All about: Army careers in the UK

The British Army is more commonly known as ‘the army’. It is is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces (also known as the British Armed Forces) which is part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Hence, it is the three-thronged military service of the UK comprising of the army itself, the Naval Service and the Royal Air Force.

Army careers information

As of August 2010, the army comprised of a reported 194,440 professional or regular troops and 39,420 volunteers. This article will indeed detail different careers in the British army. Army careers information There are many different roles available in the army from soldier, driver, nurse, HR, dentist, electrician, tailor to a fitness instructor. There is an extensive section of the army website (Army.mod.uk) which gives army information on careers in the army. This section has pictures and titles of around 200 MoD careers. Different roles
There is information on what each role involves, what qualifications experience (if any) needed and what type of person is needed for these jobs in the army. One can perform job searches based on the type of person, the skills and experience, keyword searches and general job grouping (combat, engineering, logistics and support, intelligence and support, intelligence, IT & comms, HR & finance, medical and music & ceremonial). Hence, some of these will be detailed below.

Combat and engineering jobs

Combat jobs The jobs in this category are mostly ones, which in some way, involve preparing for situations of conflict and combat and are thus the roles which one would perhaps most associate with the army. Some of the most well known jobs are paratroopers who deal in conflict from in the air. Starting from airborne positions, they are commandos who are involved in conflict, particularly in extreme environments. They are also those who drive transport in combat and who provide supporting fire. Engineering jobs
There are also many engineering jobs in the army, such as electricians, armoured engineers who maintain and operate armoured vehicles. There are also weapons artificers who inspect and repair weapons. It also includes the extremely high-risk, adrenalised job of bomb disposal which was the subject of the critically acclaimed, Oscar-winning film Hurt Locker.

What to expect

What to expect Many films portray army life, as a heroic, noble, exciting, boy's adventure with ‘comrades’. While this is certainly true to an extent, prospective army employees are strongly advised to seriously research their prospective role. This is because many find the reality to be quite different to this portrayal, with low wages, poor working conditions, long periods away from homes and immense stress and danger.