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Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

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The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is the British Army officer initial training centre.

Its stated aim is to be "...the national centre of excellence for leadership".

All British Army officers, including late entry officers who were previously Warrant Officers, as well as many from elsewhere in the world, are trained at Sandhurst. Nearly 10 percent of British cadets are female and nearly 10 percent of all cadets come from overseas.

The Academy opened in 1947 in the former Royal Military College (RMC) at Sandhurst.

The Academy straddles the counties of Berkshire and Surrey; the border marked by a small stream known as the Wish Stream, after which the Academy journal is named. The nearest town and railway station is Camberley.

Sandhurst, unlike some other national military academies such as West Point in the United States, the Pakistan Military Academy, the National Defence Academy (India) or the Australian Defence Force Academy, is not a university. Eighty-five percent of entrants are university graduates, but this is not an absolute requirement. This is illustrated by Prince William and Prince Harry; one a graduate, the other not.

Courses

The Commissioning Course lasts 44 weeks and must be successfully completed by all British regular army officers (with some exceptions) before they receive their commission. It is usually preceded by the Army Officer Selection Board and followed by a further training course specific to the Regiment or Corps the officer will serve in. A shorter commissioning course is run for professionally qualified officers (e.g., doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers, vets and chaplains). This shorter course, lasting just four weeks, is known colloquially as the Vicars and Tarts course.

Another short course includes the testing phase of the Territorial Army Officer Commissioning Process which last only three weeks. The TA Commissioning Course (TACC) is available to Officer Cadets after completion of 3 training modules, with Sandhurst seen as Module 4 of the Officers' training and assessment. This prior training typically takes 2 years to complete, although a new course has recently begun to reduce this to several weeks during the Summer. This "fast track" route to a TA commission takes place in August and aims to train officer cadets in all the required skills ready to pass directly into the September commissioning course intake. Upon completion, Officer Cadets become Probationary Second Lieutenants in the TA or Officer Training Corps (UOTC). The probationary period ends upon completion of further officer training in areas such as Soldier management and 'special-to-arm' training and must be completed for a TA officer to be deployed on operations.

Sandhurst also runs a variety of other courses for officers, most notably the Late Entry Officer Course (LEOC), and has renowned academic departments staffed by civilian lecturers. The noted academics John Keegan and Richard Holmes were both members of the faculty.

All officer cadets who complete the full Commissioning Course are eligible for a variety of civilian accreditations such as a City and Guilds of London Institute Licentiateship in Leadership and Associate Membership of the Chartered Management Institute.

Organisation

In overall charge of the RMAS is the Commandant, usually an officer of Major General rank, while the Academy Sergeant Major (AcSM) is the most senior individual warrant officer in the British Army (only Conductors of the Royal Logistic Corps rank higher than the AcSM, but there are several of them at any one time). The main RMAS commissioning courses start in January, May and September of each year. Each new intake numbers approximately 270 cadets, each of whom joins a company. The commissioning course is split up into three terms, each lasting fourteen weeks, and on each course cadets are put into one of three companies. There can be as many as ten companies within the RMAS at any one time, each commanded by a Major and named after a famous battle in which the British Army has fought. The company names vary but are currently :

Within a company are three platoons each of thirty officer cadets, commanded by a Captain and supported by a Colour Sergeant. Unlike West Point, RMAS entrusts the majority of officer training to SNCOs. Dettingen Company is divided along the same lines as the regular intakes, though smaller courses may consist of only two platoons.

There is also a "rehabilitation" platoon—Lucknow Platoon. It looks after cadets who are injured during training, with a view to preparing them to re-enter the commissioning course or processing those who are medically discharged.

Regular Army

A small number of regular army units are based at the RMAS to provide support for the colleges and their training:

  • Gurkha Demonstration Company (Sittang): This is a company-sized unit drawn from all units of the Brigade of Gurkhas, to provide realistic battle training for the cadets.
  • 44 Support Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps: This is the RMAS's permanently based transport, logistic and signals support unit.
  • Until 1984, the RMAS had its own band - The RMAS Band Corps, the smallest Regiment in the British Army. Music is now provided by a variety of Army bands on rotation.

History

The RMA Sandhurst was formed in 1947, from a merger of the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich (which trained officers for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers from 1741 to 1939) and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Following the ending of National Service in the UK, the RMAS became the sole establishment for initial officer training in the British Army as the Mons Officer Training School in Aldershot was closed.

The Royal Military College opened its doors in 1802; coincidentally the same year as Saint Cyr and West Point. Amongst the current Military Academies, only Militärhögskolan Karlberg in Sweden, founded 1792 and the Dutch Military Academy are older.

Alumni

For more information, see the category: Sandhurst graduates.
Sandhurst is prestigious and has had many famous alumni. There are so many famous generals and VC winners that a fair and representative list would be immense. Despite urban myths to the contrary, Idi Amin and Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi did not attend the RMAS. Note, this list contains a number of 'students' who did not complete the course. Some of the foreign royalty were not, for example, commissioned.

Royalty

Albania

Brunei

United Kingdom

Greece

Jordan

Liechtenstein

Luxembourg

Oman

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Spain

Tonga

Thailand

UAE

Politicians

Authors and poets

Actors

TV Writers

Musicians

Sportsmen

Explorers

Archaeologists

Chefs

Businessmen



Clergymen

Black sheep

Lineage

Lineage
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (1947 - ) Royal Military Academy (1741 - 1939) Royal Military Academy (1741 - 1939)
East India Company Military Seminary (1809 - 1858)
Royal Military College (1802 - 1947)
Mons Officer Cadet School (1947 - 1972)
Women's Royal Army Corps, Bagshot (1949 - 1981)

Notes

Further reading

  • Mockler-Ferryman, A. F. Annals of Sandhurst: A Chronicle of the Royal Military College From Its Foundation to the Present. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2007 (reprint; original 1900). ISBN 1-4326-6558-8.

External links



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Last updated on Sunday March 09, 2008 at 22:41:45 PDT (GMT -0700)
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