Join The Junior Army – A British Army recruitment film aimed at potential junior soldiers from 1970

The film follows three Soldiers who joined between the ages of 16 and 17 1/2 and promotes the benefits of joining at a younger age to ” Get a head start”

Don Gerard (seen on manoeuvres), a quartermaster’s sergeant in Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, started as a junior soldier, which gave him a “head start”. Youths can join straight from school; plenty of specialist opportunity but all are soldiers first and foremost. Three 17 year old junior soldiers are interviewed – Gerald Mullins (infantry) from Manchester, Jim Arnold from Clackmannanshire (radio operator, Royal Corps of Signals) and Nigel Wright (vehicle mechanic) from Lincolnshire. They discuss their work and what they have gained from the junior army.

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Don gellard is a company quartermaster Sergeant in the Infantry it’s his job to organize supplies for a complete mechanized infantry combat team that’s 15 armored personnel carriers 120 combat troops and the tanks to back them up he arranges the refueling of the vehicles the feeding and clothing of the men he replenishes their ammunition in fact whatever the combat team needs to stay in the field it’s Don gard’s job to supply it it’s a job with a lot of responsibility without him the combat team can only keep going for about 16 hours so when a replenishment Rendevous is arranged he has to get the stores to the right place at the right time [Music] in the Army responsibility like this can come early in life Don gellard made Sergeant soon after his 2st birthday and was promoted to his present position at 25 one of the youngest color sergeants in the British army yes I suppose 25 is a bit young but if you’ve got the qualities capabilities that the Army require to do a job then you’ll get the rank that goes with it I started my service as a junior Soldier which I feel gave me a good start to man service in fact I think it gave me a head start you can join the junior Army straight from school most cores have a junior unit so whether you are interested in the Infantry artillery tanks Remy or any one of over a 100 other Army careers the Juniors May well offer you the job opportunity that you’ve been waiting for [Music] but whatever the job every man in the Army is a soldier first and foremost and that goes for the juniors as well unarmed combat for example is a part of every soldier’s training so although radio technician may be your trade soldiering is very definitely your occupation [Music] juniors are not stationed abroad and they don’t take part in military action for real but in most other respects a Junior’s training is much the same as that given to a regular Soldier these Junior soldiers are finding out what an assault course is all about and during their time in the junior army they will learn a lot of other things like sports Adventure Training and of course the trades that they will eventually follow so weighing it all up what’s in it for them is Don gellard success an except ction or the rule is the junior Army just a job or the start of an interesting career three Junior soldiers give their views Gerard Murray aged 17 from Manchester I wanted an active outdoor life so I joined the Infantry as a Junior leader Jim armor aged 17 and a half from track maner I’ve been interested in radio for quite a few years now and uh I felt that the Royal cor signals gave me the best opportunity and now I’m a radio relay technician Nigel Wright age 17 from Lincolnshire the reason I joined Junior Army is because I liked engines and I wanted to be a vehicle mechanic but outside in civilian life it takes 5 years while in the junior Army I can do it in two three young men from different parts of the country with different interests but all with one thing in common the junior Army one of the good things about joining the junior Army is that you get such good thorough training here you learn everything from firing an anti-tank weapon to basic survival in the field when we uh going out to live in the field we take ammunition our rifles and everything we need food cooking facilities and we go out there set up camp and well you got to cook for yourself do everything for yourself your mother isn’t there to care for you anymore and it be can be quite a good fun you know say for instance in your compo Russians you might get some things mixed up you might end up with chocolate Spong in your chicken cry or something like that well it all goes down the same way you got to wait it to survive there’s a more serious side to training of course you you must learn the basic skills like uh springing ambushes how to set up ambushes taking fighting patrols out wrecky patrols this there’s a lot more to being a soldier being called a soldier you got to learn the trade this of course is an exercise with Junior soldiers playing the terrorist roles but by making the training as realistic as possible the recruits rapidly learn the skills necessary to become good infantry soldiers so by the time they join their regular units they will know how to look after themselves and the part they will play as professional soldiers they also learn how to fire a wide variety of weapons this is a general purpose machine gun able to fire over 750 rounds a minute when they finish their training many of these Junior soldiers will be going to mechanize units like the onec color Sergeant gellard supplies we’ve moved up from the farm and we are now at the resupply the presso carries which carry the Vons are moving past the vehicles who are going to resupply them the first St is carrying fuel FR and a carriers require a lot of fuel as they only do 4 miles to the gallon the next St is carrying the ammunition Small Arms ammunition in this case the Third vehicle is carrying food and water in fact when he’s finished this resupply he’ll have everything he requires to carry on the battle the whole resupply takes just under 30 minutes backing up these Frontline troops of the technical cause the Army’s Tradesman like Nigel Wright a junior training to be a vehicle mechanic when we first started our trade training we moved down into Workshop practice where we started Workshop processes filing measurement and in the classroom as well we also learned about the stresses and strains in the metals this lasted for a period of 12 weeks and then we did our introduction to engines themselves where we found out how the engine works and why we also learned about the carburation how the fuel was taken from the tank fed through up to the engine by the time we got into our fourth term started doing more technical work Krypton tuning where we tested an engine electronically the timing Etc and we also completely stripped an engine down measured everything found out what was in the engine what it did we also went through gear boxes Transmissions Etc steering unit out at how vehicle was stared when it really got interesting was when we got into our fifth term where they actually led us put our practical knowledge and Theory into use on a vehicle itself we actually stripped the vehicles virtually completely down we timed it all tuned it all made everything’s perfect put the vehicle completely back together from there with an instructor we Road tested the vehicles to make sure we’ done our job correctly whatever trade you choose to follow the Army’s technical colleges are equipped to give you a training Second To None courses which offer qualifications recognized in civilian life and obtained in far less time trained technicians for highly skilled jobs a small but no less important group of Junior technicians are trained to maintain and service the Army’s helicopters a highly skilled trade 2 and a half years as a junior just to learn the basics in today’s sophisticated Army Electronics technicians play a vital part they maintain and repair the Army’s radar installations they ensure that missiles fly true and if Communications break down it’s a royal signals technician like Jim armor who is called in well our job is really twofold we do both the operating of the equipment and the maintenance when we’re in the field we do the operating we set up the equipment we erect the anten and point them in the right direction we tune up the sets and we get all the lineups through from one headquarter to the other and uh when we’re back in Camp we maintain the equipment and uh repair any faults that we have on them oh the college is very modern the equipment that it offers you is really something else because I mean you won’t get many places that give you uh all the range of avos oscilloscopes and synthesizers and things that you need to do your trade in this place and not only do they Supply your trade equipment they also Supply your sports equipment my own personal sport which is Judo uh I didn’t do it before I came to the college but uh since I’ve been here I’ve achieved sixth Q that’s a upper green belt and uh they’ve supplied everything for me really they Supply suits they Supply a mat the room to do it in in the college they like it if you do a lot of sport I myself do athletics and cross country and Captain both of the college teams but these aren’t the only Sports you can do there’s bike riding shooting Cricket acaling canoeing they even send some teams across the Germany for skiing lessons during their own holidays virtually in the college you could do anything you want if you’ve got the idea and there’s people to back you up then the idea will be carried out if they can get enough people enough ins going then this sport will be done [Music] oh [Music] sport for recreation and Sport for physical fitness to being a junior leaders youve got to be really fit because if you’re not there’s no place for you in the Infantry we do assault course work battle PT endurance but the most important thing we always work as a team teamwork Lear learning to rely on one another this is one of the most important lessons to be learned when these Junior infantrymen go to their regular units they will become part of one of the most highly trained armies in the world comradeship is also important I was a little bit put off at the start having to live in a dmetry with another seven blocks but uh as you get to the other blocks and you get to strike up friendships with them all you just sort of uh get into a nice harmonic relationship with them and it doesn’t bother you anymore uh the food is just fantastic you have a very good choice roast Meats different things salads the accommodation here is re reasonably new they’re large sort of concrete buildings not the old tin Huts that everybody sort of believes that the Army have to live in I’m myself in my last term at the college but before I leave I have three more courses to complete an AV vehicle course which is armored vehicles tanks Etc and also a 4-we driving course which I must get CU without my driving license I won’t be able to test the vehicles that I repair so it’s a very important factor on the trade side the last course I take is what’s called a military cter which is weapon training fieldcraft how to behave and act like a soldier in the field we’re not just Tradesmen but we also must be able to defend ourselves yeah I’m going to 16 signal regiment in Germany and they’re hair based in celt at the moment and um I really wanted to go there because they’ll give me a chance to travel around Europe and at the same time I’ll be able to afford a car a reasonably good car for a change and uh I really think I will enjoy himself out there every term over 1500 Juniors move up into the regular army some will join units stationed in Britain but many like Jim armor fly out to other countries travel is a normal part of army life Jim has now joined his regiment in Germany and bought his car but is regular army life what he expected I’ve been in Germany for 4 months now it’s a bit strange at first but you get used to it and now I’ve got the car I can go touring around of course it helps if you can speak the language so I’m taking a basic German course I’ve just come back off leave and uh I had three weeks my fiance came out here for a week we went to turning around Germany visited Holland then went back to the UK I’m back off leave now so it’s back to work tomorrow most of the time I repair equipment in the regimental workshops but when people go out and exercise obviously they’ll develop faults in their equipment so we have to go out and fix that as well thing I like about my job is that there’s no one looking over your shoulder all the time let you get on with the job finish it do it the way you want to do it that suits me down to the ground I think my time in the Army was very well spent not only did it set very high standards in Technical Training but also in military skills as well and if you keep up the same high standards when you go to your regular unit you can’t go wrong problem transmit synthesizer isn’t operating properly Jim armor has already been promoted Lance corporal a skilled technician doing an important job yet only four months ago along with Nigel W Gerard Murray and 1500 other Junior soldiers Jim armor was just preparing for his passing out parade [Music] this parade marks the end of a chapter in the lives of these young soldiers after 3 weeks leave they will be joining their regular unions but how do they feel about it just how valuable has the junior Army been to them give you a terrific insight into the work that the regular army [Music] does I cost in civilian life i’ have another three years to do before I completed my appren com from Balan I’m Ling Junior but see his promotion is very good in the Infantry I should get them back within a few years you off a wider scope of engineering you can expand [Music] on and then I go to Germany for 4 years remember Bali it should be good that that’s what I always wanted to do travel around the world being in the junior Army they’ve prepared me both trade wise and Military wise for the job that I’m going to do this has been a brief look at just three of the many Junior Army careers that are offered to school leaders the full range of jobs is almost as wide as that available in civilian life the difference is being part of the most professional army in the world for some the junior Army is the beginning of an interesting well-paid job to others it’s learning a good trade and to those able to take advantage of it it’s that Head Start that could well produce another Don Jalan [Music] [Music] [Music]