AFC Harrogate - DS has expressed an interest

[MadamFlutterby]

This has side lined me a bit, but I'm willing to look into it with him.

Does anyone here have any experience of this?

Look at british army on Instagram they did a story this week on AFC Harrogate. There was also a tv programme on it last year I think on channel 5 but could have been BBC.

Someone I taught last year is there and loves it. He is from a military family though.

Thanks- I'll steer him toward the BBC program and see what he thinks. At the moment he's adamant that he's going, although not keen on joining cadets etc as a way of getting a bit more insight, which seems to me foolish not to. So who knows, it might just be a brief idea.

All I've said is for him not to restrict his 8deas to just one avenue but yo have a couple of options to fall back onto in case he changes his mind, doest get accepted etc.

I do like to support him, but, to me, 16.5yo seems so incredibly young - surely much better to get a bit more life experience???

My DS went to AFC Harrogate, followed by Catterick. It was probably because he felt like he had no other option that interested him. He hated education so college and sixth form were off. He didn't know what apprenticeship he would want to do so the army it was.

DS thrived at Harrogate and was proud to be doing well. He had one very tough day in his whole time there which resulted in a difficult phone call. He had turned 16 just 6 weeks before he started there, I was worried but glad I supported him.

Following his completion at Catterick, DS was posted to Cyprus. He had been enjoying it but has not been able to come home since January due to his leave falling just after lockdown We are all missing him so much! He turns 18 in a couple of weeks and will be signing up officially as it's definitely the right career for him.

The TV programme was ch5 and called Raw Recruits. I found it really interesting but DS said they showed it in a different light. Still worth a watch.

How are you feeling about it?

They do (usually) have an open day but we didn't attend, due to it being a last minute decision. We went to the local recruitment office for information and then an interview. Then there was a weekend assessment, which is usually fairly local but because of time constraints DS had to travel from the Midlands to Scotland.

They don't have to officially sign up until they are 18, which i found reassuring. DS has 18 months of experience before having to decide, whereas at 18, he would have signed up and committed without knowing what it was really like.

Tyankyou for replying with your sons experience- you've given great insight and I hadn't thought about the ability to test it out at 16 v actually signing up at 18 without prior knowledge of what life will be like.

Much to think about. Thankyou

Really get him to look at other things than infantry though as the records for those coming out of infantry compared to say engineering for example is pretty disgraceful.

What do you mean?

what records? Where can I find these?

I mean if he is looking for a career in the armed forces, to be honest I really would push him towards something in which he will get extensive training which will be useful in civilian life- the infantry doesnt do that and ask ex military about the poor support for leavers.

You can see some of the records in regards to how army leavers do afterwards here. Most people dont spend decades in the armed forces (and thats fine), but wise to plan ahead, as you obviously are thinking yourselves.

www.ssafa.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-publications

I live in and was born & raised in Harrogate, if I can be of any help re: the local area??