My son is currently studying at college and now wants to join the army as a tank crew

Hi Leon,

Our Junior Soldiers, those who join under 17 years and six months, complete their training at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate. This is a residential course which, as a tank crew, is 23 weeks long. Your son would be based at Harrogate for the duration of this course but there are times built in for periods of leave and some weekends to come home / visit friends and family.

On completion of the course, he would then move to 20 week Phase 2 course at Bovington where the set up would be similar with likely a bit more freedom once they are out of their basic training.

Hope this helps!

Hi Josh,

Thank you so much for the response. This really does help us a lot. I do have one more question however. As he is currently at college, would it just be a case of applying for the role he would like to do and once he is enrolled should he pass the assessment then would he leave his current college course? I just don’t want him to leave college for him to potentially not pass the assessment. Thanks in advance.

Yes absolutely, he would stay in his current college as his application progressed and then if successful then would leave his current course. This helps with that stability as the application duration can vary so depending on how old they are when they have the green light to start training will depend whether its Junior or Senior entry.

Perfect, thank you so much Josh that is really beneficial. We will sit down with our son and discuss further.

Please is possible to join the British Army on a UK charity visa