My Journey Towards an Army Scholarship

I am working towards, hopefully, being awarded an Army Scholarship. I have always aspired to be in the British Army as I grew up in an Army family, with my dad serving for 30 years this year. I love hearing about the adventures and the memories the Army has brought him throughout his time serving.

As well as my dad, my time as a part of the School CCF team has really enhanced my love for the Armed Forces. One of my favourite experiences during my time was climbing Mount Snowdon and Mount Tryfan. I really loved the experience so I decided to apply for an Army Scholarship. My journey so far has not been easy, and I have had challenges along the way, but the end goal would be such an achievement for all my hard work.

In the future, I hope to go and study Nursing at the University of Birmingham. But in this article, I am going to take you through the steps I have taken this far, and the steps I will take in the future, to hopefully, be awarded a British Army Scholarship. In order to start my first step, I had to put my application forward and fill out many forms. These included criminal records, piercing forms, family information and many medical forms. After I cleared this stage, I then had to get a report from the Headmaster, who also kindly gave me the email address of his niece who serves in the RAF as a nurse. She was so helpful and explained many things including how sport linked within the Forces as I am a keen sport player.

The next stage in my application is where I ran into a problem. After my medical forms were done they put my application on hold because of my history with a peanut allergy, knee pain and shoulder pain. I had to send a lot of extra forms to my doctor’s surgery, and they then sent them on to the Medical Board. Eventually, I got the confirmation that I had passed my RGMD, which was such a relief.

Throughout the time that I was waiting for my forms to be completed, I was attending seminars that included what to expect and how to prepare for upcoming events. I even had the chance to meet previous Army Scholars, and they gave me some tips. I have taken these onboard and am training to make sure that I can do the best possible when it comes to the selection day.

Most of the testing and physical testing is over the summer. I will undergo a thorough medical examination by the doctor to confirm that I am fit enough to conduct further selection activities without incurring any undue risk or injury. I will also have to undergo an ECG, which is a heart trace. I will also have to provide a urinalysis (urine test) and have an audiogram (hearing test) and other tests, including a vision test and a colour perception test. Also, my height, weight and waist will be measured to calculate my body mass index.

When I start the interview process, the things we talk about include my background and current situation, my motivation to become an Army Officer, my general knowledge about the Army, current affairs, my basic mental arithmetic, especially my ability to calculate speed, distance and time, we will talk about my fitness and my job/ regiment choices.

The biggest event I have to attend is the ASB, which is the Army Scholarship Board, because of COVID a lot has changed. It used to be a couple of days, and now it is 27 hours with an overnight stay. There are many of these running between 4th to 9th July 2021 and 1st to 5th August 2021. This year is the largest number of candidates going for an Army Scholarship at around 550 candidates and only around 120 scholarships

available. The tasks I have to do while at ASB include a briefing, psychometric online tests, writing an essay, opening tasks, individual interviews, written planning exercise, planning exercise discussion, multi-stage fitness test (MSFT), command tasks and individual obstacles. Over the last few months, and the months running up to the ABS, I will be training hard to ensure that I can complete all the tasks to the set standard.

If I am awarded the Army Scholarship, I will be given £3,000 at the start of U6th Form. I will also get a bursary so that my university fees are paid for. This would be amazing as I wouldn’t be left with debt and money to pay back after my course. It will also ensure that I have a guaranteed space at Sandhurst for when I finish my nursing course.

Before the start of the 2021, I had no idea there even was an Army Scholarship, but I believe it’s such a great way to join the military and I would highly recommend going through the process to anyone who is aspiring to join the military. It is hard work but it’s such a great opportunity.