivers, offer some decent incentive, pay and/or leave, to drive the recruits.

Same with the EU working time directive, a failure to understand that civvie companies have policies for a set number of hours rest before starting work. Failure to adhere to this policy could result in some dangerous situations depending on the line of work the RMR rank is in.

It seems that as a trained rank, you just become a glorified taxi driver for the Nods.

Monday is no longer a paid night.

Regular Permanent Staff taking places of RMR ranks for Gucci course just to fill their CV and go for a jolly. Those positions are provided for RMR ranks.

No flexibility given by CTC for RMR ranks, for courses, all paperwork has to be sent in a set amount of time before hand, with little or no ability to change.

Lack of understanding that civvie employers can only give a set amount of extra time off for Reserves, and then organising stuff outwith said timeframe, then complaining when no lads can manage.

That will do for now.

 

Although I am not in the process of joining the RMR, I am however an Army Reservist, and spent a long time comparing the practicalities of joining the RMR/other reserve forces.

The Army Reserve does centralised training, which can allow the trainee to elect to either do several weekends, or one big residential block of training at a depot, for their alpha and bravo (phase 1 training) courses.

Would it not cut costs and make it more accessible if the RMR offered the same or similar training structure? I.e x times a year recruits from around the RMR go to CTC or their local Cdo unit, and do several weeks of training at a time, in a similar way to how the Alpha and Bravo courses are currently organised.

Many people would probably prefer being able to do it like this, rather than the current bi-monthly approach. You'd save on constant travel costs across the RMR, be able to have more training conducted on an exercise (instead of trying to cram it into a 2 day weekend, you could have a single exercise that covers several weekends), have a centralised training standard, augment RMR training teams with regulars etc etc.

 

All input appreciated, good and bad. What would aid retention, what's the groundswell of opinion on compulsory mobilisations, are RMR personnel and particularly recruits aware this is quite likely, how can the RMR better integrate, what's the feeling on GD only, etc...

Totally agree. Driver hours, exercises and civilian employment do not mix well, I'm susprised regular Drivers don't seem to be billeted and drafted to RMR units for this purpose - Ideal for harmony time albeit the bulk of the driving would be over weekends. No point putting your Driver on exercise for 48 hours inbetween stints spent driving, everyone's life is in their hands - look after them.

Some good points. Perhaps if the main RMR units staggered their Recruit Troops so it rotated, with one Recruit Troop in one region starting in Jan, another region starting in April, another in June and one in Sept, or similar, it would very much help those who cannot keep pace through illness, injury, criteria test fails, work commitments, etc.

 

There could be a few ways of modelling it.

Depending on how largely the Regs take it up, could even have multiple 2 week periods a year, and all RMR recruits who were able to attend are sent to CTC/whatever location, and are grouped up into a 'troop' for the length of the course depending on their stage of training, and do the relevant exercise criteria with all the other recruits from different units.

That way you wouldn't have to really think about staggering the start dates or only having one intake per year. Or each location runs the 2 weeks for different stages of training at the same time, so all the early phase 1 went to x, the late phase 1 went to y etc

 

Yep, a few ways to skin this cat. CTC is being used more regularly for RMR training (geographics & planet alignment permitting) but a frequent query we see on here is "Can I do my Recruit Training in one block at CTC (as a full time reservist) then go back to by unit as a trained rank RMR Commando?" Currently the answer is 'no, a 30 month return of service is required as a regular' but hopefully this may in future be looked-at together with the feasibility of doing longer blocks of training as you suggest.

 

I know I'm not coming up with any unique ideas at all, but always found it slightly odd that the RMR was rigid in this approach, which arguably degrades the level of training being offered.

 

Agreed, there sometimes appears to be a "it's not meant to be easy" or "99% needn't bother their arrse" mindset but I think there's a refreshing shift away from the "It were 'arder in my day" angle, thankfully.

 

I’ve not joined yet so can’t comment on training etc however I’ve had to withdraw my application until sometime went it’s more possible for me due to my commitments at work as I know I wouldn’t be able to doing every other weekend due to shift work (police). I believe it’s: miss two weekends and your out. I don’t really know the answer and I don’t have a solution, it just sucks. Maybe the staggered troops would be a good idea.
Whereas I’ve heard the army reserves are a lot more flexible but my heart doesn't lie with wanting to join the army...

 

Good points, I think it's a matter of scale and capacity. Yonks ago most RMR units had two troops a year but numbers have dwindled either by design in relation to requirement or possibly, mad as it sounds, a diminishing number of combat ops, reducing operational deployment opportunities. My thoughts, not that they count for anything, are that greater flexibility would be achieved by staggering RMR recruit troop start dates in the main regions which would mean the later starting troops could pick-up "back-troopers".

 

This is a major gripe with the way RMR is run.
There’s a lot of difference between other branches and RMR.

Yea I totally see your logic with that. Only problem is CTC is pretty strict with certain things. Some of them I totally agree with.

Can anyone weigh in with the process for Army/RAuxAF/RNR?

 

Army Reserve; there’s multiple 2 week courses throughout the year at regional training centres, and then multiple courses in the same manner covering your phase 2 training.

It helps Army Reserve training is *significantly* less in terms of time than RMR. You can either do it in weekends like RMR, or do the main part of the courses in 2 week blocks for both A and B, augmented with training at unit.

No matter when you pass the selection centre, there’s only ever going to be a few months maximum before the next opportunity to do a 2 week block or start weekends. Same with no matter what you have to retake, it’s more like being backtrooped not back-yeared...

 

However, the army technically is only 15 weeks basic training. The problem being RM is 15weeks then the added 17weeks after.
The RMR have to hit the same standards and same testing, which is fair game. And shouldn’t change. However RMR is the only branch that shuts down for weeks for leave. Other branch’s have a recruit weekend every month throughout the year.


A months breakdown would be:
Troop training every week (drill night)
Recruit weekend
Main training weekend

Then they add weekends to said month for any extras, shooting teams, competition training etc, which recruits are welcome to come on.


I know this all sounds like an absolute dripfest but I would like to see improvement and change. There is so much potential with it.

 

@ThreadpigeonsAlpha

I’m not trying to take away any of the actual training days or exercises criteria RMR recruits have to pass; just change the way they are delivered.

If you could group up 6 or 7 weekends training into a two week block, conducted at say CTC, a Cdo unit or the various training camps around the place; surely that allows a greater depth of training and various other obvious perks. Having it done centrally could also benefit RMR training teams (less constant travel, less doing the same thing every month etc), and if there was the ability to have regular training teams augment them, I can only see pros there. And one uniform level of training throughout the RMR.

For the recruit, it gives them the flexibility to choose to do it in blocks if they have the work/study situation to allow that. And if they know they can’t make this months block, there will be another one in two months etc.

 

Bare in mind it’s over 5 years since I left the RMR but speaking to old troop mates it seems pretty much the same as it was (with the difference being RMR can now go regular without retraining).

It massively effected my degree. I was averaging a third class for the time I was RMR. And I wasn’t getting in anywhere near enough phys. Aside from the training nights and weekends I probably found time for one run, one swim and one decent circuit per week just to stay afloat. Somehow got through all the speedmarches and exercises until pre-RFCC weekend (already had cap comforter, I believe this has changed now too), honestly think my body was just clinging onto the prep I’d done before joining whilst slowly deteriorating. When I failed and went back to the det I had a long conversation with the unit sergeant major who told me to go and focus on uni. Low and behold I got a first class in third year (though it all averaged out at 2:2 in the end) so the evidence was right there on paper. In fact, I remember my phase 1 alphas course clashed with my uni exams that year and uni wouldn’t allow me to postpone them so I failed them all in order to go on the course.

Also, this wasn’t every unit but ours at the time seemed to find ‘battle phys’ (I believe the T-word is censored) the best way to smash our fitness. Other units were more progressive in terms of test-specific fitness. Speaking to 131 Cdo lads they seemed to have the best system. 131 trained to maximise potential on the tests, with alternating weekends in the form of a field weekend, a phys weekend, field weekend etc. To quote a troop mate that ironically failed RMR but is now a badged reservist “getting smashed around a woodblock doesn’t make you faster on Tarzan or better at climbing ropes”.

Ultimately it’s down to the individual and I fully admit I wasn’t fully in the game in the way I think I would be now, but my reflections on training as it were then is that phys could be more structured towards test criteria and there could be more flexibility in training periods.

 

Now this is a good insight. And I would like to highlight to anyone reading, never ever wrap on your uni and degrade your education for RMR. You will just see yourself off!

Can you elaborate more on the 131 lads, as that seems a much better system, unfortunately some of the RMR are still in “regular” mode and treat it like such with just battle phys and see offs, rather than maximising time and effort.

 

I just did a test and yes, the T-word and the B-word are still blocked by forum software. The word Cockwomble isn't yet filtered but watch this space.

Personally I think it's daft but both the T and the B words trouble the higher echelons of the service which does occasionally visit this forum to keep in touch with reality.
Media journalists also seize on key words and phrases posted on forums to illustrate sensationalist stories.
We try not to scare horses here.